WASHINGTON—Touting his latest executive order as a historic win for the U.S. economy, President Donald Trump announced Friday that he was mandating a 5,000% increase in all numbers nationwide.
Besides convenience, one of the main benefits of self-driving cars is supposed to be safety.
Yet in a bizarre move, Waymo — whose self-driving cabs had been enjoying extraordinary safety metrics — has just taken steps to make its robotaxis more human-like, eroding the safety narrative that’s been central to the autonomous vehicle narrative.
Recent reporting by The Wall Street Journal observed a startling change in Waymos’ road etiquette, a new aggressive streak that would make a BMW driver blush. These include illegal U-turns, aggressive lane switching, rolling through cross walks, and running red lights.
The goal of this to show that they are actually good people? Because.... showing a few wrongly attributed quotes doesn't help their image or the historical context.
The afterglow of christian domination over western thought can be seen in the way our first and most important learned behavior is to separate "good people" from "bad people" as if anyone is purely one or the other, as if these are categories that carry any meaning of their own, and as if what makes a person helpful or harmful, kind or malicious, is some kind of innate essence and not a combination of their circumstances, intent, position and effectiveness.
You're right that mockery is a terrible way to convert anyone. I think the real issue is that you're not going to reach everyone, and that means we have to be strategic about where we put our energy. When someone is genuinely asking questions or wrestling with ideas in good faith, that's where patient, respectful dialogue is essential.
But a huge amount of online discourse isn't that. It's just bad faith concern trolling, sealioning, or just repeating liberal pieties. Engaging with that on its own terms is a trap because it wastes time and gives legitimacy to arguments designed to waste our time.
A sharp dismissal or ridicule draws a clear line, shows others they don't have to entertain every bad argument, and prevents the conversation from being derailed. The target is the audience, not the provocateur. So while it's useless for persuasion, I'd argue that it has a role in defining the boundaries of the discussion.
I will say the dismissiveness to an outside viewer can come across very poorly as well. I agree with your stance overall though, if nothing else it gets frustrating to argue with bad-faith or closed-minded people and can be liberating to tell them off, outside viewers would then just likely fall along the side they already had tho.
Yeah, you kind of have to play it by ear. I find a big red flag is when somebody just starts regurgitating well known tropes that have been discussed to death. That's usually a clear sign they're just here to stir shit up.
The only way to reach westerners is on the other side of a crisis that affects them personally. Anyone who can see the malicious cruelty of everyday life in America as well as the huge misery they export everywhere else and either pretend they don't know or shrug it off ain't gonna be converted by morality or reason, they're gonna be reached once it happens to them or the handful of people they might actually care about.
I personally try to be helpful and nicer when somebody's shown genuine curiosity or naive misguidedness. We've all been there at one point. But there's far too many who are just parroting the US line as if it were gospel and I don't think ridiculing them is even the worst option.
The goal is to debunk verifiable lies fed to you by the West. The post makes no mention of how good or evil they were, only that they definitely did not say these very specific evil things. If it happens to cause you to reconsider your conclusion that these people are evil, a conclusion also fed to you by the same Western propaganda, that's your business.
Whatever is written in a book is right — such is still the mentality of culturally backward Chinese peasants. Strangely enough, within the Communist Party there are also people who always say in a discussion, "Show me where it's written in the book." When we say that a directive of a higher organ of leadership is correct, that is not just because it comes from "a higher organ of leadership" but because its contents conform with both the objective and subjective circumstances of the struggle and meet its requirements. It is quite wrong to take a formalist attitude and blindly carry out directives without discussing and examining them in the light of actual conditions simply because they come from a higher organ. It is the mischief done by this formalism which explains why the line and tactics of the Party do not take deeper root among the masses. To carry out a directive of a higher organ blindly, and seemingly without any disagreement, is not really to carry it out but is the most artful way of opposing or sabotaging it.
The method of studying the social sciences exclusively from the book is likewise extremely dangerous and may even lead one onto the road of counter-revolution. Clear proof of this is provided by the fact that whole batches of Chinese Communists who confined themselves to books in their study of the social sciences have turned into counter-revolutionaries. When we say Marxism is correct, it is certainly not because Marx was a "prophet" but because his theory has been proved correct in our practice and in our struggle. We need Marxism in our struggle. In our acceptance of his theory no such formalization of mystical notion as that of "prophecy" ever enters our minds. Many who have read Marxist books have become renegades from the revolution, whereas illiterate workers often grasp Marxism very well. Of course we should study Marxist books, but this study must be integrated with our country's actual conditions. We need books, but we must overcome book worship, which is divorced from the actual situation.
How can we overcome book worship? The only way is to investigate the actual situation.
Are we sure the Lenin one's not real? Lenin's plan for defeating the bourgeoisie was, famously, to work within the system to increase taxes through incremental reforms.
This is not what Marxists believe. Religion is the opiate of the people, a way to numb suffering in a world full of pain and deprivation. The first requisite to a happy people is improving material conditions. All communist experiments believe this. Religious institutions are a different matter, where states deal with them situationally
Yaroslavsky's "Religion in the USSR" is a very interesting work to me (he was the leader/founder of the Militant Atheist League), also check out the Little Lenin Library compilation titled "Lenin On Religion". Both are short if people are interested in reading them.
What's funny about the Stalin one is that it can very easily be read as a condemnation of the fact that when someone who enjoys some sort of elevated status dies it will be on the front page of every newspaper, while if tons of common people die from preventable causes year after year those same newspapers will do their best to just ignore it.
nope, one of his most famous quotes (that this is a corruption of) is:
"At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality."
What next you're gonna tell me this quote isnt real? "Socialism is when the government does stuff. And it's more socialism the more stuff it does. And if it does a real lot of stuff, it's communism." - Carl Mark
The most credible source I find credits it to an article by German satirist and journalist, Kurt tucholsky who was supposedly quoting a French diplomat in 1925
When the 6 people in the titan sub went missing, western govts moved heaven and earth to mount an extensive rescue operation despite knowing full well they most likely imploded.
Meanwhile, thousands die each year crossing the Mediterranean, and the same governments show nothing but contempt for them.
From our vantage point looking across the pond at the United Kingdom, it truly does seem like the country decided to put an end to itself rather than allow public anger to be channeled by the one-time Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. With hindsight, and thanks to a new book by investigative journalist Paul Holden, author of today’s article below, we can now see clearly that the destruction of the Labour Party at the hands of a corporate, pro-Israel faction within the party was quite calculated and deliberate.
One piece of that strategy involved destroying the journalistic outlets that had organized themselves around the Corbynist energy, and to do so, the faction created astroturf organizations that claimed to be objectively rooting out “fake news.”
That faction eventually succeeded in electing Sir Keir Starmer prime minister, but doing so required political deception on a historic scale, resulting inevitably in his historic unpopularity. The right-wing takeover is not a matter of if, but when, and Starmer may wind up being the last Labour prime minister ever.
Along the way, Starmer’s faction also waged a secret war on conservative news outlets, as well. The censorship campaign targeting political opponents has morphed into an alarming attack on speech rights in the UK, focused on critics of Israel but broadly encompassing a wide range of expression.
Starmer’s current chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, served as the head of a machine that targeted media outlets on the left and right, foreshadowing the UK’s crackdown on dissent.
From our vantage point looking across the pond at the United Kingdom, it truly does seem like the country decided to put an end to itself rather than allow public anger to be channeled by the one-time Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. With hindsight, and thanks to a new book by investigative journalist Paul Holden, author of today’s article below, we can now see clearly that the destruction of the Labour Party at the hands of a corporate, pro-Israel faction within the party was quite calculated and deliberate.
One piece of that strategy involved destroying the journalistic outlets that had organized themselves around the Corbynist energy, and to do so, the faction created astroturf organizations that claimed to be objectively rooting out “fake news.”
That faction eventually succeeded in electing Sir Keir Starmer prime minister, but doing so required political deception on a historic scale, resulting inevitably in his historic unpopularity. The right-wing takeover is not a matter of if, but when, and Starmer may wind up being the last Labour prime minister ever.
Along the way, Starmer’s faction also waged a secret war on conservative news outlets, as well. The censorship campaign targeting political opponents has morphed into an alarming attack on speech rights in the UK, focused on critics of Israel but broadly encompassing a wide range of expression.
Starmer’s current chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, served as the head of a machine that targeted media outlets on the left and right, foreshadowing the UK’s crackdown on dissent.
The Hind Rajab Foundation, the Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights have called on Canadian authorities to arrest former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for war crimes ahead of a planned visit to Toronto, Canada.
The three organisations filed a complaint with the Canadian Department of Justice on Wednesday, detailing Olmert and Livni’s participation in war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 2008–2009 Gaza War.
The complaint urges an open investigation into their roles and a warrant for their arrest pursuant to Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act and in compliance with the country's obligation under Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to “seek out and prosecute” those reasonably suspected of grave breaches who set foot in Canada.
I'm all for getting off anything meta, but come on. Someone not wanting to move to a chat service that's probably less convenient for them does not make them a "so called 'friend'" lmao.
If you're actually losing friends over this, that's quite sad.
Gradually. You don't have to get all your friends off Meta right now. Maybe some of them will, and they might push their friends to ditch meta as well.
Just keep trying. But totally alienating your friends also won't do much good for the whole perception of the movement. Becomes a lot easier to just think of that weird guy who won't talk to us anymore because of some app, rather than what it's actually about.
I feel like I worded that really badly, but I hope my point comes across.
yeah still plinking away at it i guess, but they can always invest their money again in stealing back all of those users for a platform that will enshittify asap.
reminds me of that time people were gradually going to mastodon and then bluesky came around and stole all that thunder because of mostly superior marketing and being very similar to twitter.
I definitely do though. Hey I'm planning a brunch here means corporations have a little more information about where you live, where you like to eat, who you have friends with, your friends weeknesses, social media can then try to inflict the group with different political opinions splitting up the friendship increasing depression and therefore the amount of time you spend on social media because it's your only escape from your depression. Just to list an example of what could happen.
Exactly. Maybe one of your less close friends turns out to be a serial killer. Unbeknownst to you now you've made some jokes and had brunch with them. Now a team of cops is going through everything you've ever texted anyone because it's unencrypted, correlating things to make you look horrible. Suddenly you're getting your life ruined.
There are cases of innocent people riding their bikes past an unknown crime scene getting arrested for murder because their phone was reporting their location to Google. Try explaining to your boss that you're missing work today because you're in jail for a murder charge. Privacy is important even when you think it's not and perhaps especially when you think it's not
Yes it is, but most people cant understand it for some reason Its not 100% open source, haven't fixed a hole that breaks encryption for a while and the CEO is a jew who worked at facebook
Signal is blocked where I am, the assholes here created enough friction that nobody will bother (install signal and get a paid VPN with good obfs protocols to talk to me about how's the weather today -> dude nah I am good)
So I have Whatsapp for regular people (most). My family switched to Telegram years ago. My GFs family uses only Signal. My brother refuses such things and made us download SimpleX.
Switching from WhatsApp to the privacy-friendly Signal? Good idea! But where do you start? How do you let your friends know you’ve switched? With these tips, we’re happy to help you switch to Signal.
ASHLAND, Va. (AP) — The masked burglar broke into the closed Virginia liquor store early on Saturday and hit the bottom shelf, where the scotch and whisky were stored. The bandit was something of a nocturnal menace: bottles were smashed, a ceiling tile collapsed and alcohol pooled on the floor.
The suspect acted like an animal because, in fact, he’s a raccoon.
On Saturday morning, an employee at the Ashland, Virginia-area liquor store found the trash panda passed out on the bathroom floor at the end of his drunken escapade.
The Kuwaiti Hospital says that five people, including two children, were killed when an Israeli drone hit tents housing displaced people in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis.
Hillary Clinton is facing a deluge of criticism after stating that young Americans' growing support for Palestinians is influenced by "totally made-up" videos on TikTok and suggesting that American youth - including young Jews - "don't know history and don't understand" Israel's war on Gaza.
Speaking on Tuesday at a summit hosted by the right-wing Israeli paper Israel Hayom in New York City, the former Democratic presidential candidate expressed her concerns that “smart, well-educated young people” in America and around the world are getting a lot of their information, including about Israel and Palestine, from social media platforms like TikTok.
The former US secretary of state described it as "serious problem for democracy", remarking that when she attempted to have "reasonable discussions" with young people, it was challenging because “they did not know history, they had very little context, and what they were being told on social media was not just one-sided, it was pure propaganda".
Hillary Clinton is facing a deluge of criticism after stating that young Americans' growing support for Palestinians is influenced by "totally made-up" videos on TikTok and suggesting that American youth - including young Jews - "don't know history a…
It’s time to finally build the ticket to my well-deserved freedom from Windows! Join me as I desperately try to make this new Linux PC work, and who knows, it might even end up amazing!
It’s time to finally build the ticket to my freedom from Windows! Join me as I desperately try to make this Linux PC work, and who knows, it might end up amazing!
The Inverted Frontier is without a doubt my favorite sci-fi series. I can't wait for book five to come out. Last I read (on her website) Linda has been in a funk and hasn't really been writing so the wait continues.
not cheating. They post previous years exams and study guides for other chemistry subjects, theyre just lazy and havent done it yet for quant. Used only for studying as the real exam is completely new and random
Yury Kokov noted that the EU leadership and the authorities of European countries were ready to spend billions from their budgets at the expense of their own people
Kokov noted that the EU leadership and the authorities of European countries are ready to spend billions from their budgets at the expense of their own people. "The clearest manifestation of their cynicism and hypocrisy is the financing of hostilities [in Ukraine] from the so-called European Peace Facility. At the same time, most of these funds end up in the accounts of affiliated companies and are simply plundered by the Ukrainian leadership, their cronies, and lobbyists from the European Union," he added.
one of the big takeaways is how well this conflict dispels any notion that europeans are somewhat better global citizens than americans or russian and it makes me wonder if the europeans are as distraught by this unmasking as americans are about our own unmasking with trump.
And then they'd need to be able to verify that the code actually meets these requirements. That might even necessitate specifying these requirements in some sort of a formal language...
No! They don't want a formalised language. They'd much rather explain and re-explain in English, then repeatedly correct the mistakes the clanker inevitably makes. And spend at least the same amount of time as a skilled programmer would. But I get why managers think that skilled labour can easily be replaced with LLMs. Their jobs of writing emails and occasionally creating presentations, that may or may not match information they received from more skilled personnel, can absolutely be done by an LLM.
Like in pretty much all branches, the AI will eventually just be another tool. There still needs to be someone there to actually understand what the tool produces or it will result in catastrophees. You don't want to live in a building structurally designed by an AI without oversight nor fly in a plane programmed y an AI without oversight. Even for non-critical branches, there will be someone who directs the AI when it is e.g. composing the next shitty pop-song.
The Trump administration in the USA has refused to grant visas to Cuban athletes who need to compete in various events in the upcoming months in order to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
The #Trump administration in the #USA has refused to grant visas to Cuban athletes who need to compete in various events in the upcoming months in order to qualify for the 2028 #OlympicGames in #LosAngeles.
The Trump administration in the USA has refused to grant visas to Cuban athletes who need to compete in various events in the upcoming months in order to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
The #Trump administration in the #USA has refused to grant visas to Cuban athletes who need to compete in various events in the upcoming months in order to qualify for the 2028 #OlympicGames in #LosAngeles.
You are going to need to run a rescue system to get this sorted, for example from an USB stick. Usually you can enter UEFI setup by just spamming the button on boot (F2, F12, F10, Del, look up what your system uses). If that doesn't work you can either reset the BIOS settings, using the jumper or button (see manual again, removing the battery is internet lore and almost never required, just use the jumper). Another option is to remove your boot drive, that will prevent fastboot from working, so the next boot will be a regular one.
Do you have GRUB? If yes you can edit your kernel command line and append "init=/bin/bash", see if at least this gives you a prompt, this has saved me a couple of time in the past. Else booting on a USB and mounting your boot partition may help to fix it.
BTW I also have LUKS and I'm using TPM, using tpm2-initramfs-tool, first, it failed because I forgot the tpm modules in initrd, but I always have 2 kernels installed and only modify one initrd at a time to have a safe boot if I have a problem, like I had!
I tested tpm2-initramfs-tool with proper tpm2 modules and it worked.
I also tested with clevis-initramfs and clevis-tpm2 and it's even easier, no messing with crypttab.
Also, as long as you can break GRUB and append "init=/bin/bash" it is not secure of course, you can then prevent grub editing or not using grub at all.
I had this same error a few months ago when a drive was failing to mount because (unbeknownst to me) it was overheating. I turned the system off for a few hours before troubleshooting (I had errands to run). When I came back, the system booted without issue.
If you're looking for an easy troubleshooting step, have you tried turning off the system for several minutes (and unplugging it) and then powering it back on?
I had this issue and it was because I told grub to support dual booting from two different disk drives (one of them USB) and then I removed the USB drive. Linux-boi still tried to enforce booting from the now not-connected drive.
I can't remember exactly what I did, but there may be something about a systemd unit which can be removed/disabled - or maybe I did some fishing around in fstab to remove the drive it thought should exist but wouldn't always (and then probably did an update-initramfs -u or similar.
Assuming this is an ATX or ITX PC, there's likely a way to reset UEFI so you can disable fastboot and change your settings, or at least boot from a recovery USB.
There's usually something like a button or 2 pins you can short on your motherboard to reset the settings. If your machine has dual BIOS, there will be a switch you can flip, though you'll probably need to update the UEFI again once you do that.
In the worst case (and this should work on almost any device), remove the CMOS battery, let the device sit for a few minutes, then put that battery in. That should clear all settings, including fastboot, and allow you to do recovery stuff - just make sure you fix the time before going on the internet.
The Netherlands Gambling Authority (Ksa) has fined Optdeck Service Limited, the firm behind Unibet, €4m (~£3.51m) due to lapses in player protection duties from July-2022 until July-2024.
During that period, the Dutch gambling operator was required to implement protections for players to avoid excessive gambling and possible addiction. Ksa found failures in the operator’s monitoring system that allowed players to bet significant amounts without adequate interventions.
Michel Groothuizen, Chairman of the Ksa Board, noted: “When there are signs of excessive gambling behaviour, and someone wagers a large amount of money in a short period of time, a provider must promptly investigate the source of the money.
I set up NUT on my server to monitor the status of 2 UPS's connected via USB, an eaton and a cyberpower. Nut fires up fine when I tell systemd to run all the pieces, but when I reboot, they are active but dead. they dont wake up and work until I manually load them again.
Theres no error anywhere. it just wont load itself on boot. why?
1) You need to enable debug logging for NUT 2) Run systemctl --failed and see if you get anything there 3) Make sure you run the journal back all the way through boot and see if anything during boot time is obvious 4) Post your systems units here
As of Fedora 42, at least, bootstrapping nut is a little different. For starters, the service template, /usr/lib/systemd/system/nut-driver@.service is broken.
Its common, it's called the refractory period. Younger men can sometimes go a couple minutes after a "reboot" but as you get older it takes longer and longer.
I'm too scared to start calculating it myself, but I sometimes wonder how much electricity, drive space, and bandwidth we'd save if we cut all this nonsense analytics and forced ads
You can try this out by metering your usage with Rethink. It measures how much each app uses on and off of wifi in addition to its myriad other functions.
Nice! I was thinking about jmp before but read about issues with 2fa texts. My credit card still relies on 2fa texts so I am not sure if jmp would work for me.
Do you have any issues with texts from short numbers (5digit) and 2fa texts in general?
haven't had any issues so far! but I ported my existing number and haven't tried creating any new accounts which is where I suspect most of the issues arise. most carriers give out your name and address to banks so I think jmp is targeted when you are a new customer and they want to verify you through your carrier. i have switched to a local credit union for my cards so if an issue arises I can always talk to a real human to verify my identity
Since switching my FP6 to /e/OS i get at least double the battery life (not heavily using it, just messaging, listening to podcasts, outertune and some browsing). Especially when the screen is off, there is almost no battery usage.
Crazy...also, you made me remember how i had this cheap ass phone who battery life was like 2 days with screen off, i removed the google stuff and it became a full week (and i was hosting a discord bot on that guy btw)
Yeah i still remember my Redmi Notes fondly. Great battery life, good custom rom support, everything i needed from a smartphone. Very unfortunate, that xiaomi restricts custom ROMs as much as they do...
Wow! That's much more that I would have thought. Can't wait to liberate my dad's phone over the holidays, he's on board with me getting GrapheneOS on it. Will have to see what I can do to their home network as well though since mom's stuck on a carrier-locked phone.
Just as likely that red sliver at the end was the traffic created by his intentional usage of the phone all-along. Telemetry and ads are just that gross, but what do I know?
Depends on both what the adblocker responds and how a given program handles failures.
Pi-Hole and similar adblockers can pretend that the domain is on the device itself (A 127.0.0.1), is an invalid IP (A 0.0.0.0) or that the domain doesn't exist at all (NXDOMAIN). Each one has its own implications, with the latter (usually the default afaik) being the most likely to have software generate a hard error and give up.
This is probably not an easy question to answer, since, as another comment pointed out, WordPress is both an open source software option to selfhost your website, and also a non-free managed hosting option that you can use to host your website.
For the former, you fully control what plugins are installed, and if you don't want social media tracking pixels on your site then don't install one.
For the latter, you also mostly control what gets installed on your hosted website, but not entirely. It's running on their servers so in theory they could be injecting tracking. I believe they do have some plugins like Jetpack that are always installed on managed websites, with some anti-features included that can be turned on (but don't have to be).
I always recommend going the self hosted route with WordPress, if you are even the tiniest bit technical minded. It's very easy to deploy on something like DigitalOcean or your own home server, and then you don't need to worry about tracking from WordPress.com.
If you are trying to get the Wordpress software and install it on a server you own or web hosting account you pay for, yes.
If you're trying to do something else, like sign up for blog hosting from a privacy-respecting service provider without having to administer software yourself, then no. If you want recommendations for services like that, you should probably make a separate post asking for that, with as much detail about what you want to do and whether you're willing to pay for it as possible.
Edit: I see you did make such a post. If you're "not tech savvy" as your post says, I don't recommend administering Wordpress yourself. While it's something nearly anyone can learn if sufficiently motivated, it's much more effort for someone without a technical background.
If I keep all incoming connections blocked, but also all outgoing connections blocked except my browser (no MS/Win service is communicating with anything online), would my attack surface be just the browser? So it wouldn't matter if Win is not updated?
The malware doesn't usually attack windows through windows communications. They usually enter through browser traffic and effect other operations from there. That is where the risk is coming from using windows after its end date. Any new exploits found will not be fixed (except for business licenses I think they're still doing those for a little while longer). I recommend doing what I did. Find a user friendly Linux version and take the plunge. I'm using Mint right now and it's almost indistinguishable from my windows 10 console.
There are going to be more services you need than http and https. You'll also need to allow DNS queries and a way to keep your time updated, for instance.
The advantage of blocking incoming connections is that each potentially vulnerable network service isn't automatically exposed to the internet. Blocking outgoing connections isn't going to improve your security much, considering that any compromised service trying to phone home could just use http, the same protocol your browser uses.
It would still matter that your OS isn't up to date. For instance, if there is ever a vulnerability in the way Windows 10 renders an image format that allows remote code execution, Microsoft will not give you a patch.
If you must remain on Windows 10, the best way to reduce attack surface is going to be to uninstall as much software as possible that you don't use.
If you only use a browser, then you could have a quite seemless transition to Linux. That way you can have an up-to-date system. The vast majority of browsers support it natively, including Chrome and Edge.
the browser has historically been one of the most suceptsble vectors of hacking.
theres a reason why most older consoles often have an exploit related to getting access to protected regions of memory via corruption using the browser, and why modern Nintendo and PlayStation consoles do not have a built in browser for consumer use.
it wouldn't prevent all vulnerabilities so theoretically you can still be pwned but practically that's going to work for most cases imo. I've done this in the past, block everything except for some proxy port then configure the browser to use that proxy, and use nuTensor/uBlock Origin on the browser to only allow essential things.
If you're talking about Windows 10, install Win10 Enterprise IoT LTSC 21H2 and disable all the telemetry craps. That gives you a clean(?) Windows setup with support until 2032.
It would definitely reduce the attack surface. And even though Windows has "security" issues patched all the time, rarely are they ones so severe that you can just roll up to a machine and send it a weird HTTP reply and get admin access. Usually it's stuff like if you have a shortcut file on disk it gets to run code when you look in the folder, or something. Not great for working with downloads, but hard to exploit unless at least one other thing happens (like visiting a malicious page, which then starts a download that the browser accepts).
But the browser calls out to the OS to do a lot of stuff (render images, render fonts, play sounds, etc.). It mostly assumes the OS can do those things without popping open a remote shell because too many emojis were rendered in a row or something. That is not always true, and when it isn't you want an OS patch to fix it before you go on a site where someone can post the Magic Emoji That Hacks You.
But you are right that you can browse around trustworthy websites on an unpatched system behind a decent firewall for quite a while before you notice something bad happening. But also, a lot of bad things can have been happening for quite a while before you notice.
No, also the browser is the thing that gets breached. It would be like bricking up all your windows so no one could break them and get in your house but only having a screen door in front.
Yes technically the browser alone is a “reduced attack surface”, but it’s reduced by .001%.
If the leaders of the European Union want to overcome the global wave of populism threatening their democracies, they need to revive an economy that has long failed to deliver prosperity. To do so, they must first get out of their own way.
Israel announces it will open the Rafah border crossing but only for Palestinians leaving. Hamas to hand over the body of another Israeli captive. Over 200 prominent cultural figures sign a letter calling for the release of Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti. ICE begins targeting Somali Americans in Minnesota. President Donald Trump gives this new antagonism rhetorical support, calling Ilhan Omar and Somalis in general “garbage.” Trump Department of Justice official Harmeet Dillon slanders Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as an “antisemitic demagogue,” and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blames youth solidarity with Palestine on TikTok. Israel launders its talking points through actress Noa Tishby and her foundation, a new report alleges, and may have violated FARA in the process. Trump admin threatens to cut off SNAP funding in blue states. ICE moves toward a “mega-warehouse” detention facility. Ex-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is released from prison after a Trump pardon. Centrist candidate Salvador Nasralla takes a slim lead in Honduras’ elections. More violence in Pakistan’s northwest. The Ukrainian military disputes Russian claims of gains in the Donbas. Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to cut off Ukrainian access to the sea. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces are systematically holding trapped residents for ransom in El-Fasher. Venezuela resumes repatriation flights. The Philippine military is using U.S. hardware in its counter-insurgency efforts, a new Drop Site report shows. As the feds closed in on Jeffrey Epstein, he estimated in a private email that there might be as many as 20 underage victims, Saagar Enjeti reports for Drop Site.
Israel to open Rafah crossing for exits only; RSF holding trapped El-Fasher residents for ransom; ICE plans for mega warehouse detention centers
Israel announces it will open the Rafah border crossing but only for Palestinians leaving. Hamas to hand over the body of another Israeli captive. Over 200 prominent cultural figures sign a letter calling for the release of Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti. ICE begins targeting Somali Americans in Minnesota. President Donald Trump gives this new antagonism rhetorical support, calling Ilhan Omar and Somalis in general “garbage.” Trump Department of Justice official Harmeet Dillon slanders Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as an “antisemitic demagogue,” and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blames youth solidarity with Palestine on TikTok. Israel launders its talking points through actress Noa Tishby and her foundation, a new report alleges, and may have violated FARA in the process. Trump admin threatens to cut off SNAP funding in blue states. ICE moves toward a “mega-warehouse” detention facility. Ex-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is released from prison after a Trump pardon. Centrist candidate Salvador Nasralla takes a slim lead in Honduras’ elections. More violence in Pakistan’s northwest. The Ukrainian military disputes Russian claims of gains in the Donbas. Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to cut off Ukrainian access to the sea. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces are systematically holding trapped residents for ransom in El-Fasher. Venezuela resumes repatriation flights. The Philippine military is using U.S. hardware in its counter-insurgency efforts, a new Drop Site report shows. As the feds closed in on Jeffrey Epstein, he estimated in a private email that there might be as many as 20 underage victims, Saagar Enjeti reports for Drop Site.
Israel announces it will open the Rafah border crossing but only for Palestinians leaving. Hamas to hand over the body of another Israeli captive. Over 200 prominent cultural figures sign a letter calling for the release of Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti. ICE begins targeting Somali Americans in Minnesota. President Donald Trump gives this new antagonism rhetorical support, calling Ilhan Omar and Somalis in general “garbage.” Trump Department of Justice official Harmeet Dillon slanders Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as an “antisemitic demagogue,” and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blames youth solidarity with Palestine on TikTok. Israel launders its talking points through actress Noa Tishby and her foundation, a new report alleges, and may have violated FARA in the process. Trump admin threatens to cut off SNAP funding in blue states. ICE moves toward a “mega-warehouse” detention facility. Ex-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is released from prison after a Trump pardon. Centrist candidate Salvador Nasralla takes a slim lead in Honduras’ elections. More violence in Pakistan’s northwest. The Ukrainian military disputes Russian claims of gains in the Donbas. Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to cut off Ukrainian access to the sea. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces are systematically holding trapped residents for ransom in El-Fasher. Venezuela resumes repatriation flights. The Philippine military is using U.S. hardware in its counter-insurgency efforts, a new Drop Site report shows. As the feds closed in on Jeffrey Epstein, he estimated in a private email that there might be as many as 20 underage victims, Saagar Enjeti reports for Drop Site.
Israel to open Rafah crossing for exits only; RSF holding trapped El-Fasher residents for ransom; ICE plans for mega warehouse detention centers
Israel announces it will open the Rafah border crossing but only for Palestinians leaving. Hamas to hand over the body of another Israeli captive. Over 200 prominent cultural figures sign a letter calling for the release of Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti. ICE begins targeting Somali Americans in Minnesota. President Donald Trump gives this new antagonism rhetorical support, calling Ilhan Omar and Somalis in general “garbage.” Trump Department of Justice official Harmeet Dillon slanders Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as an “antisemitic demagogue,” and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blames youth solidarity with Palestine on TikTok. Israel launders its talking points through actress Noa Tishby and her foundation, a new report alleges, and may have violated FARA in the process. Trump admin threatens to cut off SNAP funding in blue states. ICE moves toward a “mega-warehouse” detention facility. Ex-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is released from prison after a Trump pardon. Centrist candidate Salvador Nasralla takes a slim lead in Honduras’ elections. More violence in Pakistan’s northwest. The Ukrainian military disputes Russian claims of gains in the Donbas. Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to cut off Ukrainian access to the sea. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces are systematically holding trapped residents for ransom in El-Fasher. Venezuela resumes repatriation flights. The Philippine military is using U.S. hardware in its counter-insurgency efforts, a new Drop Site report shows. As the feds closed in on Jeffrey Epstein, he estimated in a private email that there might be as many as 20 underage victims, Saagar Enjeti reports for Drop Site.
BAGGAO, Philippines—Black Hawk and ATAK helicopters swooped overhead and began firing into the mountains on an early February afternoon. Farmers tilling crops and tending their water buffalo ran for cover, taking shelter as the helicopters strafed the area. In a nearby town square, onlookers recorded with their phones, gasping as explosions ripped across the horizon. A Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter later made rounds in the area, witnesses said, as soldiers sequestered farmers in shelters. They were kept from their farms for weeks as their harvest wilted and died.
It’s a scene that has become a monthly occurrence in the rural Philippines, beginning in early 2023 and continuing today. The military said it was pursuing rebels from the communist New People’s Army (NPA), a designated terrorist group active since 1969, when Jose Maria Sison founded the New People’s Army—a Maoist group waging an armed rebellion primarily based in rural areas. The military and NPA have been in conflict ever since, despite several rounds of failed peace talks, most recently in 2023.
But since 2023, the Philippine military has started using advanced attack helicopters and fighter jets supplied wholly, or in part, by the United States, in a rapid escalation of counterinsurgency operations that have tormented rural communities and led to numerous potential international humanitarian law violations that could trigger policies preventing U.S. military aid, according to dozens of witnesses and experts who spoke to Drop Site News.
Washington says it is arming its ally to defend against Chinese aggression, but the U.S.-manufactured helicopters have so far been used solely on domestic targets.
The Philippines is accused of recklessly using U.S. weapons in operations against its own civilians whose use could trigger legal restrictions on arms transfers.
BAGGAO, Philippines—Black Hawk and ATAK helicopters swooped overhead and began firing into the mountains on an early February afternoon. Farmers tilling crops and tending their water buffalo ran for cover, taking shelter as the helicopters strafed the area. In a nearby town square, onlookers recorded with their phones, gasping as explosions ripped across the horizon. A Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter later made rounds in the area, witnesses said, as soldiers sequestered farmers in shelters. They were kept from their farms for weeks as their harvest wilted and died.
It’s a scene that has become a monthly occurrence in the rural Philippines, beginning in early 2023 and continuing today. The military said it was pursuing rebels from the communist New People’s Army (NPA), a designated terrorist group active since 1969, when Jose Maria Sison founded the New People’s Army—a Maoist group waging an armed rebellion primarily based in rural areas. The military and NPA have been in conflict ever since, despite several rounds of failed peace talks, most recently in 2023.
But since 2023, the Philippine military has started using advanced attack helicopters and fighter jets supplied wholly, or in part, by the United States, in a rapid escalation of counterinsurgency operations that have tormented rural communities and led to numerous potential international humanitarian law violations that could trigger policies preventing U.S. military aid, according to dozens of witnesses and experts who spoke to Drop Site News.
Washington says it is arming its ally to defend against Chinese aggression, but the U.S.-manufactured helicopters have so far been used solely on domestic targets.
The Philippines is accused of recklessly using U.S. weapons in operations against its own civilians whose use could trigger legal restrictions on arms transfers.
These violations could trigger provisions in U.S. law that should block military assistance to individual units of the Philippine military who can be credibly accused of committing gross violations of human rights.
The “Leahy law,” a term for two such provisions that came into focus during Israel’s war [edit genocide not war] in Gaza, ensures that no foreign military unit guilty of human rights violations receives U.S. assistance until it has taken prescribed remediation efforts. Its namesake, former U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, was banned from the Philippines in 2019 after supporting a critic of Duterte.
“A major goal of the Leahy law is accountability,” said John Ramming Chappell, the advocacy and legal advisor at the U.S. program of the Center for Civilians in Conflict. “This is a cornerstone law when it comes to human rights and security assistance in the United States.” Chappell said that, while the white phosphorus incident would not fall under the auspices of the Leahy law, it “raises questions about how security forces in question are identifying civilians and determining civilian status,” a duty of allied militaries under international humanitarian law.
The Leahy law has had little effect in stemming human rights abuses within the Philippine military, despite a history of U.S. government concerns with its behavior. Charles Blaha, who served as director of the State Department’s Office of Security and Human Rights from 2016 to 2023, said his department focused on the Philippine police, who killed thousands in Duterte’s deadly drug war, and did not recall the law being applied to military units involved in the counterinsurgency
...
“Human rights can get outweighed by other factors,” Blaha said.........
The latest efforts to strengthen state secularism, dubbed "secularism 2.0", are part of a new bill introduced by the governing Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) on Thursday, expanding on a 2019 religious symbols law that has fuelled fierce debate throughout the country.
The original law prevents judges, police officers, teachers and public servants from wearing symbols such as the kippah, turban or hijab while at work. The measures proposed in Bill 9 would:
extend the ban on wearing religious symbols to staff in subsidised daycares
bar "collective religious practices" like prayer in public spaces, such as parks, without prior authorisation from municipalities
prevent students and staff from wearing face coverings in daycare all the way through to post-secondary education
Roberge said the limits on public prayer were in reaction to recent protests in the province, where there has been debate over groups praying at pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
A new bill introduced in the Canadian province expands on a 2019 religious symbols law with new measures including a ban on face coverings in daycares.
The German military says the first elements of the Israeli system – radar, launchers and trained personnel – are now operational and can begin protective operations on a limited scale.
The system, which was procured in Israel, is reportedly a response to the threat posed by Russia and is expected to give Germany, for the first time, the ability to detect and intercept incoming ballistic missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
The German armed forces are investing $4.2bn in the system, which is being deployed outside of Israel for the first time.
It is not just about your pc hardware. I much prefer running the latest software on it as I regularly use features from tools added in the last version of something. I would hate to have to wait 6 months to a year to be able to use new features that make my life easier. That might not be every bit of software I use but enough core things that I would notice.
Agreed. That is why I think Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) is a better desktop than Debian Stable. The DE and everyday GUI tools stay fresh even if most of the distro is a time capsule.
I like having the upstream versions of software instead of it being patched by package maintainers.
I like having up to date software. It means that issue trackers for software I use are relevant
Doing distro upgrades when they end support never works gracefully and i have to completely reinstall. I'd rather just use a rolling release which in practice works and is supported indefinitely
I do like bleeding edge updates. For wine for instance
Yeah, Point 1 here is exactly why I moved from Ubuntu to Arch ~10 years ago.
I was trying to get something working and found that the bug / feature had been fixed ~1 year earlier, but that version wasn't in the repos... I couldn't move forwards.
With Arch, all is well. And, I'm either reporting new bugs and helping to get things fixed, or I'm updating the wiki with any changes I notice.
CPUs are usually fine. It's the GPUs that need updates faster, especially Nvidia. However I generally love to have new features as soon as possible too. On the other hand, I like the slowest updates as possible on my home server.
With a rolling release distro you get the most recent upstream stable releases of all your software packages. There is really no blood involved. If you want the risk of blood, you need to install the bloody versions of upstream, i.e. newest git master.
Ubuntu et all on the other hand give you months to years old software. If you're fine with that 🤷. And on big upgrade, they break install different software and tend to break stuff.
my hardware is pretty new, support for it is shaky on slower distros
i prefer to do small, generally reliable updates frequently rather than large, failure prone updates infrequently
although rare, i have run into the wall once or twice on slow release distros, where a program i want to use needs a newer version of a package than my distro supported
Rolling release means that you won't be forced to reinstall the whole system when the number after the name flips. And you won't be locked out of some newer version of a package because the distro you use decided they're cutting off the updates to "old" versions
This...is not accurate. Not being pedantic, just correcting the misunderstanding so you know the difference.
LTS releases are built to be stable on pinned versions of point release kernel and packages. This ensures that a team can expect to not have to worry about major changes or updates for X years.
Rolling Releases are simply updating new packages to whatever versions become available when released. Pretty much the opposite of an expected stable release for any period of time.
Doesn't have anything to with "forced reinstall" of anything. If you've been having to fully reinstall your OS every time a new LTS is released, you are kind of doing extra unnecessary work.
I like getting updates and new features? My computer isn't new by any means. But I tinker with stuff, sometimes bleeding edge technology. Other than that I don't really care. Rolling release, Debian Stable... I'm fine as long as it does the job. And for half the stuff it doesn't even matter. I can write a letter with a 5yo LibreOffice or answer mails with any version of the mail client. Just give me modern, up-to-date tools when developing software, and it doesn't hurt if the slicer knows about my new 3d printer from this year.
What exactly is the point of stable release? I don't need everything pinned to specific versions—I'm not running a major corporate web service that needs a 99.9999% uptime guarantee—and Internet security is a moving target that requires constant updates.
Security and bug fixes—especially bug fixes, in my experience—are a good enough reason to go rolling-release even if you don't usually need bleeding-edge features in your software.
Yep, it is helpful for corporate applications, where nothing can introduce possible behavioural changes, that affect users, program function or the application development.
That's a very odd example to choose given how trivially interchangable kernels are.
At NixOS, we ship the same set of kernels on stable and rolling; the only potential difference being the default choice. I'm pretty sure most other stable distros optionally ship newer kernels too. There isn't really a technical reason why they couldn't.
To be able to predict when something you depend on breaks.
This "something" could be as "insignificant" as a UI change that breaks your workflow. For instance, GNOME desktop threw out X11 session support with the latest release (good riddance!) but you might for example depend on GNOME's X11 session for a workflow you've used for many years.
With rolling, those breaking changes happen unpredictably at any time. It is absolutely possible for that update to come out while you're in a stressful phase of the year where you need to finish some work to hit a deadline. Needing to re-adjust your workflow during that time would be awful and could potentially have you miss the deadline. You could simply not update but that would also make you miss out on security/bug fixes.
With stable, you accumulate all those breaking changes and have them applied at a pre-determined time, while still receiving security/bug fixes in the mean time. In our example that could mean that the update might even be in a newer point release immediately but, because your point release is still supported for some time, you can hold on on changing any workflows and focus on hitting your deadline.
You need to adjust your workflow in either case (change is inevitable) but with stable/point releases, you have more options to choose when you need to do that and not every point in time is equally convenient as any other.
I'd just roll back the problem package to the last acceptable version until I have the time to address whatever the issue is (or block the new version of just that package if I have advance notification). That way, I get the fixes for everything else without breaking my workflow. If a rolling-release distro has a package manager that doesn't allow that, I'd contend that said package manager is broken.
So far I've encountered the smoothest OS experience with Arch-based EndeavourOS. Perhaps twice a year something breaks for which the forum or Arch Wiki usually provided the fix within a day. The other 363 days I simply update in the morning/evening and all is well—sudo pacman -Syu --noconfirm and yay --noconfirm.
Conversely, on Debian, it drives me nuts that one is prevented from updating even if one public key from one unimportant repository is missing or something. This troubleshooting is way harder for beginners than most things I've needed to do to fix my EndeavourOS install.
I've got a complete Linux beginner to start off with EndeavourOS without problems. She's even troubleshooting and fixing suddenly non-working Steam games by herself.
In any case, any Linux is better than Windoze. Try different distributions if you've got a spare PC to test with and see what fits you. For the greatest peace of mind, always have two or more hard drives or have a directory that instantly syncs to a cloud to separate the OS from crucial data one cannot lose in case something goes awry. As for desktop environments (DE), I started off with Xfce about ten years ago, used that most of the time. Then fell for the KDE Plasma hype for about year—they're doing great stuff, but a bit too bloated and buggy for my liking, as well as trying to have a KDE app for everything instead of acknowledging some other software is simply better. One can't be the best at everything. Anyway, then I tested multiple DEs because all of them have exclusively useful features, and the perfect mix between the most prominent ones (Xfce, Plasma, Gnome) I've found to be Cinnamon, the default on Linux Mint. For me that's the perfect beginner friendly DE that also remains highly configurable/extensible to suit experienced users, without being overwhelming/bloated to anyone.
Have fun and build whatever you want in your new awesome sandbox. Screw M$ without restraint nor compassion.
Minimal delay between a program releasing new features or bugfixes and you getting to use them. Even as an avid Debian user, sometimes I get bummed out when they freeze a package for release right before a feature I would have really liked makes it in.
As for security, there's not a huge difference I'm aware of. On Debian, features stay where they are, but maintainers will backport just the security fixes of each package to the current stable release.
This is admittedly anecdotal, but my experience with point releases is that things still break, and when they do, you're often stuck with the broken thing until a new release comes out. For this reason, among others, dist-upgrades tend to be extremely nervewracking.
With a rolling release, not only are fixes for broken things likely to release faster - if something does break, you can pin that package, and only that package, to an older version in the meantime. Then again, I've been using Arch almost exclusively on my desktop for about 7 years and I've never had to do this. I don't doubt that things have broken for people, but as far as I'm concerned, Arch just works.
As far as security goes, I don't think there's much, if any, advantage. Debian, the stablest of them all, still gets security updates in a timely fashion.
Dist upgrade is only dangerous for the people who do it. Wait a few weeks before upgrading to the new release and most broken things will be fixed already. I used arch a lot, and I do like the idea of rolling releases, but at this point for the couple programs I need new features in, I just build them from source.
Rolling vs. point release is not about whether a breaking change happens or not but when.
With rolling, breaking changes could happen at any time (even when inconvenient) but are smaller and spread out. With point release, you get a big chunk of breaking changes all at once but at predictable points in time, usually with migration windows.
I follow linux news I like hearing about new features and have them come to my system quickly. I'd hate to have to wait years for anything new. I'm not worried about stability, i run nothing critical and if I have an issue I'll just fix it.
Less chance of an update breaking things. Lots of small and frequent updates, instead of rare and large update packs/stacks.
I would say a rolling distro update has a higher chance of it breaking something. Each one might bring in a new major version of something that has breaking changes in it. But that breakage is typically easier to fix and less of a problem.
Point release distros tend to bundle up all their breakages between major versions so breaks loads of things at once. And that IMO can be more of a hassle then dealing with them one at a time as they come out.
I tended to find I needed to reinstall point release distros instead of upgrading them as it was less hassle. Which is still more disruptive then fixing small issues over time as the crop up.
Good point. Yes. Small breakage means it's easier to fix. Although, the years I've run my rolling release system, I've had it break maybe one of two times. Easily fixed. Both of those was because there was a change that needed a manual intervention, which I did not read about until after, so those were my own fault.
Upgrades is any security or big fix as well. Those tend to be quite safe in point release distros. Upgrading to a new point release version is has all the same problems the rolling release had over the same period all bundle in one messy upgrade (which makes them a huge pain to deal with as they often compound). But between those, the patch upgrades tend to be quite smooth.
I would say the over a longer time period rolling release break in bigger way less often. But they tend to have more but smaller breakages that are easy to trivial to fix.
You'll need to update to a point release sooner or later.
Are you the kind of person who lives to peel off the band-aid or pull it off in one go?
I prefer to peel mine. I've learned from pulling stitches by ripping it off.
On a more serious note: btrfs and timeshift are 👌. If there ever is a botched package, I'll just roll back to this morning and keep working. It'll probably be fixed by tomorrow.
I tend to use rolling release because I tend to update my hardware with some regularity. Also I hate opening an app or a desktop environment and when I go looking for newly announced features they aren't there within a day or two. Considering current hardware prices the latter has been my primary motivation last couple years.
For me its security patches. I frequently lock app versions manually.
I do have an old laptop that uses a fixed release, because it sees infrequent use.
One needs to adjust whats needed per usecase. For me that means daily drivers get semi-rolling or rolling. Where stability is neede/older systems, fixed releases.
I have a relatively new PC and eventually I decided at Debian Stable.
Granted, I was already somewhat familiar with APT and Debian based systems, but I also was thinking to choose something different or even a rolling release distribution...
...but at the end of the day, I wanted a stable, useable, tested and functional system that I can't easily fuck up or can restore if needed, because, well, it won't be a first time I bork a Linux system with misconfiguring stuff or doing something straight out stupid. But this is irrelevant this case.
I ain't that super familiar with Linux world, so I deliberately chose the safe way. My hardwares are working fine, I have the drivers that work for everything, games running amazingly well... in the past 2 years I use Linux as main OS, I had no problems not being bleeding edge. I kinda had some minor FOMO when Plasma 6 came out and I was "stuck" on 5 with Debian 12, but didn't had to wait too much for Debian 13 that has Plasma 6 by default. Though, I reinstalled everything when 13 came out - but only because I wanted some changes on my partition table, I added a new disk and... I wasn't quite happy how I managed some things with it so I wanted a fresh start - so wasn't upgrading to 13, but I assume it wouldn't be a problem either, not too long ago I upgraded my server from Debian 10 to 12, without issues. (From 10 to 11 and to 12. First I tried from 10 to 12, that was a disaster though. However, the documentation explicitly said not to do such thing, so it was on me.)
I was tinkering with my tech stuff all my life, I now really just want a stable, working OS. But it's just personal preference, I have nothing against rolling release and I can imagine that there are scenarios where rolling release is the better choice.
It is funny. You and I landed in different places but for almost the same reasons.
I use a rolling release because I want my system to work. “Tinkering with my tech stuff” is an activity I want to do when I want and not something I want thrust upon me.
On “stable” distros, I was always working around gaps in the repo or dealing with issues that others had already fixed. And everything I did myself was something I had to maintain and, since I did not really, my systems became less and less stable and more bloated over time.
With a rolling distro, I leave everything to the package manager. When I run my software, most of the issues I read other people complaining about have already been fixed.
And updates on “stable” distros are stressful because they are fragile. On my rolling distro, I can update every day and never have to tinker with anything beyond the update command itself. On the rare occasion that something additional needs to be done, it is localized to a few packages at most and easy to understand.
Anyway, there is no right or wrong as long as it works for you.
I use ancient hardware (as old as 2008 iMacs) and I greatly prefer rolling releases.
Open Source software is always improving and I like to have the best available as it makes my life easier.
In my experience, things just work better. I have spent years now reading complaints online about how Wayland does not work, the bugs in certain software, and features that are missing. Almost always I wonder what versions they are running because I have none of those problems. Lots of Wayland complaints from people using systems that freeze software versions for years. They have no idea what they are missing. This is just an example of software that is rapidly evolving. There are many more.
Next is performance. Performance improvements can really be felt on old hardware. Improvements in scheduling, network, and memory handling really stand out. It is surprising how often improvements appear for even very old hardware. Old Intel GPUs get updates for example. Webcams get better support, etc.
Some kinds of software see dramatic improvements. I work with the AV1 video codec. New releases can bring 20% speed improvements that translate to saving many minutes or even hours on certain jobs. I want those on the next job I run.
I work on my computer every day and, on any given day, I may want or enjoy a feature that was just added. This has happened to me many times with software like GIMP where a job is dramatically easier (for example text improvements tag appeared in GIMP 3).
If you do software development, it is common to need or want some recently developed component. It is common for these to require support from fairly recent libraries. Doing dev on distros like Debian or RHEL was always a nightmare of the installed versions being too old.
And that brings me to stability.
On systems that update infrequently, I find myself working against the software repos. I may install third-party repos. I may build things myself. I may use Flatpak or AppImage. And all of that makes my system a house of cards that is LESS stable. Over time, stuff my distro does not maintain gets strewn everywhere. Eventually, it makes sense to just wipe it all and start fresh. From what I see online, a lot of people have this experience.
On of the biggest reasons I prefer rolling releases with large repos is because, in my experience, they result in much more stable systems in practice. And if everything comes from the repo, everything stays much more manageable and sustainable.
I use Debian Stable on servers and in containers all the time. But, to single it out, I find that actually using it as a desktop is a disaster for all of the above reasons but especially that it becomes an unstable mess of software cobbled together from dozens of sources. Rolling releases are easier to manage. This is the opposite of what some others say, I realize.
In fact, if I do have to use a “more stable” distro, I usually install an Arch Linux Distrobox and use that to get access to a larger repo of more frequently updated packages.
Where did the idea come from that rolling releases are about hardware?
Hardware support is almost entirely about the kernel.
Many distros, even non-rolling ones like Mint and Ubuntu, offer alternative kernels with support for newer hardware. These are often updated frequently. Even incredibly “stable” distros like Red Hat Enterprise Linux regularly release kernels with updated hardware support.
And you can compile the kernel yourself to whatever version you want or even use a kernel from a different distro.
Rolling releases are more about the other 80,000 packages that are not the kernel.
I was just experimenting with arch for my first time last week and I encountered an issue with sunshine (screen streaming software) requiring CUDA for encoding with my GPU but nvidia no longer supports GTX1080 for CUDA, which means I would have to resort to software encoding. Or I can stay on an older version of CUDA but then it will eventually become or maybe already has become incompatible with the rest of the rolling packages. Are there solid workarounds for these types of scenarios?
For software developers, it is better to have frequent tiny changes that can break things, than a big mess of breakage.
Do you hate distractions? Do you love steady improvements? This will affect your preference and judgement about rolling release.
The same can be true for desktop users. It also depends on how stable your software is. If you use mainly vim, dwm, and LaTeX, very few changes will break your flow.
geneva_convenience
in reply to slothrop • • •