Leap: Discover vs Online Update vs Zypper Update

Most posts I see similar to this are about Tumbleweed. For Leap 15.6 I am confused about why after running an Online Update or Zypper update, Discover still shows a huge list of System Software to be updated.

My understanding of Discover was to only manage apps and flatpaks? Could someone clarify why there would still be outstanding updates.

Thought Online Update is a GUI version of Zypper, but even then I always seem to get discrepancies.

Usually I will run zypper update, but would like to know why there’s 3 ways of doing this and what the differences are.

I’m not seeing this.

I use Leap 15.6. I normally update with “zypper”. After that update, I start “Discover” and it usually tells me that the system is up to date. It does sometimes list BIOS updates (which is the reason I start “Discover”.

If you have flatpacks installed, the Discover will likely suggest updates to those. I don’t think “zypper” updates flatpacks.

Sorry I should clarify a bit. I don’t expect zypper or Online Update to touch Flatpaks.

Every time I’ve tried Online Update in Yast, it will update a fair amount, but then immediately after zypper update and there is always additional packages to install that Online Update has not done.

And even after running both of those, Discover still shows System Packages on top of Flatpaks that it wants to update.

YaST Online Udate only updates from the standard repos. When you have other repos, e.g. Packman, those are not looked at by YOU. zypper up or it’s equivalent in YaST will install newer version from all repos. Thus done immediate after YOU, zypper up will install from non-standard repos. Doing the other way around, YOU will do nothing because it is already done.

I can not comment on anything based on PackageKit. Not installed here.

The difference between YOU and zypper up is also explained in the documentation. YOU applies only patches whilst zypper up also provides package updates.

You will need to show at least some facts. Like the full protocol of the zypper update and then the screenshot of the Discover with “huge list” (and what is inside this “huge list”).

Yes, that can happen. Yast online update only installs patches. It doesn’t install all updates. But “zypper update” should install those additional updates.

Personally, I use:

zypper patch --with-update

for my normal updating. It will sometimes tell me to rerun the command a second time.

Aye, zypper doesn’t touch flatpaks, at all. Those are handled either by running flatpak update or through the flatpak backend in Discover/Gnome-Software/etc

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Ok thank you that does clarify a bit. Not really sure why to use YaST Online Update then if zypper is going to get it all.

I have done all the updates now, but the process I did this time just to test was: YaST Online Update, Zypper, Discover update. Discover showed about 70 system updates after running both YOU and Zypper.

We have never experienced what you’re claiming. Been running openSUSE for a very long time.

You’re possibly mis-interpreting what is being presented, or not rebooting after an update (if required)

The only “updates” that Discover offers us after running “zypper up” (and after a reboot, if required), are Flatpak updates and associated packaging required, and possible update for the computer’s BIOS (yes, Discover offers the ability to update your computer’s BIOS).

One other observation … it was requested to show evidence of the behavior you are seeing, which hasn’t happened yet. There’s an old saying in technical forums, “no one is looking over your shoulder”, so it’s guesswork for folks assisting you.

I will demonstrate my most recent update (moments ago) using visual clues, which shows Discover is not somehow more knowledgeable about updates. This will show what I see, so others can also “see” :+1:

What were the steps I did? (screenshots and text output to follow)

  • I first executed Discover and checked for updates. (first screenshot). I did NOT do an update …you can see what it offered to update. I quit Discover
  • Then I opened a command line and did a “su -l” then a “zypper up”. That is shown as the Preformatted Text that follows
  • After zypper up was finished, I executed Discover again and checked for updates … nope, no updates (last screenshot)

First run of Discover - shows some updates, but I quit Discover to run zypper up:

discover

#  zypper -vvvv up
...
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Force resolution: No

The following 5 items are locked and will not be changed by any action:
 Available:
  gtk3-immodule-amharic gtk3-immodule-inuktitut gtk3-immodule-thai gtk3-immodule-tigrigna gtk3-immodule-vietnamese

The following 3 packages are going to be upgraded:
  brave-browser-beta
    1.75.169-1 -> 1.76.47-1                      x86_64
    Brave Browser - Beta                                          Brave Software, Inc.
  libostree
    2023.7-150500.3.6.1 -> 2024.10-150500.3.9.4  x86_64
    Update repository with updates from SUSE Linux Enterprise 15  SUSE LLC <https://www.suse.com/>
  libostree-1-1
    2023.7-150500.3.6.1 -> 2024.10-150500.3.9.4  x86_64
    Update repository with updates from SUSE Linux Enterprise 15  SUSE LLC <https://www.suse.com/>

3 packages to upgrade.

Package download size:   120.8 MiB

Package install size change:
              |     379.0 MiB  required by packages that will be installed
     8.1 MiB  |  -  370.9 MiB  released by packages that will be removed

Backend:  classic_rpmtrans
Continue?  yes
...

Second run of Discover shows no updates

discover2

Personal preference. Some prefer the GUI over the CLI.

And remind that YaST is the system management tool of openSUSE. It is one of the strong points of openSUSE. And it would have been very strange if it would not have an update facility for the openSUSE official system. And that is what YaST → Software → Online update is.

BTW, you can use YaST from a (ANSI) terminal (emulator).

yast