Problems with Yast?

I am an utter newbie, so apologies in advance for the inevitable ignorance and faux-pas.
I installed open suse 13.1 KDE desktop on my dell laptop. Most things have gone pretty well - although the getting the wifi running was a chore.
My question is about yast - it seems to have stopped working properly.
Through the yast gui (control center), when I click on Software management, or Software repositories modules - the cursor turns into a watch for a few seconds and then…nothing. I’ve been working around this by getting a bit more familiar with zypper and OCICLI, but now I’ve hit a wall.
I am trying to install the nvidia drivers from this page https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_drivers
There is a one-click install, when I click it I choose yast as the program to open it with, and (I seem to recall this used to install stuff, but now) it simply downloads a ymp file to my /tmp/ directory. I
I have tried OCICLI on the url of the OCI button (and on the downloaded ymp), but the terminal window gives me no feedback, so I have no idea whether or not that has been successful.

Reading the forums I’ve seen various similar sounding issues, but none of the suggested fixes have worked for me.
Many thanks in advance

Perhaps best to try solve YaST first.

Open a terminal and start yast (as root) from there:

yast2

Go on and try open Software Manager next, look at what the terminal output.

Another approach is to try the text based YaST, see if that loads the module properly:

yast

Thanks for your quick reply.
The yast2 command launched a blue-background yast session (never seen this before, so thanks for the heads up).
Going to Software Management of that session it hung at Loading the Package Manager and asked me to install disc 1. Does this mean my Suse 13.1 disc?
I skipped it this time and it ran through to the end but it reported my skip back as an error at the end:

An error occurred during repository initialization. │ │
│ │|] Valid metadata not found at specified URL │ │
│ │History: │ │
│ │- SKIP request: User-requested skipping of a file │ │
│ │- Can’t provide /media.1/media

Sudo yast brought up a seemingly identical thing, which had the same problem with identical error message.
Does this provide any insight?

Maybe you need to disable your installation media in the software repositories

A quick search on how to disable installation media, gives a confused mess of answers - did you have a specific methodology in mind?
Thanks for the quick response.

On Sun, 23 Mar 2014 18:06:01 GMT
smcgrother <smcgrother@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
> caf4926;2632401 Wrote:
> > Maybe you need to disable your installation media in the software
> > repositories
>
> A quick search on how to disable installation media, gives a confused
> mess of answers - did you have a specific methodology in mind?
> Thanks for the quick response.
>
>

In YaST ==> Software Repositories, click on the line for the DVD
(or whatever you’re using) and then un-tick “enabled” below. The
“automatically refresh” box should already be un-ticked.

As far as I know, this normally shouldn’t be necessary but I’ve had to
do it on at least one of my machines running 13.1. All part of life’s
rich pageant.


Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks.
openSUSE 13.2-m0 (64-bit); KDE 4.12.2; AMD Phenom II X2 550 Processor;
Kernel: 3.14-rc5; Video: nVidia GeForce 210 (using nouveau driver);
Sound: ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

go to manage repositories and disable the local cd/dvd repo.

Thanks gents
So I was able to see that one of the repositories had a URL that began with “cd” whereas all the others were http, or ftp.
I disabled the “cd” one.
Then I went back to software management and this time I did not get an issue as it ran, but at the end I still got an error message:

An error occurred during repository initialization. │ │
│ │|] Valid metadata not found at specified URL │ │
│ │History: │ │
│ │- |] Repository type can’t be determined. │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │

I tried the yast control center GUI again (my original issue), and the modules are still not working.
Any ideas?
Thanks

On 2014-03-23 20:36, smcgrother wrote:
>
> Thanks gents
> So I was able to see that one of the repositories had a URL that began
> with “cd” whereas all the others were http, or ftp.
> I disabled the “cd” one.
> Then I went back to software management and this time I did not get an
> issue as it ran, but at the end I still got an error message:

Try instead:


su -
zypper lr --details
zypper --verbose ref

and paste it back here, inside code tags (the ‘#’ button in the forum
editor). See photo

The code tags thing is important. If you don’t know how to do it, don’t
paste, ask again.


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

Not 100% sure about the code tags, but giving it a shot:

                               | Service                                                                                                                                                        
---+------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+---------+---------+----------+--------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------                                                                                                                                                             
 1 | Google_Chrome                            | Google_Chrome                            | Yes     | No      |   99     | rpm-md | http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/x86_64                                                   |        
 2 | google-chrome                            | google-chrome                            | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/x86_64                                                   |        
 3 | home:markush1986:branches:home:ludmiloff | home:markush1986:branches:home:ludmiloff | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/markush1986:/branches:/home:/ludmiloff/openSUSE_12.3/ |        
 4 | libdvdcss                                | libdvdcss                                | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://opensuse-guide.org/repo/13.1/                                                                  |        
 5 | libqt4                                   | libqt4                                   | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | NONE   | ftp://rpmfind.net/linux/opensuse/factory/repo/oss/suse/x86_64/libqt4-devel-4.8.5-11.1.x86_64.rpm      |        
 6 | openSUSE-13.1-1.10                       | openSUSE-13.1-1.10                       | No      | No      |   99     | yast2  | cd:///?devices=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-HL-DT-ST_DVD+_-RW_GSA-T11N_KVA79U11225                             |        
 7 | openSUSE:Factory                         | openSUSE:Factory                         | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | yast2  | http://download.opensuse.org/factory/repo/oss/                                                        |        
 8 | opensuse-multimedia-apps                 | opensuse-multimedia-apps                 | Yes     | No      |   99     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/multimedia:/apps/openSUSE_13.1/                             |        
 9 | packman                                  | packman                                  | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://packman.inode.at/suse/openSUSE_13.1/                                                           |        
10 | repo-debug                               | openSUSE-13.1-Debug                      | No      | Yes     |   99     | NONE   | http://download.opensuse.org/debug/distribution/13.1/repo/oss/                                        |        
11 | repo-debug-update                        | openSUSE-13.1-Update-Debug               | No      | Yes     |   99     | NONE   | http://download.opensuse.org/debug/update/13.1/                                                       |        
12 | repo-debug-update-non-oss                | openSUSE-13.1-Update-Debug-Non-Oss       | No      | Yes     |   99     | NONE   | http://download.opensuse.org/debug/update/13.1-non-oss/                                               |        
13 | repo-non-oss                             | openSUSE-13.1-Non-Oss                    | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | yast2  | http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/13.1/repo/non-oss/                                          |        
14 | repo-oss                                 | openSUSE-13.1-Oss                        | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | yast2  | http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/13.1/repo/oss/                                              |        
15 | repo-source                              | openSUSE-13.1-Source                     | No      | Yes     |   99     | NONE   | http://download.opensuse.org/source/distribution/13.1/repo/oss/                                       |        
16 | repo-update                              | openSUSE-13.1-Update                     | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/update/13.1/                                                             |        
17 | repo-update-non-oss                      | openSUSE-13.1-Update-Non-Oss             | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/update/13.1-non-oss/                                                     |        
18 | wine                                     | wine                                     | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Emulators:/Wine/openSUSE_13.1/                              |        


And the verbose ref:

Verbosity: 1
Initializing Target
Specified repositories: 
Checking whether to refresh metadata for Google_Chrome
Retrieving: repomd.xml .............................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Repository 'Google_Chrome' is up to date.
Checking whether to refresh metadata for google-chrome
Retrieving: repomd.xml .............................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Repository 'google-chrome' is up to date.
Checking whether to refresh metadata for home:markush1986:branches:home:ludmiloff
Retrieving: repomd.xml .............................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Repository 'home:markush1986:branches:home:ludmiloff' is up to date.
Checking whether to refresh metadata for libdvdcss
Retrieving: repomd.xml .............................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Repository 'libdvdcss' is up to date.
Checking whether to refresh metadata for libqt4
Retrieving repository 'libqt4' metadata ...........................................................................................................................................................[error]
Repository 'libqt4' is invalid.
|] Valid metadata not found at specified URL
History:
 - |] Repository type can't be determined.

Please check if the URIs defined for this repository are pointing to a valid repository.
Skipping repository 'libqt4' because of the above error.
Skipping disabled repository 'openSUSE-13.1-1.10'
Checking whether to refresh metadata for openSUSE:Factory
Retrieving: content ................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Retrieving: media ..................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Repository 'openSUSE:Factory' is up to date.
Checking whether to refresh metadata for opensuse-multimedia-apps
Retrieving: repomd.xml .............................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Repository 'opensuse-multimedia-apps' is up to date.
Checking whether to refresh metadata for packman
Retrieving: repomd.xml .............................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Repository 'packman' is up to date.
Skipping disabled repository 'openSUSE-13.1-Debug'
Skipping disabled repository 'openSUSE-13.1-Update-Debug'
Skipping disabled repository 'openSUSE-13.1-Update-Debug-Non-Oss'
Checking whether to refresh metadata for openSUSE-13.1-Non-Oss
Retrieving: content ................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Retrieving: media ..................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Repository 'openSUSE-13.1-Non-Oss' is up to date.
Checking whether to refresh metadata for openSUSE-13.1-Oss
Retrieving: content ................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Retrieving: media ..................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Repository 'openSUSE-13.1-Oss' is up to date.
Skipping disabled repository 'openSUSE-13.1-Source'
Checking whether to refresh metadata for openSUSE-13.1-Update
Retrieving: repomd.xml .............................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Repository 'openSUSE-13.1-Update' is up to date.
Checking whether to refresh metadata for openSUSE-13.1-Update-Non-Oss
Retrieving: repomd.xml .............................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Repository 'openSUSE-13.1-Update-Non-Oss' is up to date.
Checking whether to refresh metadata for wine
Retrieving: repomd.xml .............................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Repository 'wine' is up to date.
Some of the repositories have not been refreshed because of an error.


Apologies if I made any mistakes, I’m truly grateful for your help.

All right, your repository list looks suspicious. First off I would remove the openSUSE:Factory and the home:markush … (12.3, this is wrong OS version) repoes
and deactivate everything but:


openSUSE-13.1-Oss
openSUSE-13.1-non-Oss 
openSUSE-13.1-Update 
openSUSE-13.1-Update-Non-Oss 

There are some alternative ways to approach the issue from here, ‘zypper dup’ perhaps; though, might be best to see what other suggest also.
My bet is that there are package/system conflicts derived from having the factory repo available and active; besides, if you aren’t conscious of what and how you install when having so many active repositories it is easy to get into problems with version conflicts etc.

On 2014-03-23 23:46, smcgrother wrote:

> Not 100% sure about the code tags, but giving it a shot:

Good enough.

I’ll jump to the conclusion fast. Look at the verbose ref, it says:


>   Retrieving repository 'libqt4' metadata ...........................................................................................................................................................[error]
>   Repository 'libqt4' is invalid.
>   |] Valid metadata not found at specified URL
>   History:
>   - |] Repository type can't be determined.
>
>   Please check if the URIs defined for this repository are pointing to a valid repository.

So, repository ‘libqt4’ is invalid. Why? Well, look at your repository
list, check its URL:


>  ftp://rpmfind.net/linux/opensuse/factory/repo/oss/suse/x86_64/libqt4-devel-4.8.5-11.1.x86_64.rpm

That’s not a repository, it is a single package! It will not work.

Now, let us check your repository list in more detail.

Code:



>                                    | Service
>   ---+------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+---------+---------+----------+--------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------
>   1 | Google_Chrome                            | Google_Chrome                            | Yes     | No      |   99     | rpm-md | http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/x86_64                                                   |
>   2 | google-chrome                            | google-chrome                            | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/x86_64                                                   |

Repos 1 and 2 are the same, so remove one.

>   3 | home:markush1986:branches:home:ludmiloff | home:markush1986:branches:home:ludmiloff | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/markush1986:/branches:/home:/ludmiloff/openSUSE_12.3/ |

Two points. You should avoid "home" repositories, unless you have a good
reason to use that one, on a case by case basis. Sometimes they are
simply experiments of their owners, so you need word from them that it
is safe to use them.

Point two, is that this repo is intended for 12.3, and you seem to be
using 13.1.

So you should remove this one, too.


>   4 | libdvdcss                                | libdvdcss                                | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://opensuse-guide.org/repo/13.1/                                                                  |

Ok.

>   5 | libqt4                                   | libqt4                                   | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | NONE   | ftp://rpmfind.net/linux/opensuse/factory/repo/oss/suse/x86_64/libqt4-devel-4.8.5-11.1.x86_64.rpm      |

Nope. It is not a repo. AND, the package it points to is for factory
version, not 13.1.


>   7 | openSUSE:Factory                         | openSUSE:Factory                         | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | yast2  | http://download.opensuse.org/factory/repo/oss/                                                        |

Now, remove this one ASAP. It is FACTORY!

You should not mix repository versions, and you should NEVER add a
Factory repo unless you really intend to use the Factory "non-release".
And in that case you must be confident on being able to solve some
issues on your own, because the purpose of factory is testing software
before it is released to the public. It fails, it fails a lot.

And you don't have that knowledge yet, or you would not have this
repository mix :-)

>   8 | opensuse-multimedia-apps                 | opensuse-multimedia-apps                 | Yes     | No      |   99     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/multimedia:/apps/openSUSE_13.1/                             |

Pse...

>   9 | packman                                  | packman                                  | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://packman.inode.at/suse/openSUSE_13.1/                                                           |

Ok...


After removing those two repositories of the wrong version, specially
factory, you have to also change back anything that came from them to
the standard versions. And this is complicated because YaST does not work.

Maybe a “zypper dup”, but it is very drastic and has dangers of its own.

I’m not sure what step to recommend next.

Me, I would get a listing of packages with this concoction:


rpm -q -a --queryformat "%{INSTALLTIME}	%{INSTALLTIME:day} \
%{BUILDTIME:day} %-30{NAME}	%15{VERSION}-%-7{RELEASE}	%{arch} \
%25{VENDOR}%25{PACKAGER} == %{DISTRIBUTION} %{DISTTAG}
" \
| sort | cut --fields="2-" | tee rpmlist | less -S

I would identify the packages from the wrong release, specially those
related to the yast toolchain, and force update of them using zypper.


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

On 03/23/2014 06:46 PM, smcgrother pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
> robin_listas;2632438 Wrote:
>>
> Code:
> --------------------
> > >
> > su -
> > zypper lr --details
> > zypper --verbose ref
> >
> --------------------
>> rlos E. R.
>> (from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)
> Not 100% sure about the code tags, but giving it a shot:
>
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> | Service
> —±-----------------------------------------±-----------------------------------------±--------±--------±---------±-------±------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------±-------
> 1 | Google_Chrome | Google_Chrome | Yes | No | 99 | rpm-md | http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/x86_64 |
> 2 | google-chrome | google-chrome | Yes | Yes | 99 | rpm-md | http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/x86_64 |
>

Repo 1 & 2 are the same delete one of them.

Ken

Ok gents, you’ve given me a lot to go on.
I was clearly frivolous, reckless even, with the old repositories…let me be a salutary lesson for other newbies.
I’ve disabled/removed the extraneous repos - and as y’all clearly anticipated this was a necessary but insufficient step (i.e., Yast ist still kaput)
I’ll tackle the identifying and fixing packages tomorrow…no doubt there’ll be further questions.
“And you don’t have that knowledge yet, or you would not have this
repository mix :-)”

Amen my brother!

But I’m getting there - thanks to your help.

Yes, that doesn’t change the installed packages, and you apparently have a mixture of 13.1 and Factory which prevents YaST from working.

Running “sudo zypper dup” should fix it.
But the multimedia:apps repo might disturb the full codecs support from Packman, so run this afterwards to switch the multimedia packages to their Packman version again where available:

sudo zypper dup --from packman

If you get any conflict messages, better ask if in doubt.

Alright. So after weighing the pros and cons I went with zypper dup. There were a couple of conflicts, but the choice seemed clear. All else went smoothly, and YAST WORKS! Nothing else seems to be broken either.
You guys are all fantastic -thanks so much.

So in the interests of teaching a man to fish, what should I do in the future if I want to install something that is in a repository other than the ones I have enabled?
(a) Is there a way to install it without the repo? (What would the command be?)
(b) should I keep searching for it until i find a non-repo version?
(c) should I enable the repo only for as long as I need to install the tool I need?
(d) something else I have not considered?

WRT the quoted text - do you anticipate that I need some stuff from the packman repo? Does that command install from that repo but leave the repo disabled in yast (as previous posters have had me configure it)?
Thanks again
You guys are bloody marvelous.

Why do you want to insist now to install things without adding the repo?
IMHO it’s better to add the repo as you get updates as well.

Of course it is possible to install a package (from software.opensuse.org f.e.) without adding a repo. Just download the rpm and install it with either opening it in a file manager, “rpm -i”, or “zypper in”.
But you might have to download/install all dependencies manually as well in that case, especially if you use “rpm -i”.

So I’d recommend to use repos, just be careful on what 1-click installs you click. Foremost, they should be intended for your installed openSUSE version, never ever click on a 1-click install for Factory! (as that will add the Factory repo to fulfill the dependencies)

A compromise is of course to disable/remove the repo after you installed the things you want.
But normally that shouldn’t be necessary (and again you don’t get any updates for those packages then), because YaST/zypper does NOT switch packages to versions from other repos by default.

WRT the quoted text - do you anticipate that I need some stuff from the packman repo?

Well, depends on your requirements of course.
You NEED stuff from Packman, if you want to play/open most multimedia files.

Does that command install from that repo but leave the repo disabled in yast (as previous posters have had me configure it)?

Nobody told you to disable the Packman repo AFAICS.
And you need to have it enabled if you want to install stuff from it. (that’s the point of disabling a repo: that nothing can be installed from it)

I had a closer look now at the multimedia:apps repo and compared it to Packman.
The “zypper dup --from packman” should not be necessary. The critical stuff has a higher version/revision in Packman anyway.

On 2014-03-24 12:36, smcgrother wrote:

> Alright. So after weighing the pros and cons I went with zypper dup.
> There were a couple of conflicts, but the choice seemed clear. All else
> went smoothly, and YAST WORKS! Nothing else seems to be broken either.
> You guys are all fantastic -thanks so much.

Welcome :slight_smile:

> So in the interests of teaching a man to fish, what should I do in the
> future if I want to install something that is in a repository other than
> the ones I have enabled?
> (a) Is there a way to install it without the repo? (What would the
> command be?)

Yes, rpm, but it gets complicated.

> (b) should I keep searching for it until i find a non-repo version?

No, that’s worse.

> (c) should I enable the repo only for as long as I need to install the
> tool I need?

Sometimes this can be advisable. Not always. See note (1) below.

> (d) something else I have not considered?

If you need something that is not in the default or official repos, you
have to search for it on some other repo. Which ones to add is the
problem. In general, avoid repos labeled as “home” if possible.
Absolutely avoid repos for a different release. Try to keep your repo
list to a minimum: with each repo you add, you increase the risk of
conflicts.

Some repos are documented in the wiki, like those to update KDE or GNome
desktops, so read those wiki pages first.

If you use repos to replace core components of the system, specially
libraries used by many other components, the risk increases. This is
what probably happened to you; you replaced either components of yast,
or libraries used by yast (QT?), so that it stopped working, which is
unlucky.

Using a repo to update or add an application (or a few) is typically
quite safe for the rest of the system.

> WRT the quoted text - do you anticipate that I need some stuff from the
> packman repo? Does that command install from that repo but leave the
> repo disabled in yast (as previous posters have had me configure it)?

If you want multimedia, like watching videos, you do need packman, no
way around that.

> Thanks again
> You guys are bloody marvelous.

Welcome :slight_smile:

Note (1).

An example. Years ago, to watch movie DVDs we needed the decss code. We
got this from the videolan repo. Now, this repo conflicts with packman
(it is one or the other), so the advise was to add the video lan repo,
install the decss package, then disable videolan. Now we don’t need to
do that because we have a separate repo that provides only that package,
so no need for tricks.

Now, as a further clarification, or rather to mud your brain a bit more
:stuck_out_tongue: (kidding), it is possible to have videolan and packman at the same
time - but you have to be careful what to install from each one. You can
not, say, install vlc from one and the vlc codecs from the other.


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

Why do you want to insist now to install things without adding the repo?
IMHO it’s better to add the repo as you get updates as well.

I think he refer to what some of us suggested about being cautious with which repoes/software to use, which makes sense as he was a bit careless in the first place.

Exactly this should actually work even.

It’s the other lower-level libraries that cause the problem.
ffmpeg (which consists of several packages) f.e. is very picky about the exact package versions.
I haven’t checked which package is actually causing the problem, but I could think of libx264 or libvpx as well.