Arch-Based Manjaro Users Express Concern Over Update Strategy

While I've ran benchmarks of the Arch-based Manjaro Linux distribution in the past and found it a convenient way to play with Arch and overall a nice distribution, it seems for users running it day in and day out aren't entirely satisfied with the update strategy of Manjaro.

Manjaro's stable repository isn't frequently updated but the developers strive to update it about bi-weekly and by default there's no continual flow of fresh packages from Manjaro. Right now though Manjaro's stable repository hasn't been updated in over one month -- since 25 October -- and that includes no security fixes.

A Phoronix reader and Arch user wrote into Phoronix to describe the current situation and also pointed out a forum thread: No package updates for a long time - is this normal?

People considering using Manjaro need to know about this.
People using Manjaro need to know about this.
And hopefully enough people knowing will force the developers to do something about it.

Manjaro's stable-repo hasn't received any updates since 25th Oct. That's over a month now.

The reason for this is they don't compile their own packages, they just grab them in snapshots from Arch and make update packs which normally hit stable in two weeks.

But if there is an issue with any one of those packages in the pack they can't give you any of the updates at all.

As an example Firefox has a new version since 14th Nov, which is stuck in testing and cannot be moved to stable because Arch compiled it against newer versions of packages than what is currently in Manjaro stable. So it won't work without a bunch of other packages that are also in testing. They have some issues with some of the packages right now and hence no updates for over a month.

For a better inside look at whats happening please look at this thread on their forums where I have been trying really hard to get this issue sorted with them.

As you can see they are less than open to fixing this. Or even caring.