zypper patch --date : what about patch fixes?

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1

Hello,

i install security updates automatically using a cron job, but to make the system more robust in case a patch breaks the system, I thought it could be interesting to wait a few days before installing a patch to be sure it won’t break the system. I found the --date param to zypper which seems to accomodate this workflow. However, it is not clear to me if this will help me in case a broken patch gets published. It depends whether the fix to the patch replaces the original patch or if it is just published as a new patch (having a more recent timestamp) superseding the old patch by version number (so the old patch stays in the update repo). In the latter case, the “bad” patch will still be installed which obviously is not the goal. Does anybody know how this works?

I’m not sure if I made myself clear. Please let me know if I need to rephrase.

cheers
matthias

2

I think I understand what you mean.

I also “think” that in the case of a “bad” patch, the newer “repaired” patch will have a higher build number. When the “repaired” patch would have the same number, it would not be installed on a zypper patch, because it is “already installed”.

In the very few cases I can vaguely remember the repair was done with a normal zypper patch, IMHOthi can only work if there is a “newer”. In fact, what you already assume.

Just my logic and not hard facts.