Installing software REALLY slow

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#1

When I open a program to install software, it seems to take a half hour to configure repos and another half hour to install what I select. If the system is checking for updates, I can forget about installing software for the rest of the evening, because Yast will ask kPackageKit to shut down, but kPackageKit will not comply. Is that normal? For instance, as I write this, the auto updater has been Refreshing Package Cache for over an hour and a half.

I’ve tried with a lean list of repos, whch doesn’t speed things up by much, but adds time to reconfigure the repos if I need something from build service like WINE.

Is there somewhere besides Firefox where openSUSE thinks it should use IPv6?

Thanks, GEF

PS: Found another thread with a similar complaint; the poster fixed his problem with a static IP address on his PC. That didn’t make any difference for me.

#2

Since posting above, I rebooted to end kpackagekit, started yast before it kicked back in. Yast started amazingly quickly, that may be the secret, start it immediately upon boot. I set yast to download scribus and some games and utilities, total half a gig, then dined with my wife. About 45min have elapsed, and yast shows 15% complete!

I like opensuse generally but had so many problem installing 11.3 on a new laptop (touchpad and wifi) that I gave kubuntu a try. It was far from perfect and I found myself using windows more often than not, and ultimately switched back to opensuse when I heard that 11.4 worked great on hardware like mine. Except for this, it does indeed, but I find myself missing Kubuntu’s speed on software installs, which weren’t instaneous by any means, but no longer than a coffee break.

GEF

#3

I should’ve specified before that I am using opensuse 11.4 on an hp dv7 laptop with a 7Mbps DSL connection. That is, I routinely measure 7Mbps to this machine, which is about 30’ from the router with no obstructions except my body. Hidef video streaming looks great with no chop, even on the PS3 which has distance and walls separating it from the router. The dv7 I have has an AMD triple core processor and an ath9k wifi card.

#4

You will find many posts here that state that you should NOT use PackageKit (and thus also not KPackageKit).

#5

On 07/26/2011 04:26 AM, gfagan wrote:
>
> I should’ve specified before that I am using opensuse 11.4 on an hp dv7
> laptop with a 7Mbps DSL connection. That is, I routinely measure 7Mbps
> to this machine, which is about 30’ from the router with no obstructions
> except my body. Hidef video streaming looks great with no chop, even on
> the PS3 which has distance and walls separating it from the router. The
> dv7 I have has an AMD triple core processor and an ath9k wifi card.

try these things:

  • use YaST to delete kpackagekit (it is broken, read around in these
    fora and see, for example:
    http://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php?t=460773)

  • go to YaST Software Repositories and disable and stop the refresh of
    all repos other than one instance of each: oss, non-oss, packman and
    update (see the para beginning with “IMPORTANT!” here:
    http://tinyurl.com/33qc9vu

  • while in the Repo module of YaST, also disable the refresh of the oss
    and non-oss because, like the DVD/CD they never change, ever…

then, try another software install…see if things go a little quicker…

if not i guess the mirror redirector is sending you to a slow mirror,
read here: http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Mirrors where you will find
how the system works and can link to a full list of mirrors and (if you
wanna try) pick a (hopefully faster) close mirror…and, if it is a
university, business or government server be aware that many (all) of
those throttle the free traffic during their local business/school
hours…and, you might actually get faster downloads from a server on
the other side of the world, in the middle of its non-work time…

if none of those hints help i guess you have a network problem or some
setup/hardware problem…

–
DD
Caveat-Hardware-Software
openSUSE®, the “German Engineered Automobiles” of operating systems!

#6

Thanks DD, I downloaded a k3b update today and it was blazing fast, so I guess my previous note of slow downloads may have had to do with how many updates a new install wants. Yast -> Software Management still seems to take a minute or 5 to open, even with only the 4 repos (OSS, N-OSS, Update, Packman) loaded and only the latter 2 marked for refresh. -GEF

#7

On 08/01/2011 10:06 AM, gfagan wrote:

> Yast -> Software Management still
> seems to take a minute or 5 to open, even with only the 4 repos (OSS,
> N-OSS, Update, Packman) loaded and only the latter 2 marked for refresh.

yep, but it would take longer if it had to refresh many more…

so, here is the deal:

YaST has a LOT of stuff going on that you don’t see, and each step takes
a ‘moment’:

-contacts software.opensuse.org
-awaits routing to a mirror
-connects to the mirror
-request a list of what the mirror contains
-looks at what is on your machine
-offers you its services (say, search for something new)

some of those step require info from the openSUSE online repositories
which relies very heavily on donated servers and band width…

if they trickle out the list of stuff available, it will slow everything
down…

depending on the time of day, the mirror selected, net congestion, your
ISP’s idea of how fast you really need something from China or
Bolivia, the phase of the moon, and etc…it might be slow, or fast!

for comparison, my 11.4 with KDE4 on a rather feeble netbook (see below)
just opened Software Management in 12 seconds…so, maybe you need to
look at your networking…

or, if you have more money than time it is possible to keep a full
mirror on your network constantly and automatically updated…so, when
you want something it is easily found and QUICK!!

–
DD
Caveat-Hardware-Software
openSUSE®, the “German Engineered Automobiles” of operating systems!

#8

Hi gfagan

When you have deleted PackageKit and installs/updates with yast or zypper are still slow then try to set the IP numbers 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as your nameservers in /etc/resolv.conf and check if this makes a difference.

#9

That helps a lot, actually. Thanks. -GEF

#10

That helps a lot, actually. Thanks. -GEF

Thank you for the feedback. When this helps it means that you have (better: had) a problem with DNS and IPv6. Your ISP’s nameservers have a problem with IPv6 and you can’t disable IPv6 completely on your side due to some bug in 11.4. So, leave it as it is now, with the two IP numbers I gave you being Google public nameservers. This will not break anything else, and you may consider it as a “permanent workaround”.