zypper dup & questions concerning software auto installation

English Applications
#1

Hi,
I’ve recently installed OpenSUSE TW, and so far I’m quite happy with it.
However, I have not quite understood the update process. Doing a little research I discovered that it’s recommended to use zypper dup for upgrades. This commands pulls all sorts of software with it, that I don’t want and that I’ve deselected when I first installed the system. These include Dragon Player, GIMP, K3B, KMail and so on.
I’ve also done a manual installation of LO Still 5.3.7 with the official RPM. And again, TW now tries to overwrite my LO installation or even install it besides (not really sure about that).

So my questions are:

  1. How can I prevent TW zypper dup from pulling software that I don’t want?
  2. How can I prevent TW zypper dup from messing around with my manual LO installation?
  3. According to zypper the upgrade only removes “libreoffice5.3-freedesktop-menus”, can someone tell me why this is the case? Will 5.3.7 stop working without this package?
  4. The “Software Update” icon in the bottom right shows updates as well. Does this trigger zypper dup or zypper up?

Thank you all.

The following 13 applications are going to be installed:
  "Dragon Player" GIMP "Hugin Batch Processor" "Hugin Calibrate Lens" "Hugin Panorama
  Creator" K3b Kleopatra KMahjongg KMail KMines KReversi KRuler KSudoku

The following 206 NEW packages are going to be installed:
  AdobeICCProfiles akonadi-search akonadi-search-lang cdrdao digikam digikam-doc
  digikam-lang dragonplayer dragonplayer-lang dvd+rw-tools enblend-enfuse exiftool
  gdk-pixbuf-loader-libopenraw gegl-0_2 gegl-0_2-lang gimp gimp-help gimp-plugin-aa
  gimp-plugins-python gstreamer-plugins-bad-lang gstreamer-plugins-good
  gstreamer-plugins-good-lang gstreamer-plugins-ugly-lang gutenprint gwenview5
  gwenview5-lang hugin ibus ibus-branding-openSUSE-KDE ibus-gtk ibus-gtk3 ibus-lang
  ibus-qt iso-codes-lang k3b k3b-lang kamera-lang kcolorchooser kcolorchooser-lang
  kdegames-carddecks-default kernel-default-4.14.5-1.5 kgamma5 kgamma5-lang kio_audiocd
  kio_audiocd-lang kio_kamera kipi-plugins kipi-plugins-lang kleopatra kleopatra-lang
  kmahjongg kmahjongg-lang kmail kmail-account-wizard kmail-account-wizard-lang
  kmail-application-icons kmail-lang kmines kmines-lang kpat kpat-lang kreversi
  kreversi-lang kruler kruler-lang ksudoku ksudoku-lang ktnef ktnef-lang lame
  lensfun-data libamd-2_4_6 libastro1 libaudiofile1 libbabl-0_1-0 libblas3 libcamd-2_4_6
  libccolamd-2_9_6 libcholmod-3_0_11 libcolamd-2_9_6 libdca0 libdigikamcore5 libdv4
  libfaac0 libfaad2 libFLAC++6 libgegl-0_2-0 libgimp-2_0-0 libgimpui-2_0-0
  libglade-2_0-0 libgsl23 libgslcblas0 libhdf5-101 libhdf5_hl100 libid3tag0
  libjpeg-turbo libkcompactdisc-lang libkdegames libkdegames-lang libKF5Cddb5
  libKF5CompactDisc5 libkf5kdegames6 libKF5KMahjongglib5 libKF5MediaWiki5
  libKF5Vkontakte2 libKF5WebKit5 libkmahjongg libkmahjongg-lang libkvkontakte-lang
  liblapack3 liblensfun1 libmad0 libmarblewidget-qt5-28 libmetis5 libmjpegutils-2_0-0
  libmpeg2-0 libmpeg2convert0 libmspack0 libmusicbrainz4 libmusicbrainz5-1
  libopencore-amrnb0 libopencore-amrwb0 libopenraw1 libopusfile0 libpano13-3
  libpoppler-glib8 libpostproc53 libQt5SerialPort5 libQtAV1 libQtAVWidgets1
  libquicktime0 libreoffice libreoffice-base libreoffice-base-drivers-mysql
  libreoffice-calc libreoffice-draw libreoffice-filters-optional libreoffice-gnome
  libreoffice-gtk3 libreoffice-impress libreoffice-l10n-en libreoffice-mailmerge
  libreoffice-math libreoffice-pyuno libreoffice-writer libSDL_gfx15 libshp1 libsox3
  libsuitesparseconfig-4_5_5 libturbojpeg0 libumfpack-5_7_6 libvigraimpex11 libwavpack1
  libwmf-0_2-7 libwx_baseu_net-suse3 libwx_baseu-suse3 libwx_baseu_xml-suse3
  libwx_gtk2u_adv-suse3 libwx_gtk2u_aui-suse3 libwx_gtk2u_core-suse3
  libwx_gtk2u_gl-suse3 libwx_gtk2u_html-suse3 libwx_gtk2u_qa-suse3 libwx_gtk2u_xrc-suse3
  make make-lang marble marble-data marble-doc marble-kde marble-lang mbox-importer
  mbox-importer-lang mjpegtools NetworkManager-pptp-lang NetworkManager-vpnc-lang
  normalize patterns-desktop-imaging patterns-desktop-imaging_opt
  patterns-desktop-multimedia patterns-desktop-multimedia_opt patterns-games-games
  patterns-kde-kde_games patterns-kde-kde_imaging patterns-kde-kde_multimedia
  patterns-kde-kde_office patterns-office-office perl-Archive-Zip perl-File-RandomAccess
  perl-Image-ExifTool pim-data-exporter pim-data-exporter-lang pim-sieve-editor
  pim-sieve-editor-lang python2-cairo python2-numpy python-gobject2 python-gtk showfoto
  site-config sox transcode vcdimager vlc-codecs vlc-lang yast2-sound

The following 10 NEW patterns are going to be installed:
  games imaging imaging_opt kde_games kde_imaging kde_multimedia kde_office multimedia
  multimedia_opt office

The following package is going to be REMOVED:
  libreoffice5.3-freedesktop-menus

The following 45 packages are going to be upgraded:
  btrfsmaintenance gstreamer gstreamer-lang gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-base
  gstreamer-plugins-base-lang gstreamer-plugins-libav libgstadaptivedemux-1_0-0
  libgstallocators-1_0-0 libgstapp-1_0-0 libgstaudio-1_0-0 libgstbadaudio-1_0-0
  libgstbadbase-1_0-0 libgstbadvideo-1_0-0 libgstbasecamerabinsrc-1_0-0
  libgstcodecparsers-1_0-0 libgstfft-1_0-0 libgstgl-1_0-0 libgstmpegts-1_0-0
  libgstpbutils-1_0-0 libgstphotography-1_0-0 libgstreamer-1_0-0 libgstriff-1_0-0
  libgstrtp-1_0-0 libgstrtsp-1_0-0 libgstsdp-1_0-0 libgsttag-1_0-0
  libgsturidownloader-1_0-0 libgstvideo-1_0-0 libgstwayland-1_0-0 libldap-2_4-2
  libldap-data libnghttp2-14 libQt5WebKit5 libQt5WebKit5-imports libQt5WebKitWidgets5
  man openldap2-client openSUSE-release openSUSE-release-ftp pciutils-ids perl perl-base
  thin-provisioning-tools xlockmore

The following product is going to be upgraded:
  openSUSE Tumbleweed  20171213-0 -> 20171214-0

45 packages to upgrade, 206 new, 1 to remove.
Overall download size: 449.9 MiB. Already cached: 1.9 MiB. After the operation,
additional 1.3 GiB will be used.
#2

it has more to do with TW as it’s a rolling distro libjpeg-turbois is definitely not a new package
aside from packages needed for the OS to run there are so called recommended packages
https://doc.opensuse.org/documentation/leap/reference/html/book.opensuse.reference/cha.sw_cl.html#sec.zypper.softman.util

In addition to dependencies that must be fulfilled, some packages “recommend” other packages. These recommended packages are only installed if actually available and installable.

if you want you can disable recommended packages by editing

\etc\zypp\zypp.conf

set and uncomment the line

solver.onlyRequires = true

in that case “recommended” packages will not be installed that being said I’m pretty sure that none of those 206 packages are “new” so don’t do anything

#3

Something wrong with the / key on your keyboard? rotfl!

#4

In my opinion it is not a good idea to disable the recommended packages, just uninstall them and then bolt them

#5

How can I “bolt” them?

@ I_A Thanks for your reply.
Maybe you are misunderstanding me, it’s not about old packages that are replaced by newer version.
As shown, zypper dup draws

The following 13 applications are going to be installed:
  "Dragon Player" GIMP "Hugin Batch Processor" "Hugin Calibrate Lens" "Hugin Panorama
  Creator" K3b Kleopatra KMahjongg KMail KMines KReversi KRuler KSudoku

Which I don’t want. Or are you saying, that these are actually “recommended” packages?

Concerning LO you could argue hat it’s the latest version - albeit being of the “still” branch.
So how do I prevent TW to mess with my LO installation?

#6

When you do not want them, taboo them (e.g. in YaST). Or set in YaST that you do not want Recommended ones (YaST > Software Management: Options > recommended balbla.).

#7

I can understand some of those being recommended like gimp and hugin but sorry games are not something I want or need and IMHO should never be recommended. I missed these when I first did a zypper dup to update my TW and it annoys me that it installed games which I do not want need and never use. Trivial maybe but none the less very annoying since I deliberately removed them on installation.

Stuart

#8

Just taboo what you don’t want. The recommends are just for the most part the generic install. Some people may want the games or come from Windows where some are expected.

#9

Sorry, but I use the translator and sometimes it’s not very clear.
I do everything from Yast> uninstall> then I render the Taboo application

http://www.hosting.universalsite.org/thumb-schermatadel20171216203717-A508_5A357649.jpg](http://www.hosting.universalsite.org/share-schermatadel20171216203717-A508_5A357649.html)

#10

That is indeed what I’ve done, uninstall and then taboo them. However my point was that I had not installed them in the first place but TW using zypper dup puts them back which is not what I expected to happen. I expected it to update what I had installed not install stuff I had not installed initially or wnated. I’ve been using TW for some time now and only recently was it trying to enforce zypper dup - I had been using zypper up for ages with no problems!

Stuart

#11

I think this happens when you install a pattern (meta) package which includes preselected packages I usually avoid them
you can also do
yast->software management-> options -> check Ignore recommended packages
or you could uncheck pattern packages (that shouldn’t uninstall anything)
this use to happen to me abiword and other apps I don’t use got installed, now after I install opensuse (btw I’m on LEAP) I check Ignore recommended packages and I have no issues
as I do live upgrades the last time I did this was on 13.1 and I haven’t had to think about it in a long time

#12

Thank you all for your replies.
I made it work using the “proteced - do not modify” and “taboo” function of yast. Now it works as I had wished for.

Two more things I’d like to add:

  1. Is zypper addlock eqivalent to “protect” or “taboo”?
  2. I find it weird that TW pulls software with dup that I had deliberately unchecked when I set up the system for the first time. It kind of renders the manual selection of packages during installation useless, doesn’t it?
#13

1 a zypper lock is similar as taboo it doesn’t block a package from installing but it prevents it from updating or being automatically removed
2 I think (can’t be sure) that the packages being reinstalled are part of a pattern that has been installed
https://tr.opensuse.org/Patterns

  • Patterns include a list of software packages to install.
  • The list of software packages contains packages that are:
    [LIST]
  • required (must-have)
  • recommended (should-have)
  • suggested (may-have)

[/LIST]

I think you are removing software that is recommended by a pattern as I said after install you can remove installed patterns in yast to prevent reinstalling of recommended packages
the above is from the Turkish wiki found via google it’s in english I’m amazed that there is no english equivalent