minstall problem and a Question

[rs55]

An upgrade to minstall over the past few days has caused issues. Freezes. After a couple of tries worked - until it got towards the end - then insisted on a username/password ( i usually skip this - since I am installing on my own machines) - then did not install grub - and was unable to boot at all..
Fortunately, I had a snapshot from earlier - so I am OK.

Question:
Is there a way to freeze things like snapshot, LUM, minstall and other such critical system features? These were all working flawlessly, and I have no interest in beta-testing new versions of these.
I would still like to run the MX-updater for security updates and minor tweaks.

More broadly, perhaps the devs should consider that now that MX Linux has moved out of the hobbyist mode to a Major Mainstream Distro - maybe dont push out updates on critical system components too fast? Wait till all the bugs are ironed out - and maybe do it on some schedule. Its disconcerting to run an update and have the critical system components failing. Thanks!

[mxer]

Strange, I haven't been 'offered' any updates for a couple of weeks - did you seek out updates or was it actually 'offered' up to you(?).

[rs55]

Strange, I haven't been 'offered' any updates for a couple of weeks - did you seek out updates or was it actually 'offered' up to you(?).

Yes plenty - probably 30-50 updates.
Anyway - to answer my own question: Its easy - go to the Repo manager and uncheck the Antix and MX boxes. Still get Debian updates, security updates, chrome updates. But thats it. And thats all I want - because MX Linux is Perfect the way it is- and I want to freeze that.

I'll gladly try the next version of MX on my experimental machine , make sure everything works etc. And Iam sure it will continue to be superb.
But I want my day to day machine to be predictable. I dont play with OS stuff everyday, I would say its more of a hobby . I prefer to play with it when I want to, when I have free time.

[asqwerth]

An upgrade to minstall over the past few days has caused issues. Freezes. After a couple of tries worked - until it got towards the end - then insisted on a username/password ( i usually skip this - since I am installing on my own machines) - then did not install grub - and was unable to boot at all..
Fortunately, I had a snapshot from earlier - so I am OK.

Question:
Is there a way to freeze things like snapshot, LUM, minstall and other such critical system features? These were all working flawlessly, and I have no interest in beta-testing new versions of these.
I would still like to run the MX-updater for security updates and minor tweaks.

More broadly, perhaps the devs should consider that now that MX Linux has moved out of the hobbyist mode to a Major Mainstream Distro - maybe dont push out updates on critical system components too fast? Wait till all the bugs are ironed out - and maybe do it on some schedule. Its disconcerting to run an update and have the critical system components failing. Thanks!

Just to clarify, the freezing and other issues happened as you were installing the distro from an up-to-date snapshot? Or the 18.3 iso itself on which you applied all updates?

[rs55]

An upgrade to minstall over the past few days has caused issues. Freezes. After a couple of tries worked - until it got towards the end - then insisted on a username/password ( i usually skip this - since I am installing on my own machines) - then did not install grub - and was unable to boot at all..
Fortunately, I had a snapshot from earlier - so I am OK.

Question:
Is there a way to freeze things like snapshot, LUM, minstall and other such critical system features? These were all working flawlessly, and I have no interest in beta-testing new versions of these.
I would still like to run the MX-updater for security updates and minor tweaks.

More broadly, perhaps the devs should consider that now that MX Linux has moved out of the hobbyist mode to a Major Mainstream Distro - maybe dont push out updates on critical system components too fast? Wait till all the bugs are ironed out - and maybe do it on some schedule. Its disconcerting to run an update and have the critical system components failing. Thanks!

Just to clarify, the freezing and other issues happened as you were installing the distro from an up-to-date snapshot? Or the 18.3 iso itself on which you applied all updates?

From an uptodate snapshot of my system.

[JayM]

Can we see your Quick System Info please?

[fehlix]

... towards the end - then insisted on a username/password ( i usually skip this - since I am installing on my own machines) - then did not install grub - and was unable to boot at all..

That's rather an unusual installation procedure. Might be installing without user setup has worked in older versions differently.

Is there a way to freeze things ...

I think you could set a package on "hold" ( apt-mark: "mark on hold" or synaptic : "lock version") so it will not be upgraded ...

[rs55]

Can we see your Quick System Info please?

Unfortunately I dont have the offending minstall on my system now. I have reverted the system back to how it was about a week ago. But if it is helpful here is the inxi from my current system ( which is flawless!):
System:
Host: w520-1 Kernel: 5.1.0-6.1-liquorix-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64
compiler: gcc v: 6.3.0 Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3
Distro: MX-18.3_x64 Continuum Feb 9 2019
base: Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 4270CTO v: ThinkPad W520
serial: <filter>
Mobo: LENOVO model: 4270CTO serial: <filter> UEFI [Legacy]: LENOVO
v: 8BET66WW (1.46 ) date: 06/14/2018
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 53.1 Wh condition: 67.5/93.2 Wh (72%)
model: SANYO 42T4799 status: Unknown
CPU:
Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-2760QM bits: 64 type: MCP
arch: Sandy Bridge rev: 7 L2 cache: 6144 KiB
flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 19138
Speed: 902 MHz min/max: 800/3500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1112 2: 2458
3: 1316 4: 861
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics
vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.2 driver: none resolution: 1600x900~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile v: 3.3 Mesa 18.2.6
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio
vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0
Device-2: Texas Instruments Audio Codec type: USB
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus ID: 2-1.1:3
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.1.0-6.1-liquorix-amd64
Network:
Device-1: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
port: efa0 bus ID: 03:00.0
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 698.65 GiB used: 268.74 GiB (38.5%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 500GB size: 465.76 GiB
ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO mSATA 250GB
size: 232.89 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 95.62 GiB used: 20.61 GiB (21.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb2
ID-2: swap-1 size: 3.91 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb3
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 45.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2543
Info:
Processes: 214 Uptime: 4h 09m Memory: 15.45 GiB used: 2.09 GiB (13.5%)
Init: SysVinit runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 6.3.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.12
inxi: 3.0.33

[rs55]

... towards the end - then insisted on a username/password ( i usually skip this - since I am installing on my own machines) - then did not install grub - and was unable to boot at all..

That's rather an unusual installation procedure. Might be installing without user setup has worked in older versions differently.

Is there a way to freeze things ...

I think you could set a package on "hold" ( apt-mark: "mark on hold" or synaptic : "lock version") so it will not be upgraded ...

Yes , perhaps. The way I use snapshot/LUM is - I make a USB of my current laptop with all kinds of things I have done to it. Then I use that USB to install an identical copy of my system on 4 other machines. So - I want to have the same Username/login , passwords etc on all machines. I found the easiest way to do this was to simply skip the last page of minstall where it asks for username etc. because it wont let me put in the same username that is on the USB version.
Maybe there is a more elegant way to accomplish this?

[dolphin_oracle]

The new installer very likely won't complete without that information.

However, if you do a "personal" snapshoy.that information should be preserved. The installer should skip user creation in that case. Or at least it used to.