"zypper update" randomly quits in the middle of retrieving a package

English Install/Boot/Login
1

I am running openSUSE Leap 15.0, and prefer to do “zypper refresh” followed by “zypper update” to update the system.

Lately “zypper update” has been randomly quitting in the middle of fetching an update. There are no error messages, it simply stops downloading and exits back to the shell. If I restart “zypper update”, it will recognize that some packages are in cache, and continue from where it left off. It may or may not quit again. If I do this enough times it will complete all downloads and proceed to the “Checking for conflicts…” and “Installing…” phases with no further problems.

Is this a zypper bug? Or elsewhere? Is anyone else seeing this?

Here is what it looks like when it just dies:

root# zypper update
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

The following 10 packages are going to be upgraded:
  google-chrome-stable kernel-default kernel-default-devel kernel-devel
  kernel-docs kernel-docs-html kernel-kvmsmall-devel kernel-macros kernel-source
  kernel-syms

The following package requires a system reboot:
  kernel-default

10 packages to upgrade.
Overall download size: 251.3 MiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation,
additional 116.5 KiB will be used.

    Note: System reboot required.
Continue? [y/n/v/...? shows all options] (y): y
Retrieving package google-chrome-stable-77.0.3865.120-1.x86_64
                                          (1/10),  59.4 MiB (208.7 MiB unpacked)
Retrieving: google-chrome-stable-77.0.3865.120-1.x86_64.rpm .[done (68.1 KiB/s)]
Retrieving package kernel-default-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_64
                                          (2/10),  52.2 MiB (296.9 MiB unpacked)
Retrieving: kernel-default-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_64.rpm [done (104.4 KiB/s)]
Retrieving package kernel-docs-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch
                                          (3/10),   2.9 MiB (512.8 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: kernel-docs-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch.rpm ...[done (111.8 KiB/s)]
Retrieving package kernel-docs-html-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch
                                          (4/10),   7.7 MiB ( 35.4 MiB unpacked)
Retrieving delta: ./rpms/noarch/kernel-docs-html-4.12.14-lp150.12.73.1_lp150.12.76.1.noarch.drpm, 3.0 MiB
Retrieving: kernel-docs-html-4.12.14-lp150.12.73.1_lp150.12.7[done (93.6 KiB/s)]
Applying delta: ./kernel-docs-html-4.12.14-lp150.12.73.1_lp150.12.76.1.noa[done]
Retrieving package kernel-macros-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch
                                          (5/10),   2.7 MiB ( 20.5 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: kernel-macros-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch.rpm ------------------/]
root#

If I do zypper update again:

root# zypper update
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

The following 10 packages are going to be upgraded:
  google-chrome-stable kernel-default kernel-default-devel kernel-devel
  kernel-docs kernel-docs-html kernel-kvmsmall-devel kernel-macros kernel-source
  kernel-syms

The following package requires a system reboot:
  kernel-default

10 packages to upgrade.
Overall download size: 129.2 MiB. Already cached: 122.1 MiB. After the
operation, additional 116.5 KiB will be used.

    Note: System reboot required.
Continue? [y/n/v/...? shows all options] (y): y
In cache google-chrome-stable-77.0.3865.120-1.x86_64.rpm
                                          (1/10),  59.4 MiB (208.7 MiB unpacked)
In cache kernel-default-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_64.rpm
                                          (2/10),  52.2 MiB (296.9 MiB unpacked)
In cache kernel-docs-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch.rpm
                                          (3/10),   2.9 MiB (512.8 KiB unpacked)
In cache kernel-docs-html-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch.rpm
                                          (4/10),   7.7 MiB ( 35.4 MiB unpacked)
Retrieving package kernel-macros-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch
                                          (5/10),   2.7 MiB ( 20.5 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: kernel-macros-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch.rpm .[done (134.6 KiB/s)]
Retrieving package kernel-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch
                                          (6/10),  14.3 MiB ( 56.1 MiB unpacked)
Retrieving delta: ./rpms/noarch/kernel-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.73.1_lp150.12.76.1.noarch.drpm, 4.8 MiB
Retrieving: kernel-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.73.1_lp150.12.76.1.noarch.drpm ----\]
root#

zypper quit in the middle again.
Here I try one more time:

root# zypper update
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

The following 10 packages are going to be upgraded:
  google-chrome-stable kernel-default kernel-default-devel kernel-devel
  kernel-docs kernel-docs-html kernel-kvmsmall-devel kernel-macros kernel-source
  kernel-syms

The following package requires a system reboot:
  kernel-default

10 packages to upgrade.
Overall download size: 126.5 MiB. Already cached: 124.9 MiB. After the
operation, additional 116.5 KiB will be used.

    Note: System reboot required.
Continue? [y/n/v/...? shows all options] (y): y
In cache google-chrome-stable-77.0.3865.120-1.x86_64.rpm
                                          (1/10),  59.4 MiB (208.7 MiB unpacked)
In cache kernel-default-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_64.rpm
                                          (2/10),  52.2 MiB (296.9 MiB unpacked)
In cache kernel-docs-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch.rpm
                                          (3/10),   2.9 MiB (512.8 KiB unpacked)
In cache kernel-docs-html-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch.rpm
                                          (4/10),   7.7 MiB ( 35.4 MiB unpacked)
In cache kernel-macros-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch.rpm
                                          (5/10),   2.7 MiB ( 20.5 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving package kernel-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch
                                          (6/10),  14.3 MiB ( 56.1 MiB unpacked)
Retrieving delta: ./rpms/noarch/kernel-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.73.1_lp150.12.76.1.noarch.drpm, 4.8 MiB
Retrieving: kernel-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.73.1_lp150.12.76.1[done (141.6 KiB/s)]
Applying delta: ./kernel-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.73.1_lp150.12.76.1.noarch.[done]
Retrieving package kernel-default-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_64
                                          (7/10),   5.5 MiB (  4.2 MiB unpacked)
Retrieving: kernel-default-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_6[done (143.2 KiB/s)]
Retrieving package kernel-kvmsmall-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_64
                                          (8/10),   4.2 MiB (  2.9 MiB unpacked)
Retrieving: kernel-kvmsmall-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_[done (137.6 KiB/s)]
Retrieving package kernel-source-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch
                                          (9/10),  99.7 MiB (650.5 MiB unpacked)
Retrieving: kernel-source-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch.rpm .[done (124.9 KiB/s)]
Retrieving package kernel-syms-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_64
                                         (10/10),   2.7 MiB (  345   B unpacked)
Retrieving: kernel-syms-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_64.rpm ....[done (89.4 KiB/s)]
Checking for file conflicts: .............................................[done]
( 1/10) Installing: google-chrome-stable-77.0.3865.120-1.x86_64 ..........[done]
( 2/10) Installing: kernel-default-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_64 ..........[done]
Additional rpm output:
Creating initrd: /boot/initrd-4.12.14-lp150.12.76-default
...
( 3/10) Installing: kernel-docs-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch .............[done]
( 4/10) Installing: kernel-docs-html-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch ........[done]
( 5/10) Installing: kernel-macros-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch ...........[done]
( 6/10) Installing: kernel-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch ............[done]
Additional rpm output:
Changing symlink /usr/src/linux from linux-4.12.14-lp150.12.73 to linux-4.12.14-lp150.12.76


( 7/10) Installing: kernel-default-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_64 ....[done]
Additional rpm output:
Changing symlink /usr/src/linux-obj/x86_64/default from ../../linux-4.12.14-lp150.12.73-obj/x86_64/default to ../../linux-4.12.14-lp150.12.76-obj/x86_64/default


( 8/10) Installing: kernel-kvmsmall-devel-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_64 ...[done]
Additional rpm output:
Changing symlink /usr/src/linux-obj/x86_64/kvmsmall from ../../linux-4.12.14-lp150.12.73-obj/x86_64/kvmsmall to ../../linux-4.12.14-lp150.12.76-obj/x86_64/kvmsmall


( 9/10) Installing: kernel-source-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.noarch ...........[done]
(10/10) Installing: kernel-syms-4.12.14-lp150.12.76.1.x86_64 .............[done]
 
Core libraries or services have been updated.
Reboot is required to ensure that your system benefits from these updates.
root #

This time it finished successfully.

2

Most of the time this a transient failure. Try again after waiting an hour or two. In case of persistent trouble completely refresh local data by running ’ zypper refresh --force’.

3

https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1146027 “libzypp/libcurl: random segfaults, Opensuse 15.0” explains how to avoid the quitting.

4

I didn’t see a segmentation fault message when zypper stops. Is it the same issue?
But oh my, why isn’t the libzypp fix in the description released as a regular update for Leap 15.0?

5

Didn’t, or don’t? You didn’t indicate use of the -v switch, which produces a segfault announcement.

But oh my, why isn’t the libzypp fix in the description released as a regular update for Leap 15.0?
Some updates take longer than others to reach the mirrors. This one has taken more than two weeks to traverse the fix process. It was announced for SLE mere minutes after your question, so should be built and available for 15.0 shortly.