I am concerned about installing my 41 updates. For one thing I am runnung SUSE on a 100GB ssd, and for another people are constantly traumatized by breaking their systems with updates. My SUSE OS is running great, it’s very fast and I like it.
@earthnicsi It’s your system, you can do whatever you want 
You can review each of the updates with YaST or zypper to see what they (packages) relate to and why.
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I run on a 32GB nvme with ext4 file system and not btrfs.
Btrfs snapshots eat up lots of disk space - no snapshots with ext4 and I have 44% free.
I do a tar back to an external hard drive on Saturday and rsync my Documents from my 15.5 to my Tumbleweed machine.
I ran Unix on 8K ram and 0.5 MB Hard Drive in 1973. 32GB seems awful large to me.
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It is not the size of the device that matters, but the size of the root partition (and thus the root file system).
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Appears you are worried about disk usage. Updates replace an old version of a package with a new version and the net change in disk usage is small and sometimes negative. “zypper up” will tell you what the net change in disk usage is before you make the changes occur. As suggested by others, you don’t need to update until you run into a situation where something doesn’t run properly.
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In all the 17 years that I have been using SUSE I have never had a update break the system. The worst I ever experienced was downloading a buggy kernel but I was able to proceed by selecting the previous kernel until the bug was fixed. Similarly, with the occasional problem with an application it did not break the system.
I have a 16 year old notepad with a 120GB hard drive on which I allowed 30GB for the / partition, formatted with Ext4. So far, including the TeXLive distribution, less than 15GB of the partition is being used.
As they say, past performance is no guarantee of future performance but a good indicator that you should not encounter a broken system.
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As the others said, there shouldn’t be any worry. The root partion on my laptop is just 40GB with BTRFS and snapshots enabled. Updates never should get you in disk space trouble. zypper up will even tell you how much additional space will be required - if any. Upgrades may be more of an issue requiring more space just temporarily. But even that doesn’t mean there’s a problem.
If you want to be very sure, you may provide some more information of your system. You might start of with lsblk -f in a console.
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Please be aware that, in the UNIX® and Linux world, patches and updates always replace the existing system files – the old versions are overwritten.
- An exception is, the configuration files – in the /etc/ directory tree you’ll often find ??.rpmnew and ??.rpmold files – from the user “root” execute “rpmconfigcheck” to find which configuration files have new or archived (“old”) versions.
Use “diff” to find out what changed and then, merge the changes into your system configuration.
When the message appears that patches and updates are available, execute the following from a “normal” user – here with my actual Leap 15.5 system:
> LANG=C zypper list-patches
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Repository | Name | Category | Severity | Interactive | Status | Summary
-------------------------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------+----------+-------------+--------+-----------------------------
Update repository with updates from SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 | openSUSE-SLE-15.5-2023-3253 | recommended | moderate | --- | needed | Recommended update for bind
Update repository with updates from SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 | openSUSE-SLE-15.5-2023-3257 | security | moderate | --- | needed | Security update for pipewire
Found 2 applicable patches:
2 patches needed (1 security patch)
>
There are 2 security patches and 2 recommended patches …
Just for fun, I’ll show you the reason for the security patch:
> LANG=C zypper patch-info openSUSE-SLE-15.5-2023-3257
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Information for patch openSUSE-SLE-15.5-2023-3257:
--------------------------------------------------
Repository : Update repository with updates from SUSE Linux Enterprise 15
Name : openSUSE-SLE-15.5-2023-3257
Version : 1
Arch : noarch
Vendor : maint-coord@suse.de
Status : needed
Category : security
Severity : moderate
Created On : Wed Aug 9 13:47:05 2023
Interactive : ---
Summary : Security update for pipewire
Description :
This update for pipewire fixes the following security issues:
- Fixed issue where an app which only has permission to access one stream can also access other streams
(bsc#1213682).
Bugfixes:
- Fixed division by 0 and other issues with invalid values (glfo#pipewire/pipewire#2953)
- Fixed an overflow resulting in choppy sound in some cases (glfo#pipewire/pipewire#2680)
Provides : patch:openSUSE-SLE-15.5-2023-3257 = 1
Conflicts : [82]
gstreamer-plugin-pipewire.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
gstreamer-plugin-pipewire.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
libpipewire-0_3-0.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
libpipewire-0_3-0.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
libpipewire-0_3-0-32bit.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
libpipewire-0_3-0-32bit.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
srcpackage:pipewire < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-alsa.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-alsa.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-alsa-32bit.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-alsa-32bit.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-devel.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-devel.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-doc.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-doc.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-lang < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-libjack-0_3.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-libjack-0_3.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-libjack-0_3-32bit.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-libjack-0_3-32bit.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-libjack-0_3-devel.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-libjack-0_3-devel.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-module-x11-0_3.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-module-x11-0_3.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-modules-0_3.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-modules-0_3.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-modules-0_3-32bit.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-modules-0_3-32bit.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-pulseaudio.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-pulseaudio.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-spa-plugins-0_2.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-spa-plugins-0_2.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-spa-plugins-0_2-32bit.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-spa-plugins-0_2-32bit.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-spa-tools.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-spa-tools.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-tools.x86_64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-tools.noarch < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
gstreamer-plugin-pipewire.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
libpipewire-0_3-0.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-alsa.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-devel.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-doc.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-libjack-0_3.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-libjack-0_3-devel.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-module-x11-0_3.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-modules-0_3.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-pulseaudio.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-spa-plugins-0_2.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-spa-tools.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-tools.s390x < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
gstreamer-plugin-pipewire.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
libpipewire-0_3-0.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-alsa.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-devel.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-doc.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-libjack-0_3.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-libjack-0_3-devel.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-module-x11-0_3.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-modules-0_3.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-pulseaudio.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-spa-plugins-0_2.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-spa-tools.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-tools.ppc64le < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
gstreamer-plugin-pipewire.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
libpipewire-0_3-0.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-alsa.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-devel.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-doc.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-libjack-0_3.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-libjack-0_3-devel.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-module-x11-0_3.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-modules-0_3.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-pulseaudio.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-spa-plugins-0_2.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-spa-tools.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
pipewire-tools.aarch64 < 0.3.64-150500.3.3.1
>
Oh dear – there was a “division by 0” error in the code and, also, there was a buffer overflow issue …
- And, both those issues have now been resolved – thanks to the patch which will now be applied …
You choice:
- Be worried.
- Be happy and simply apply the offered patches and updates …
And here, the normal update via zypper up:
pluto:~ # LANG=C zypper up
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
The following 8 items are locked and will not be changed by any action:
Available:
Mesa-dri-nouveau Mesa-dri-nouveau-32bit libXvMC_nouveau libXvMC_nouveau-32bit libvdpau_nouveau libvdpau_nouveau-32bit xf86-video-nouveau
Installed:
inxi
The following 9 package updates will NOT be installed:
epson-inkjet-printer-escpr inxi iscan iscan-data libmodplug1 libnfs14 mozilla-nspr pptp utils-libnfs
The following 16 packages are going to be upgraded:
gstreamer-plugin-pipewire libpipewire-0_3-0 libwireshark15 libwiretap12 libwsutil13 pipewire pipewire-lang pipewire-modules-0_3 pipewire-spa-plugins-0_2 pipewire-spa-tools pipewire-tools vim vim-data vim-data-common wireshark wireshark-ui-qt
16 packages to upgrade.
Overall download size: 34.8 MiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation, additional 90.5 KiB will be used.
Continue? [y/n/v/...? shows all options] (y):
Have a look at the second last line:
Overall download size: 34.8 MiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation, additional 90.5 KiB will be used.
You always have the chance to check and abort in any kind of doubt.