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My system has been running for 61 days:

$ uptime
09:30:37 up 61 days,  5:09,  1 user,  load average: 0.42, 0.63, 0.49

Of course I don't have it powered on all the time destroying the environment, it is suspended most of the time:

$ suspendtime
Linux uptime 5,289,027 seconds (8 weeks, 5 days, 5 hours, 10 minutes, 27 seconds)
127 Suspends 3,159,701 seconds (5 weeks, 1 day, 13 hours, 41 minutes, 41 seconds)
Real uptime 2,129,326 seconds (3 weeks, 3 days, 15 hours, 28 minutes, 46 seconds)

Source of suspendtime: How to get real uptime?

I kind of brag about how much better Ubuntu is than Windows because you don't have to reboot it all the time. However:

  • Two days ago a terminal screen froze
  • Last couple of days keyboard repeat rate slowed about 20%
  • Buttons on my python program grew 10 times too high

Do I have to reboot?

WinEunuuchs2Unix
  • 102,282
  • I would imagine there has been at least one update during that time that would like a reboot, unless you have it setup for none reboot updates. – crip659 Jun 07 '20 at 16:49
  • @crip659 Um no. Why would I want to sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade what's not broken? But I will have to reboot soon to install Windows 10 WSL2 update and Ubuntu 20.04 upgrade on test partition. At that time I'll upgrade 16.04 too. You could also say I have a side mission to test how long Ubuntu will stay up without need for reboot. I used to install new mainline/stable kernels weekly to check for bugs but don't do that anymore. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Jun 07 '20 at 17:00
  • There was a guy a few years ago running a server, wanted to see if he could keep it running more than a year. He got a bad malware or something, found if he applied an update and rebooted months ago it would have prevented it. – crip659 Jun 07 '20 at 17:13
  • @crip659 I avoid malware, spyware and adware like the plague. Decades ago I was tricked into visiting sites and downloading free windows apps which spread the viruses but now it's just Linux sites like this one I visit. Before Ask Ubuntu I used to frequent UbuntuForums and I think there is a thread there of people posting the uptime results. Some security updates like Intel Predictive Branching memory leaks I've actually turned off because they take up 10% resources or something like that. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Jun 07 '20 at 17:52
  • Linux makes it harder, but not impossible. Quite a few updates are to repair holes in the system. It is up to each of us how to run our systems. – crip659 Jun 07 '20 at 18:11
  • FYI: I debated with myself about updating to 20.04, because of all of the stuff installed on my system. I run a pretty un-modified system, but I was concerned it would self-implode. Well, I have to say, 20.04 is definitely the best Ubuntu they've released so far. Highly recommended as a long overdue option for you. – heynnema Jun 07 '20 at 18:16
  • @heynnema The software I develop must be compatible to 16.04 as long as it is supported which is April 2021. Of course what I develop still runs on 18.04 and 20.04 some of it even runs on Windows 10 WSL. Moving to 20.04 gives no new tools for software development and takes away ability to test for 16.04 bugs. The new kernels in 20.04 I can install on 16.04 via the mainline/stable branch, indeed even newer kernels for 20.10. After 16.04 is EOL I do plan on learning Java Script for 20.04 development. *Looks over shoulder for Byte or Thomas who are about to nuke all our comments* ;) – WinEunuuchs2Unix Jun 07 '20 at 18:37
  • @crip659 About 2 hours after my last comment there was a power failure and as luck would have it my UPS battery was weak, my laptop battery only had 13% charge due to bug. But I got to install 32 GB RAM upgrade sitting around since March 2020 and now have free -h no reports Used:" 1.4 G and Free 128G`. Still it was Karma bragging about Linux uptime that caused the power to go out for 20 blocks or so. Oh well might as well install updates now :) – WinEunuuchs2Unix Jun 07 '20 at 22:35

1 Answers1

1

Simply logout and login again

Powering off and on is the best way of cleaning your system out entirely and starting fresh. Rebooting comes very close to that.

However many times you can simply logout and back in to start with a fresh desktop without any frozen windows, lagging keyboard or mouse, etc. If problem persists then you can go the extra mile and reboot.

When you log back in you may receive a crash report like the one below. I've checked the box to show more details. Because this is a random error and it was 61 days in the making I'm not sending the crash report to the folks at Canonical (makers of Ubuntu). I don't want to waste their time on such a trivial issue.

To prevent sending crash report to Canonical, uncheck the box at the bottom titled "Send an error report to help fix this problem".

Unresponsive Terminal Internal Error after logging in.png

WinEunuuchs2Unix
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