First post after installing Leap 42.1 My first Suse install but I am an ex Kubuntu, Mandriva & Mandrake user…
Trying to get my head around Suse. Always a KDE user.
Have several questions to get myself back into full gear…
I noticed that some of the installed applications are quite antiquated versions, especially KDE (4.4.18), LibreOffice (5.0.4.2).
e.g. My KDE version is 4.4.18, with Applications being 4.14.10 & KDE Development Platform 4.14.18.
Is this the norm for Leap 42.1 or do I need to update to newer STABLE repos?
Not into bleeding edge version as I use this system for work & home.
I have found the following repos for KDE. Are they suitable for a working system?
You’re mixed up by the way the KDE devs have implemented the transition from KDE4 to Plasma5. You actually run Plasma5, but there are some KDE4 packages included to allow you to run applications that have not yet been ported to Frameworks5. At least not at the time of release of Leap 42.1
If during install “Online repositories” is checked, the Update repos will be enabled and used during install, bringing you a more recent Plasma5 + Applications version. Of course the updates can be done afterwards, the update repos should be activated during post-install anyway.
Mind: the packages from the Update repos have gone through openQA, the ( just a bit more recent ) ones from mentioned repos haven’t.
My 2 cents: the KDE:Extra repo is OK to add, don’t add any other KDE repos unless you know what you’re doing.
Thanks for the prompt reply. Sorry about my delay in acknowledging it, work got itself in the way in the meantime. It’s now Sunday evening so I have a chance to look at my system …
I am struggling a little with YaST at the moment with said updates (used to use Synaptic)
a. When I go into Online Update in YaST I get no updates/patches showing by default. So it appears that nothing needs to be updated
And if I change the setting for Patch Category to “All Patches” it shows heaps of patches. I presume these are now unnecessary (superceded by previous patches), having been done previously by the system.
However, when I went to the command line & did “Zypper update” & “zypper dup” I got updates to install (which I did).
(I am used to Kubuntu & are familiar with apt-get, hence I used the above commands).
So I am not clear how the YaST update program compares with Zypper i.e. why updates occur on the command line but not in YaST? Am I missing something extremely obvious!
b. I go to the Software Updates option in the System Tray it tells me that “Network is Offline”. However I most certainly am connected
I have not put the firewall in place yet, another task to do once I have got the basics going here… So I am not sure what’s going on.
Patch is not the same as update. In essence patch only comes from the OS update repo and update comes from all repos that may have newer packages and are the same vendor as the installed packages. dup is a distro update and should only be used to move between OS versions for the most part unless advised to use here. Yast update only shows patches so you don’t see newer packages from other repos. dup can get you into trouble if you don’t understand it.
This part. It seems that you are a bit confused about the difference between updates and patches.
YaST Online Update only shows you Patches. Those are coming from the Update repos (yes the name is thus confusing) that belong to the standard openSUSE repos (OSS and nonOSS). These are the only “official” updates you get for your standard (OSS and nonOSS) openSUSE version. An openSUSE version (Tumbleweed excepted) does not normaly introduce new versions of software during it’s lifetime. That could break the integral testing that was done for that version. However it does provide patches for security or other important reasons. Because many of these patches, coming from upstream, are often for newer versions of that upstream product, these patches are backported to the openSUSE version of that product. You see that in the build numbers after the - in the version number. Thus, you do not get the newer version (that may confuse you with different behaviour), but you do get the security even if it is orginaly only provided for a newer version. YaST > Software > Online Update does the same as zypper patch.
When you have other repos, like Packman, added, these do not come with an Update partner. Newer versions, including security patches are delivered as new versions. As such you will see them in blue in the YaST > Software > Software Management listings. And you can install them with e.g. Right Click inside the list and then choose All in this list > Update if a newer version is available (either for all, or e.g. for a single repo when you use the Repositories View). This is equivalent to zypper up. Remind that a zypper up includes a zypper patch (but not the other way).
There are also some applets around in several desktops that warn you if updates (thus including patches) are available. They can also provide some automatics (like install them without you giving you a chance to check what is going on :().
If you’re talking about packagekit at least in the past with KDE applet it offered an option to prompt you when the updates are ready and then show you the list of what will be installed if you click ok
Don’t know right know cause I stopped using it.
KDE user here: In te past I did not install Packagekit and Apper, I have made a note that in Leap 42.1 that must be plasm5-pk-updates.
Other desktops, other tools I assume. As far as I know at least some of them could/can be configured to install without waiting for an OK click.
