Manjaro Linux is based on Arch Linux, but it uses its own software repos so you’re not using the latest Arch packages directly from the Arch repos. Part of the reason is that Manjaro has it’s own kernels, utilities and a subset of packages that are modified, so they maintain three branches: Stable, Testing, and Unstable to make sure their changes are free from bugs, but this also leaves you a bit behind the Arch packages by a couple weeks.
https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?title=Switching_Branches
- Stable branch: The packages that come to stable have gone through roughly a couple of weeks testing by the users of the Unstable/Testing repos, before they get the packages. These packages are usually free of any problems.
- Testing branch: This is the second line of defense. Being a larger number of users than those using Unstable, they refine the work done prior to them by providing feedback on the packages they receive on updates.
- Unstable branch: Unstable is synced several times a day with Arch package releases. Only a subset of Arch packages are modified to suit Manjaro. Those that use Unstable need to have the skills to get themselves out of trouble when they move their system to this branch. They are the Manjaro users who are most likely to need to use such skills. Due to the feedback from the users of the Unstable repo, many issues are caught and fixed at this level. Although the very latest software will be located here, using the unstable branch is usually safe but – in rare cases – may cause issues with your system!
But if you would like to run newer packages you can switch your Manjaro from Stable to Testing and it’s quite easy, and you can always reverse it. The following command will change to testing, but you can also substitute Stable or Unstable.
sudo pacman-mirrors --api --set-branch testingOnce you’ve changed the branch you can update mirrors and run pacman to bring in all the updates.
sudo pacman-mirrors --fasttrack 5 && sudo pacman -SyyuTo check your branch run the following command.
pacman-mirrors -GOnce updated you can load Manjaro Settings Manager and select Kernels to move to a newer kernel. At present the latest Stable kernel is 6.1, but after switching to Testing I was able to load kernel 6.2 and reboot selecting it from GRUB
And we are getting closer to kernel 6.3 being released, so a neat reason to be on testing and change to the latest Linux kernel. And this forum post will show you how to access the Grub menu to select kernel options. So enjoy the Testing Branch on Manjaro.