Saving an installation of Slowroll that was carried out under quarantine measures (no internet)

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hi there,

this is my first post here. I’m asking for a friend :wink:

My friend is not allowed, to have internet access while installing
a slowroll iso using their VM solution due to corporate security guidelines.
The VM has to be scanned at first, after the offline installation was done.
Only after that scan didn’t find anything, internet access might be granted
for additional package installations.

But once this is done, the now integrated VM
might be cloned multiply times for the deployment to the users.

They can’t freely select a different iso. Perhaps they can, but only with a lot of paperwork.

The iso they used is this one from last year, which isn’t publicly available anymore.
They did select KDE Plasma for the installation.

https://download.opensuse.org/slowroll/iso/openSUSE-Slowroll-DVD-x86_64-Build31.4-Media.iso (dead link)

The problem they have and see is that they can’t install e.g. the package libQt5Core-devel

We verified this with our Proxmox VM solution.

Test 1:
install the 31.4 iso WITH NO internet available (KDE selected as desktop),
after that allow internet access and try to install the package → (problem see below)
(with and without an extra ‘zypper dup’ before the package installation)

Test 2:
install the 31.4 iso WITH internet available (KDE selected as desktop),
install the package → no problem.
(with and without an extra ‘zypper dup’ before the package installation)

Test 3: (use the most uptodate 46.2 slowroll iso)
install the 46.2 iso WITH NO internet available (KDE selected as desktop),
after that allow internet access and try to install the package → no problem
(with and without an extra ‘zypper dup’ before the package installation)

My friend told us also they have over 700 packages
which won’t get updated with ‘zypper dup’ (no screenshot available)

Question 1:
Do you think such a situation as in Test 1 can be fixed?
What has to be done here?

Question 2:
Could the situation perhaps be saved, with a small additional set of packages?
however they are going to be installed.
(less paperwork)

Question 3:
Might such a situation happen again after some time with a newer iso as the 46.2 one?

Question 4:
Even if Slowroll might not be the proper distribution here.
Do you have perhaps an idea how to prevent the perceived repo disruption?

The proposed solutions given by zypper kind of don’t work on closer inspection.
Solution 1: deinstalls the desktop
Solution 2: doesn’t solve the situation
Solution 3: doesn’t install the to be installed package
Solution 4: is out of question, which essentially yields an unusable installation for QT development.

There is a similar problem when trying to install the equivalent QT6 development package.

Best regards
Andre

here is the log we see for Test 1. essentially the same with an extra ‘zypper dup’

user@localhost:~> cat /etc/os-release
NAME="openSUSE Tumbleweed-Slowroll"
# VERSION="20250402"
ID="opensuse-slowroll"
ID_LIKE="opensuse-tumbleweed opensuse suse"
VERSION_ID="20250402"
PRETTY_NAME="openSUSE Tumbleweed-Slowroll"
ANSI_COLOR="0;32"
# CPE 2.3 format, boo#1217921
CPE_NAME="cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:slowroll:20250402:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
#CPE 2.2 format
#CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:opensuse:slowroll:20250402"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugzilla.opensuse.org"
SUPPORT_URL="https://bugs.opensuse.org"
HOME_URL="https://www.opensuse.org"
DOCUMENTATION_URL="https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Slowroll"
LOGO="distributor-logo-Slowroll"
user@localhost:~> sudo zypper install libQt5Core-devel

We trust you have received the usual lecture from the local System
Administrator. It usually boils down to these three things:

    #1) Respect the privacy of others.
    #2) Think before you type.
    #3) With great power comes great responsibility.

For security reasons, the password you type will not be visible.

[sudo] password for root:
Retrieving repository 'openSUSE-Slowroll-Non-Oss' metadata ................................................................................................................[error]
Repository 'openSUSE-Slowroll-Non-Oss' is invalid.
[repo-non-oss|http://download.opensuse.org/slowroll/repo/non-oss/] Failed to retrieve new repository metadata.
History:
 - [|] Error trying to read from 'http://download.opensuse.org/slowroll/repo/non-oss/'
 - Download (curl) error for 'http://download.opensuse.org/slowroll/repo/non-oss/content':
   Error code: Connection failed
   Error message: Could not resolve host: download.opensuse.org
Please check if the URIs defined for this repository are pointing to a valid repository.
Warning: Skipping repository 'openSUSE-Slowroll-Non-Oss' because of the above error.
Retrieving repository 'Open H.264 Codec (openSUSE Tumbleweed)' metadata ...................................................................................................[error]
Repository 'Open H.264 Codec (openSUSE Tumbleweed)' is invalid.
[repo-openh264|http://codecs.opensuse.org/openh264/openSUSE_Tumbleweed] Failed to retrieve new repository metadata.
History:
 - [|] Error trying to read from 'http://codecs.opensuse.org/openh264/openSUSE_Tumbleweed'
 - Download (curl) error for 'http://codecs.opensuse.org/openh264/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/content':
   Error code: Connection failed
   Error message: Could not resolve host: codecs.opensuse.org
Please check if the URIs defined for this repository are pointing to a valid repository.
Warning: Skipping repository 'Open H.264 Codec (openSUSE Tumbleweed)' because of the above error.
Retrieving repository 'openSUSE-Slowroll-Oss' metadata ....................................................................................................................[error]
Repository 'openSUSE-Slowroll-Oss' is invalid.
[repo-oss|http://download.opensuse.org/slowroll/repo/oss/] Failed to retrieve new repository metadata.
History:
 - [|] Error trying to read from 'http://download.opensuse.org/slowroll/repo/oss/'
 - Download (curl) error for 'http://download.opensuse.org/slowroll/repo/oss/content':
   Error code: Connection failed
   Error message: Could not resolve host: download.opensuse.org
Please check if the URIs defined for this repository are pointing to a valid repository.
Warning: Skipping repository 'openSUSE-Slowroll-Oss' because of the above error.
Retrieving repository 'openSUSE-Slowroll-Update' metadata .................................................................................................................[error]
Repository 'openSUSE-Slowroll-Update' is invalid.
[repo-update|http://download.opensuse.org/update/slowroll/repo/oss/] Failed to retrieve new repository metadata.
History:
 - [|] Error trying to read from 'http://download.opensuse.org/update/slowroll/repo/oss/'
 - Download (curl) error for 'http://download.opensuse.org/update/slowroll/repo/oss/content':
   Error code: Connection failed
   Error message: Could not resolve host: download.opensuse.org
Please check if the URIs defined for this repository are pointing to a valid repository.
Warning: Skipping repository 'openSUSE-Slowroll-Update' because of the above error.
Some of the repositories have not been refreshed because of an error.
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
'libQt5Core-devel' not found in package names. Trying capabilities.
No provider of 'libQt5Core-devel' found.
Resolving package dependencies...
Nothing to do.
user@localhost:~> sudo zypper install libQt5Core-devel
PackageKit is blocking zypper. This happens if you have an updater applet or other software
management application using PackageKit running.
We can ask PackageKit to interrupt the current action as soon as possible, but it depends on
PackageKit how fast it will respond to this request.
Ask PackageKit to quit? [yes/no] (no): no
System management is locked by the application with pid 2537 (/usr/libexec/packagekitd).
Close this application before trying again.
user@localhost:~> sudo zypper install libQt5Core-devel
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Resolving package dependencies...

Problem: 1: the installed libQt5Gui5-5.15.16+kde130-1.6.x86_64 requires 'libQt5Core.so.5(Qt_5.15.16_PRIVATE_API)(64bit)', but this requirement cannot be provided
 Solution 1: Following actions will be done:
  deinstallation of plasma6-integration-plugin-6.3.3-1.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of plasma6-workspace-6.3.3-1.2.x86_64
  deinstallation of xdg-desktop-portal-kde6-6.3.3-1.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of plasma6-theme-openSUSE-84.87~git20240313T170730~9c664b7-21.1.noarch
  deinstallation of plasma6-session-6.3.3-1.2.noarch
  deinstallation of plasma6-sddm-theme-openSUSE-84.87~git20240313T170730~9c664b7-21.1.noarch
  deinstallation of kdeplasma6-addons-6.3.3-1.2.x86_64
  deinstallation of plasma6-desktop-emojier-6.3.3-2.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of plasma6-branding-openSUSE-84.87~git20240313T170730~9c664b7-21.1.noarch
  deinstallation of patterns-kde-kde_plasma-20240311-2.4.noarch
  deinstallation of plasma6-session-x11-6.3.3-1.2.x86_64
  deinstallation of sddm-branding-openSUSE-0.21.0-5.1.noarch
  deinstallation of sddm-qt6-branding-openSUSE-6.3.3-1.2.x86_64
  deinstallation of patterns-kde-kde-20240311-2.4.noarch
 Solution 2: deinstallation of xwaylandvideobridge-0.4.0+git12-3.11.x86_64
 Solution 3: do not install libQt5Core-devel-5.15.18+kde109-1.2.x86_64
 Solution 4: break libQt5Gui5-5.15.16+kde130-1.6.x86_64 by ignoring some of its dependencies

Choose from above solutions by number or cancel [1/2/3/4/c/d/?] (c):
2

IMHO Leap suits here better.

You don’t need Internet access to update/install packages. You can create folders on local drive, add them as repositories, copy needed files into them, update.

Or you can create your own update server by copying needed packages on the intranet server or creating your own mirror for repos.

3

It looks like the repo data gets “corrupted”,
if the installation with the KDE Desktop is done offline.

I’m open for an extra official OpenSuse Repo,
but I doubt this will fix the problem with this qt5 devel package
because a working package is potentially there see Test 2.

A non slowroll solution might be out-of-scope as far as I can assess the situation currently.

4

https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1258946#c2

This is not a problem of the installer, it’s a general problem of how to use an openSUSE distribution.

If they have restricted Internet access, a rolling release like Tumbleweed or Slowroll is not a good choice: Since those releases are rolling, i.e. in constant motion, they also require (near-) constant Internet access. A rolling release without Internet doesn’t roll for very long. It’s like mounting square wheels to your car: It won’t roll very well, and the ride will be very bumpy and rough. It won’t be a pleasant experience for anyone.

As others in the forum suggested, a traditional non-rolling distribution like Leap will be a much better choice. And even then there will be a constant stream of package updates for security fixes (much less relevant without Internet access) and regular bug fixes. But there are significantly less updates than with any rolling release.

This is also much more realistic to use as a carefully hand-crafted reference installation and then use that one to clone it to other machines.

5

The installation ISOs are still made to fit on a DVD (typically ~ 4 GiB), so the ISO by necessity can’t contain everything; much less any updated packages. So some packages will not be available from the ISO; in practical terms, that means that you need Internet access to install them.

6

looks like the discussion is going on in bugzilla
https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1258946

I’m sorry for missing bugzilla the first time.

7

Don’t be. They are arguing about technical details what package versions were outdated or no longer available at what point in time, while missing the core of the issue by a wide margin: You need regular Internet access to do anything worthwhile.

And that’s “regular” as in “at least every few days”, not as in “each Christmas and Easter”. :upside_down_face:

8

Perhaps. There is a slight misunderstanding here.
They can/might grant internet access after the offline installation.

9

@a3emdot So why not install Tumbleweed VM appliance to start with, then when internet access is allowed switch to slowroll? If you go that route, select the sdboot version.

10

Would that avoid the “repo damage” when a VM would be deployed months later to a user?
Currently I would favor using OpenSuse Leap 16.0.

11

Why would you not just deploy a newer image since it’s a virtual machine? You can create your own images on the openSUSE Build Service? Likewise Agama with profiles.