Is it safe to use a ghost Arch derivative ?

Drito@sh.itjust.works to Linux@lemmy.ml – 23 points –

Hello, Archlabs is gone . I use this distro so I wonder If I can still update it safely ?

My /etc/pacman.conf

#[testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[core]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[extra]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

#[community-testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[community]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# The multilib repositories are enabled by default in ArchLabs.
# If you don't run 32 bit applications you may comment them out

#[multilib-testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# [archlabs-testing]
# Server =  https://pub-7d84e047b852442a86fd6d7feb1ff2cd.r2.dev/$repo/$arch
# Server =  https://github.com/ArchLabs/$repo/raw/master/$arch
# Server =  https://bitbucket.org/archlabslinux/$repo/raw/master/$arch

[archlabs]
Server = https://pub-7d84e047b852442a86fd6d7feb1ff2cd.r2.dev/$repo/$arch
Server = https://bitbucket.org/archlabslinux/$repo/raw/master/$arch
Server = https://github.com/ArchLabs/$repo/raw/master/$arch
Server = https://sourceforge.net/projects/archlabs-repo/files/$repo/$arch

If it is unsafe how I can turn this into a normal arch ?

2

You'll need to do 4 things:

  1. Refresh your keyring
pacman-keyring --init
pacman-keyring --populate archlinux
  1. Remove the archlabs section from your pacman.conf
  2. pacman -Syyu
  3. Maintenance: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System_maintenance#Check_for_orphans_and_dropped_packages

This should be everything. You'll need to be careful with removing packages with no upstream. I'm not sure how archlabs distributed their configuration files but if they were packages you'll have to be selective about what you remove. Ideally you'll slowly drop those configs for your own versions with future upgrades.

It's not unsafe, unless the servers are kept up but not maintained. If you want to turn in into "normal" Arch you have to replace all packages from the Archlabs repos to some from the official (or other) ones. This might be anything from trivial to painful, depending on modifications.

Also, kinda sad to hear Archlabs is dead, although EndeavourOS is a minimal enough alternative I guess.