I just now noticed from the factory commits prior to release and the current repository manifests that SCPM has been removed as of 11.3. What happened to it? SCPM was a fantastic tool that saved many a road warrior - is it gone for good? SCPM has been a great product differentiator for SuSE.
I also relied heavily on scpm. I used it for example to switch to an external profile where the firewall was stricter, no printer was available (when a printer is installed but not found it can give a long delay, while I would only want to print to pdf or so) Or to switch to a profile where a webserver is started, which is not often used so saves resources, and is a hassle to start manually. I really hope scpm will continue to live!!! Please!
I downloaded and installed yast2-profile-manager, scpm and sumf from the 11.2 repo, and they installed without a problem, so I have scpm working in 11.3. Some time ago I wrote a bash script using kdialog, activated by an icon which gives the switching of profiles in kde4. The old kscpm had dependencies to kde3 and I didn’t like those, so I wrote my own. Now I can easily switch profiles. Hope Opensuse decides to add the scpm rpm’s again to 11.3, it shouldn’t take much maintenance, unless security bugs are found, for me it used to work without problems.
SCPM is one of the major components (among others) for why I prefer to use Suse over other distros. I use SCPM for changing many configuration values for hardware and software cleanly, through one tool, instead of dozens, between when plugged into docking station, when at home, when roaming at coffee shops, when locked down for work or client sites, or when setting up different hardware profiles with different components connected and keeping the configuration consistent for that profile, printers, firewall rules, etc. Networkmanager only handles the networking aspect (and poorly at that, especially for devices that require using if-up mode, and not network manager (driver bugs)).
This tool has been a huge boon to being far more productive over other distros.
Is there any explanation why they dropped it?
Is there any method for petitioning it to be added back, if not in 11.3, at least for future releases?
Without SCPM support, Suse becomes that much more “just another same/similiar Linux distro”, and looses another distinctive benefit over other distros.
I will try the information for the 11.2 kludge, but please advise on how the suse decision makers can be encouraged to bring scpm back.
Thanks!
I have found many other forum postings on various sites from folks who are upset about SCPM being removed, but unfortunately, other than the kludge workaround, no one attempting to talk the OpenSuse folks into bringing it back. For those who find this feature useful, it is critical to let them know.
I did not see any previous openfate creation, so I created one, requesting SCPM be added back to 11.3, and kept in future releases. Please swing by and vote for it to be included: