Is it safe to run ~x86?

[Zeitgeist]

It seems most stable packages like GAIM and XChat have their most recent stable versions in ~x86.

This is confusing to me and it's a pain because not all ~x86 is beta software.

Does anyone here run at ~x86?

[nbensa]

[scriptkiddie]

~x86 really isn't all that unstable... its just 'beta' stuff.. you are safe to use it as your default compile method if you don't care about having beta software on your computer.

[shm]

[scriptkiddie]

I use ~86 by default in my make.conf and then download bleeding edge stuff from debian and/or stuff to compile myself and my system has been running fine since I installed gentoo on it

[aethyr]

Nobody says you have to run your entire system at ~x86.

For the most part I keep my system using x86 packages, but I'm also running gaim-0.68-r2, xchat-2.0.4, etc...

[asph]

if you don't feel like using ~x86 for the hole system, you can just use it to some packages like nvidia drivers (if you have a nvidia card) or to upgrade packages to new beta versions if they come with great improvements..

just use the ~x86 when you need it:

[erik_swanson]

In general I'd concur that running your system at ~x86 is safe. While I don't do it on my server, I have been on my my workstation for the past few months with only the occasional issue (usually compilation failures).

[Lovechild]

~x86 is quite stable. I use it on all my machines, it's actually a little to stable to be called unstable - I had had any problems with it.

[weedy]

~x86 is fine if you don't mind breaking, it has broken badly 2-3 times in the past 6-9 months ive been using it but its generally safe

[Henning Rogge]

I changed to ~x86 a month ago and have no problems with it. It feels like it's booting much faster (gcc 4.1, new baselayout) than before.