I caused my DE to die by acting foolishly (Arch KDE)
I caused my DE to die by acting foolishly (Arch KDE)
Despite warnings against using AMD Mesa GIT, I decided to proceed. Last night KDE mentioned several updates needed, but installation stalled due to a missing dependency—Clang. Removing Clang and reinstalling Clang GIT seemed reasonable. After running the uninstall script, it failed because an update was still in progress. Using pacman forced the Mesa GIT update to finish. Once done, I restarted the system. It now freezes during systemd initialization. To resolve this, I plan to reboot into my installer and adjust the partition. Before attempting, I’m seeking guidance from more experienced users to avoid further complications. I also invested significant time personalizing my desktop exactly as desired.
If that's the primary issue, you can restore the $HOME folder and reinstall, then transfer the files again.
Unless major problems exist (like corrupted files or unexpected packages), reinstalling isn’t necessary. I suggest clearing all AUR-installed packages using pacman and reapplying the graphics drivers from the official documentation. If you used non-Arch repositories, extra steps may be required. The linked guide offers advice on identifying untouched files, which should address that issue. As noted, this appears to be a graphics or system concern unrelated to your desktop setup, so configuration changes are best handled through your home directory. Rebuilding from scratch by backing up and restoring your home folder is an option, though it might be more time-consuming than needed.
Edited January 20, 2021 by Wild Penquin
Also, after reviewing your message I saw you intend to use chroot. This isn't usually required when your bootloader functions properly. You can pass kernel arguments so it won't launch an X.org session. The standard method is to set: systemd.unit=rescue.target on these contemporary systemd systems, though "single", "1" or "s" also serves as an alias from older sysvinit times. How you implement this varies with your bootloader. Refer: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sys..._boot_into This is less prone to errors compared to chroot (though it will still work), but networking and bind mounts might add a few extra complications, if any. In cases where the kernel is broken and you can't even reach rescue target, chroot may become necessary. Edited January 20, 2021 by Wild Penquin
It likely finished without issues if you remain on the Mesa-Git branch together with its dependencies. There might be a compatibility problem with the current QT version or a simple game bug. Did you run any uninstall command? You probably used the repo from the Arch Wiki, and you can view the involved packages here: https://pkgbuild.com/~lcarlier/mesa-git/x86_64/. From your chroot setup, you’ll likely just need to revert Mesa and its upstream dependencies. This advice is based on the information above; since I’m not installing on Arch right now, I can’t confirm all package names or bundled items. But it should guide you correctly. After that, try running pacman -S mesa to reinstall it.