I mean, how often do you want to wipe everything away and clean install?
Even in macOS, I clean installed every once in a while.
But for Ubuntu, new version came out, and I might want to clean install.
Hopefully, for Arch, there would be no real need to clean install again.
With Debian there is no need to do a clean install. You can do a
apt dist-upgradeto upgrade to a new Debian version. I have done so a few times without issues. I have had a server running for 6+ years with multiple upgrades. I will upgrade it again very soon.I've been using EndeavourOS since March 2020, and its still up 'n running. Arch based distros don't need a reinstall every now and then - that was one of the reasons why I prefer them over point release distros.
I found out that Distro / DE hopping isn't a problem, as long as you backup
~/*; specifically,~/.local,~/.config,~/.mozillaand~/.*; but pleasels -ato check first.Also, now I need
*.debor*.rpmsupport, for closed source packages.debtapdoesn't always work.So, I am back to Ubuntu (+triple boot Arch, Windows). But
dkpg/debisn't as convenient asyay, or evenpacman... (Still, Synaptic Package Manger is much more decent than tkPacman or pamac-aur.)Another problem is, sometimes, maybe often, compiling takes a very long time; including
ungoogled-chromiumandlinux-rt.xkcd.com/303/
I haven't yet tried debtap. For ungoogled chromium, you can get a pre-built binary from chaotic aur repo aur.chaotic.cx/
Linux-rt is available in disastrous aur. These are third party repos so Arch devs take no responsibility. Chaotic AUR is popular, and comes with Garuda Linux too. But they can be a hassle. Ubuntu is better when it comes to binary packages support.
To search packages in unofficial repo, you can use this site : pkgs.org/
About distro hopping - I used to do that a lot until 2019. I had separate home partition so I did not lose any data or app configs. Now I have a single partition installation for simplicity's sake.
Honestly, only when something goes wrong with my Linux and I have problems getting things back to normal. But I probably should run clean installs once a while.
Maybe, you haven't destroyed your Linux enough. You really should try Arch, and hop Display Manager, Desktop Environment...
Ha okay. Maybe i'll try those out!
I first installed arch ~6 years ago, I never had to make a clean install, and I still use it as my main OS on my personal laptop (:
Void Linux has rolling releases, so the next time I'll start from scratch is when I get a new notebook.
About once every 2 years. Not because it's necessary (it isn't) but just to get rid of all experiments I did along the way. I use Linux Mint.
Thanks for practicality.