Well, updating can cause problems whenever you do it.
Technically, you should check the news feed for breaking changes whenever you update your system. Usually, the worst that happens is pacman just barfs. Then you can figure out why and apply any fixes.
Upgrading an Arch install months or even years out of date is not that big of a deal. That’s one of the benefits of a rolling release platform.
Once after a move, an old desktop sat in a box for at least two years and I had it updated in a hour or so. Yes, you have to review the archlinux.org news feed for breaking changes, but if you follow any steps that pertain to your packages it’ll work fine.
Neverball.
So gaming on Linux is obviously amazing now, but back in 2006 or so when I started using it, it was less than great. I probably tried every single game in the Ubuntu repos and Neverball entertained the hell out of me.
I spent hours rolling this shiny ball around. I loved Marble Madness on NES as a kid, so it was a natural fit.
A close second was Freeciv, as I had also grown up with a copy of Civilization.
Honorable mentions to Nesticle and Snes9x.
The problem isn’t specific to anything. It’s also not specific to malware. Vulnerabilities are just as dangerous, if not more so.
Thanks for the suggestion. I am interested in nix, but haven’t explored it yet.
Package metadata isn’t stored in text files because there’s an amazing technology called the database.
All you have to do is learn how to use your package manager. Spend time reading the man pages and learn the options, and you can query everything you need.