Why various kernel flavours get installed by zypper up

suse_rasputin · January 25, 2024, 8:16pm

Hi!

Did a zypper up on my Leap 15.5 with XFCE desktop and saw:

...
The following 3 NEW packages are going to be installed:
  kernel-default-5.14.21-150500.55.44.1
  kernel-default-extra-5.14.21-150500.55.44.1
  kernel-default-optional-5.14.21-150500.55.44.1

The following package requires a system reboot:
  kernel-default-5.14.21-150500.55.44.1
....

Why are there 3 kernels now?

hcvv · January 25, 2024, 8:26pm

It isn’t difficult to get the description of those packages (e.g. using YaST > Software > Software Management).

kernel-default-extra - The Standard Kernel - Unsupported kernel modules

The standard kernel for both uniprocessor and multiprocessor systems.
This package contains additional modules not supported by SUSE.

kernel-default-optional - The Standard Kernel - Optional kernel modules

The standard kernel for both uniprocessor and multiprocessor systems.
This package contains optional modules only for openSUSE Leap.

suse_rasputin · January 25, 2024, 8:35pm

Is this a “description”? After reading I know not much more than before… Why are these packages needed? Think I haven’t seen them before…

hcvv · January 25, 2024, 8:59pm

Maybe they forgot to inform you about some changes in the way of packaging sometime ago.

In any case, I hope you understand that your thread titles and your problem description are based on your conclusions instead of on facts.

malcolmlewis · January 25, 2024, 10:02pm

@suse_rasputin further to @hcvv comments. Perhaps this system has older unsupported hardware that needs the kernel modules, you can delete them both and see if anything stops functioning…

hendersj · January 25, 2024, 10:11pm

The second line of each description explains the components at a high-level - “additional modules not supported by SUSE” and “optional modules only for openSUSE Leap”.

ie, neither the -extra or -optional packages are a full kernel, they’re additional modules for the default kernel.

suse_rasputin · January 26, 2024, 7:55am

Thanks for suggestions, it’s an older Dell notebook, don’t think there is special hardware inside. But no time to delete and watch things break down these days …

Learned something…

mrmazda · January 27, 2024, 5:50am

Out of support NVidia users who need to fallback to FOSS drivers are not supported by kernel-default, because the required “experimental” (for over two decades) nouveau kernel module is instead packaged in kernel-default-extra, along with nearly 3,000 other modules for whatever reason not “supported” by SUSE. I need kernel-default-optional, because that’s the only source of support for HPFS file systems I need for multibooting Linux and OS/2.

suse_rasputin · January 27, 2024, 6:57pm

Hmmm, only Intel stuff here?

sudo lspci
[sudo] password for root: 
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (Lewisville) (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev c4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev c4)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation QM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
0a:00.0 SD Host controller: O2 Micro, Inc. OZ600FJ0/OZ900FJ0/OZ600FJS SD/MMC Card Reader Controller (rev 05)

hendersj · January 27, 2024, 7:49pm

It’s probably not installed because of something on the system, but as a ‘recommends’ package.

You can look at the contents of the installed packages using rpm -ql [packagename] to see what is installed.

You’ll find that the “extra” package includes about 6500 additional modules, and the “optional” package about another 1800. (That’s based on a quick grep of the package contents - that count includes both directories and files, though, so it’s not a precise number)

Extra takes ~28 MB of disk space, and Optional takes ~13 MB of space.

As noted, these are not full kernel packages - they’re additonal modules that your system may or may not need or be using.

mrmazda · January 29, 2024, 5:01am

Try sudo rpm -e kernel-default-optional. Either it/they will be uninstalled, or rpm will require a specific package version be specified in your command, or rpm will notify you of one or more installed packages that depend on it (caused its installation). Same with any rpm package, such as kernel-default-extra.

suse_rasputin · January 29, 2024, 8:15am

Hi!

I did:

sudo rpm -e kernel-default-optional
[sudo] password for root: 
error: "kernel-default-optional" specifies multiple packages:
  kernel-default-optional-5.14.21-150500.55.39.1.x86_64
  kernel-default-optional-5.14.21-150500.55.44.1.x86_64

and then

sudo rpm -e kernel-default-optional-5.14.21-150500.55.44.1.x86_64
dracut: Executing: /usr/bin/dracut -f /boot/initrd-5.14.21-150500.55.44-default 5.14.21-150500.55.44-default
dracut: dracut module 'systemd-coredump' will not be installed, because command 'coredumpctl' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'systemd-coredump' will not be installed, because command '/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-coredump' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'systemd-networkd' will not be installed, because command 'networkctl' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'systemd-networkd' will not be installed, because command '/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-networkd' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'systemd-networkd' will not be installed, because command '/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-networkd-wait-online' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'systemd-repart' will not be installed, because command 'systemd-repart' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'systemd-resolved' will not be installed, because command 'resolvectl' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'systemd-resolved' will not be installed, because command '/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-resolved' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'dbus-broker' will not be installed, because command 'dbus-broker' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'rngd' will not be installed, because command 'rngd' could not be found!
dracut: 62bluetooth: Could not find any command of '/usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd /usr/libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd'!
dracut: dracut module 'btrfs' will not be installed, because command 'btrfs' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'tpm2-tss' will not be installed, because command 'tpm2' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'iscsi' will not be installed, because command 'iscsi-iname' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'iscsi' will not be installed, because command 'iscsiadm' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'iscsi' will not be installed, because command 'iscsid' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'nvmf' will not be installed, because command 'nvme' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'nvmf' will not be installed, because command 'jq' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'memstrack' will not be installed, because command 'memstrack' could not be found!
dracut: memstrack is not available
dracut: If you need to use rd.memdebug>=4, please install memstrack and procps-ng
dracut: dracut module 'squash' will not be installed, because command 'mksquashfs' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'squash' will not be installed, because command 'unsquashfs' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'systemd-coredump' will not be installed, because command 'coredumpctl' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'systemd-coredump' will not be installed, because command '/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-coredump' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'systemd-repart' will not be installed, because command 'systemd-repart' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'systemd-resolved' will not be installed, because command 'resolvectl' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'systemd-resolved' will not be installed, because command '/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-resolved' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'dbus-broker' will not be installed, because command 'dbus-broker' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'rngd' will not be installed, because command 'rngd' could not be found!
dracut: 62bluetooth: Could not find any command of '/usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd /usr/libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd'!
dracut: dracut module 'btrfs' will not be installed, because command 'btrfs' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'tpm2-tss' will not be installed, because command 'tpm2' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'iscsi' will not be installed, because command 'iscsi-iname' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'iscsi' will not be installed, because command 'iscsiadm' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'iscsi' will not be installed, because command 'iscsid' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'nvmf' will not be installed, because command 'nvme' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'nvmf' will not be installed, because command 'jq' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'memstrack' will not be installed, because command 'memstrack' could not be found!
dracut: memstrack is not available
dracut: If you need to use rd.memdebug>=4, please install memstrack and procps-ng
dracut: dracut module 'squash' will not be installed, because command 'mksquashfs' could not be found!
dracut: dracut module 'squash' will not be installed, because command 'unsquashfs' could not be found!
dracut: *** Including module: systemd ***
dracut: *** Including module: systemd-initrd ***
dracut: *** Including module: i18n ***
dracut: *** Including module: drm ***
dracut: *** Including module: plymouth ***
dracut: *** Including module: kernel-modules ***
dracut: *** Including module: kernel-modules-extra ***
dracut: *** Including module: resume ***
dracut: *** Including module: rootfs-block ***
dracut: *** Including module: suse-xfs ***
dracut: *** Including module: terminfo ***
dracut: *** Including module: udev-rules ***
dracut: Skipping udev rule: 40-redhat.rules
dracut: Skipping udev rule: 50-firmware.rules
dracut: Skipping udev rule: 50-udev.rules
dracut: Skipping udev rule: 91-permissions.rules
dracut: Skipping udev rule: 80-drivers-modprobe.rules
dracut: *** Including module: biosdevname ***
dracut: *** Including module: dracut-systemd ***
dracut: *** Including module: haveged ***
dracut: *** Including module: usrmount ***
dracut: *** Including module: base ***
dracut: *** Including module: fs-lib ***
dracut: *** Including module: shutdown ***
dracut: *** Including module: suse ***
dracut: *** Including module: suse-initrd ***
dracut: *** Including modules done ***
dracut: *** Installing kernel module dependencies ***
dracut: *** Installing kernel module dependencies done ***
dracut: *** Resolving executable dependencies ***
dracut: *** Resolving executable dependencies done ***
dracut: *** Hardlinking files ***
dracut: Mode:           real
dracut: Files:          941
dracut: Linked:         2 files
dracut: Compared:       0 xattrs
dracut: Compared:       95 files
dracut: Saved:          339.1 KiB
dracut: Duration:       0.005551 seconds
dracut: *** Hardlinking files done ***
dracut: *** Generating early-microcode cpio image ***
dracut: *** Constructing GenuineIntel.bin ***
dracut: *** Store current command line parameters ***
dracut: Stored kernel commandline:
dracut:  resume=UUID=a6e19ff4-039d-4da8-98ea-ee0d83ddab1d
dracut:  root=UUID=e31562d4-4d60-4e7c-b550-b045a8dd100f rootfstype=ext4 rootflags=rw,relatime
dracut: *** Stripping files ***
dracut: *** Stripping files done ***
dracut: *** Creating image file '/boot/initrd-5.14.21-150500.55.44-default' ***
dracut: *** Creating initramfs image file '/boot/initrd-5.14.21-150500.55.44-default' done ***

What does this mean?!?

Sauerland · January 29, 2024, 11:10am

That is only an Information, does not hurt.

Now here on Leap 15.5:

cnf coredumpctl
                         
Program 'coredumpctl' is present in package 'systemd-coredump', which is installed on your system.

Absolute path to 'coredumpctl' is '/usr/bin/coredumpctl'. Please check your $PATH variable to see whether it contains the mentioned path.

zypper se -s systemd-coredump
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

S  | Name             | Type    | Version              | Arch   | Repository
---+------------------+---------+----------------------+--------+-----------
i+ | systemd-coredump | package | 249.17-150400.8.40.1 | x86_64 | Sle-Update
v  | systemd-coredump | package | 249.16-150400.8.35.5 | x86_64 | Sle-Update
v  | systemd-coredump | package | 249.16-150400.8.33.1 | x86_64 | Sle-Update
v  | systemd-coredump | package | 249.16-150400.8.28.3 | x86_64 | Sle-Update
v  | systemd-coredump | package | 249.16-150400.8.25.7 | x86_64 | OSS

So for me, I don ot get this “Information” because I have installed that package…

You can look for all others…

suse_rasputin · January 29, 2024, 12:41pm

…and the next zypper up brings the pacakge back

sudo zypper up
[sudo] password for root: 
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

The following 11 items are locked and will not be changed by any action:
 Available:
  blueberry bluedevil5 blueman bluetuith bluez bluez-firmware chromium gimp
  gnome-bluetooth libreoffice MozillaFirefox

The following 21 packages are going to be upgraded:
  cpio cpio-lang cpio-mt kpartx libblkid1 libfdisk1 libjasper4 libmount1
  libmpath0 libQt5Positioning5 libsmartcols1 libuuid1 libvisio-0_1-1
  MozillaThunderbird multipath-tools util-linux util-linux-lang
  util-linux-systemd xorg-x11-server xorg-x11-server-extra xorg-x11-server-Xvfb

The following NEW package is going to be installed:
  kernel-default-optional-5.14.21-150500.55.44.1

21 packages to upgrade, 1 new.
Overall download size: 94.5 MiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation,
additional 12.5 MiB will be used.
Continue? [y/n/v/...? shows all options] (y):

Sauerland · January 29, 2024, 1:18pm

You have deinstalled with rpm, try:
zypper rm kernel-default-optional kernel-default-extra

arvidjaar · January 29, 2024, 1:29pm

Huh?

andrei@leap155:~> zypper info --supplements kernel-default-optional
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...


Information for package kernel-default-optional:
------------------------------------------------
Repository     : Update repository with updates from SUSE Linux Enterprise 15
Name           : kernel-default-optional
Version        : 5.14.21-150500.55.44.1
Arch           : x86_64
Vendor         : SUSE LLC <https://www.suse.com/>
Installed Size : 12.4 MiB
Installed      : No
Status         : not installed
Source package : kernel-default-5.14.21-150500.55.44.1.nosrc
Upstream URL   : https://www.kernel.org/
Summary        : The Standard Kernel - Optional kernel modules
Description    :
    The standard kernel for both uniprocessor and multiprocessor systems.

    This package contains optional modules only for openSUSE Leap.


    Source Timestamp: 2024-01-15 10:03:40 +0000
    GIT Revision: cc7d8b62841baab7b362b97794939ab0447566b8
    GIT Branch: SLE15-SP5
Supplements    : (product(Leap) and kernel-default_x86_64)

andrei@leap155:~> zypper se --provides -x kernel-default_x86_64
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

S  | Name                | Summary                            | Type
---+---------------------+------------------------------------+--------
i+ | kernel-default      | The Standard Kernel                | package
   | kernel-default-base | The Standard Kernel - base modules | package
andrei@leap155:~>

suse_rasputin · January 29, 2024, 1:40pm

Do you have XFCE as well?

I uninstalled the two packages in Yast and set them to “taboo”, no conflicts were shown on removal. Anything else needed?

suse_rasputin · January 30, 2024, 3:18pm

On an old Dell Precision with 15.5 KDE I get now:

sudo zypper up
[sudo] password for root: 
Retrieving repository 'Mozilla' metadata ..............................................................................................[done]
Building repository 'Mozilla' cache ...................................................................................................[done]
Retrieving repository 'Update repository of openSUSE Backports' metadata ..............................................................[done]
Building repository 'Update repository of openSUSE Backports' cache ...................................................................[done]
Retrieving repository 'Update repository with debuginfo for updates from SUSE Linux Enterprise 15' metadata ...........................[done]
Building repository 'Update repository with debuginfo for updates from SUSE Linux Enterprise 15' cache ................................[done]
Retrieving repository 'Update repository with updates from SUSE Linux Enterprise 15' metadata .........................................[done]
Building repository 'Update repository with updates from SUSE Linux Enterprise 15' cache ..............................................[done]
Retrieving repository 'openSUSE-Leap-15.5-Update-Non-Oss' metadata ....................................................................[done]
Building repository 'openSUSE-Leap-15.5-Update-Non-Oss' cache .........................................................................[done]
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

The following item is locked and will not be changed by any action:
 Available:
  xf86-video-nouveau

The following package update will NOT be installed:
  mozilla-nspr

The following 63 packages are going to be upgraded:
  btrfsprogs btrfsprogs-udev-rules cpio cpio-lang cpio-mt efibootmgr ghostscript ghostscript-x11 kpartx libblkid1 libbluetooth3 libbtrfs0
  libev4 libfdisk1 libfreebl3 libfstrm0 libjasper4 libmount1 libmpath0 libQt5Core5 libQt5DBus5 libQt5Gui5 libQt5Network5 libQt5OpenGL5
  libQt5Positioning5 libQt5PrintSupport5 libqt5-qtbase-platformtheme-gtk3 libQt5Sql5 libQt5Sql5-sqlite libQt5Test5 libQt5Widgets5
  libsmartcols1 libsoftokn3 libssh4 libssh-config libsystemd0 libudev1 libuuid1 libverto-libev1 MozillaFirefox
  MozillaFirefox-translations-common mozilla-nss mozilla-nss-certs multipath-tools pam pam-doc python3-chardet rsyslog suse-module-tools
  systemd systemd-doc systemd-lang systemd-network systemd-sysvinit udev util-linux util-linux-lang util-linux-systemd xen-libs
  xorg-x11-server xorg-x11-server-extra xorg-x11-server-Xvfb yast2-pkg-bindings

The following 3 NEW packages are going to be installed:
  kernel-default-5.14.21-150500.55.44.1 kernel-default-extra-5.14.21-150500.55.44.1 kernel-default-optional-5.14.21-150500.55.44.1

The following package requires a system reboot:
  kernel-default-5.14.21-150500.55.44.1

63 packages to upgrade, 3 new.
Overall download size: 300.7 MiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation, additional 218.5 MiB will be used.

Why again this optional and extra kernel stuff?

suse_rasputin · January 30, 2024, 3:30pm

It’s not KDE, but lxde…

arvidjaar · January 30, 2024, 5:02pm

Because they are pulled in as soft dependencies by respective Supplements directives.