Hi everyone 
I wish to know who is behind of Zypper the package manager.
I"m not currently on OpenSUSE since it’s broken.
Thank you for your attention.
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/package-management-zypper
As I've mentioned before I'm an openSUSE user, and as long as they don't make the "U" lower case again, I'll probably stick with it. When it comes to package management, OpenSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprice (and SuSE before them) are usually associated with YaST (and yes, I'm still waiting for them to upper case the "a"). YaST works well but it's a bit verbose for installing a single package, and of course that's just more fodder for the apt-getters with all their apt-get install this and their apt-get install thats. And you can't argue with them, but there are other options with openSUSE: yum and apt4rpm come to mind, but the preferred solution is zypper.
Zypper is a command line tool for package management, it's based on ZYpp, aka libzypp. The WikiPedia entry for Zypp says:
Unlike other common package managers, it provides a powerful satisfiability solver to compute package dependencies and a convenient package management API.
Since we don't want our heads to explode we'll just take it for granted that a powerful satisfiability solver is a good thing.
It turns out that YaST is also (now) based on ZYpp so you don't need to worry that you're missing out on something by using zypper.
Zypper is fairly straightforward to use. If you want to search for a package do zypper search STRING.... The STRING(s) can include * and ? wildcards and there are options for matching all or any of the strings and for full exact matches (the default is a partial match). If you want to search the package descriptions there's an option for that also. For example to search for packages with the word "mail" in the name or in the description do:
$ zypper search --search-descriptions mail
$ # --search-descriptions can be abbreviated as -d
Reading installed packages...
S | Name | Summary | Type
--+----------------------+----------------------------------------+-----------
| Buddi | Buddi - Personal budget software ... | package
| CgEddie | A simple editor with syntax high ... | package
| FrostWire | Gnutella peer-to-peer (P2P) file ... | package
...
i | yast2-mail | YaST2 - Mail Configuration | package
| yast2-mail-plugins | YaST2-Users/Group Plugins for the ... | package
| yum-updatesd | YUM update notification daemon | package
When installing packages with zypper, as you'd expect/hope, zypper takes care of installing the package's dependencies:
$ zypper install Buddi
Reading installed packages...
The following NEW packages are going to be installed:
BrowserLauncher2 swingx Buddi jcommon jfreechart
Overall download size: 4.1 M. After the operation, additional 5.2 M will be used.
Continue? [YES/no]:
Some of the other interesting commands that zypper supports are:
refresh - to refresh the package information from the repositories you have defined.
addrepo - to add a new repository.
remove - to remove a package.
list-updates - to list the updates/patches that are available for the packages you have installed.
For a full list of the commands that zypper supports type zypper help and check the man page for more details.
One of Ubuntu's WOW factors seems to be apt-get dist-upgrade, i.e. the ability to upgrade to the next version of Ubuntu (and actually it's a feature of any debian based distro). This is another thing that the apt-getters puff up about, well enter zypper dist-upgrade or zypper dup. This allows you to upgrade from one version of openSUSE to the next. I have not used this feature yet, but posts on the openSUSE wiki seem to indicate that it works well.
So to all you apt-getters out there, all I can say is: zypp it. :
https://github.com/openSUSE/zypper
Found this. I wonder what makes Zypper be on my computer…
Hi
Your question (and posts) are a little confusing as to what the issue is?
Your on a different OS, but using zypper and it’s not working?
There is a link to the developers here?
http://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Zypper
On 2014-06-24 17:26, binarydepth wrote:
>
> http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/package-management-zypper
That article is from 2009.
>> Zypper is a command line tool for package management, it’s based on ZYpp, aka libzypp.
Well, there was an old packager manager that was a total failure, I
think it was zen. libzypp is the sucessful sucessor.
About your initial question, of course it is openSUSE who is behind
zypper, with its sponsors.
http://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Libzypp
And of course you get it installed on any openSUSE machine. It would be
a very unwise move to remove it.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)
On Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:26:01 +0000, binarydepth wrote:
> I"m not currently on OpenSUSE since it’s broken.
Please specify the nature of the breakage. Zypper is the main package
manager outside of YaST’s software management, so if it’s broken, ask
here for help. Provide details about the version of openSUSE, the exact
error message or messages you receive, and what you’ve tried.
Jim
–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
Don’t worry I was able to back-up everything. I decided to make my own with Susestudio and then get back to OpenSUSE. But the downlaod always fails. 
On Wed, 25 Jun 2014 13:06:01 +0000, binarydepth wrote:
> Don’t worry I was able to back-up everything. I decided to make my own
> with Susestudio and then get back to OpenSUSE. But the downlaod always
> fails. 
Again, we need specifics as to what you’re seeing. “always fails”
doesn’t tell us a lot. Same sort of thing with zypper not working.
We’re not mind readers - we only know what you tell us. If you don’t
provide specific error messages or details, we can’t help.
Jim
–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
Sorry I meant that the download of my “Suse Studio ISO image” always fails to finish downloading.
The faulty System is wiped-out of my HDD.
So not a problem for me anymore. Too bad I can’t figure out what happened but let’s check the BUG mailing list for some day if I see something like “I cannot boot” I’ll check on it.
So lets be clear I didn’t imagine that I was using Zypper I just was asking for information of who is behind it. Completely far from asking help with Zypper , I never had problems with it, it’s great. But something broke the booting process.
The only thing I can say is that I was using various Packman repositories for multimedia apps. I think they were Essentials and one Called Multimedia ( Add “Packman” before, for each ). But I guess that has nothing to do, so it will be better to check if it happens to other users.
OK, Thanks.
On Thu, 26 Jun 2014 01:06:02 +0000, binarydepth wrote:
> Sorry I meant that the download of my “Suse Studio ISO image” always
> fails to finish downloading.
Ah, OK - that makes sense. I hope you were able to sort that out.
> The faulty System is wiped-out of my HDD.
>
> So not a problem for me anymore. Too bad I can’t figure out what
> happened but let’s check the BUG mailing list for some day if I see
> something like “I cannot boot” I’ll check on it.
>
> So lets be clear I didn’t imagine that I was using Zypper I just was
> asking for information of who is behind it. Completely far from asking
> help with Zypper , I never had problems with it, it’s great. But
> something broke the booting process.
It’s not clear what you mean by “who’s behind it” - zypper is a part of
openSUSE. Do you mean “who’s behind the repositories zypper uses”? If
so, well, that depends on the repository.
> The only thing I can say is that I was using various Packman
> repositories for multimedia apps. I think they were Essentials and one
> Called Multimedia ( Add “Packman” before, for each ). But I guess that
> has nothing to do, so it will be better to check if it happens to other
> users.
Using those repos isn’t generally going to cause boot issues, since
they’re applications that are used by the user and not by the system
itself. If you run into it again, we can diagnose it (perhaps), but
you’ll need to provide specific information about what you’re seeing
rather than guessing about the cause.
Jim
–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
You guys lost common sense or what ? or just trolling ?
“Who” means Wanting to know a person. It is true that I missed that I can just open Software Manager and find out, or not ? I will know in the future.
So in the Forums nobody is going to mention “Who is behind” ?
A “Team” is a valid answer you know.
I would just like this post to be deleted. Surely you guys are eager to try out your IT Kung Fu and brag. Next time just tell me to go to IRC and done. Since it is true that this forum is for support.
On 2014-06-26 21:46, binarydepth wrote:
> You guys lost common sense or what ? or just trolling ?
>
> “Who” means Wanting to know a person. It is true that I missed that I
> can just open Software Manager and find out, or not ? I will know in the
> future.
>
> So in the Forums nobody is going to mention “Who is behind” ?
> A “Team” is a valid answer you know.
>
> I would just like this post to be deleted. Surely you guys are eager to
> try out your IT Kung Fu and brag. Next time just tell me to go to IRC
> and done. Since it is true that this forum is for support.
I think that you have to learn manners, and how to make questions so
that other people understand what you ask. Both things.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)
On Thu, 26 Jun 2014 19:46:02 +0000, binarydepth wrote:
> You guys lost common sense or what ? or just trolling ?
Color me confused.
We’re here to help. You asked a question, but it wasn’t clear what you
wanted to know - or why. As I explained in my previous post, it was
entirely unclear to me what you wanted to know. As you explained the
problem, it seemed that you maybe wanted to know who was behind a
repository you were using rather than behind the zypper code.
Zypper is an openSUSE component. Who’s behind it? The openSUSE project,
that’s who.
You seemed to be having a problem, and we’re here to help solve problems.
Instead of arguing with those who are trying to help you, in the future,
just answer the questions that are asked. We don’t ask questions because
we want to annoy anyone; we ask questions because we need the answers in
order to assist you.
I wish you the best.
Jim
–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
Yeah you are right. I don’t mean to upset anyone I just said what I thought.
It is obvious that I would not understand how to rephrase what I say if the “receiver” doens’t tell me whta they understood.
But in this case I lost it because I don’t get why you guys wna t to solve a problem without requested help. I hope you can unsderstand.
I will do my part and use the forum only for support as expected. BD
On Thu, 26 Jun 2014 22:36:01 +0000, binarydepth wrote:
> But in this case I lost it because I don’t get why you guys wna t to
> solve a problem without requested help. I hope you can unsderstand.
It was unclear that you weren’t asking for help solving a problem, that’s
why.
You appeared to be saying “I’m having a problem with zypper, and want
to know who to contact about it.” - that’s how I read your first post.
Since you’re in the right place to ask for help, I was offering to help
you with what seemed to be a problem you were having. I asked for more
information, and politely informed you that we do actually need
information in order to help solve your problem.
At that point, your best option would have been to just say “no, I’m not
having a problem, I’m just curious who I could talk to about zypper
development” instead of getting all upset.
Nobody meant you any ill intent - we genuinely wanted to help you.
There’s no need to get upset when people offer to assist you - just
clarify what you’re asking for.
Since Malcolm answered your question about how to get in touch with the
zypper developers in his initial reply to you, your best option at that
point would have been to thank him, say you got what you needed, and let
it go at that. Instead, you opted to start getting combative with me
because I was offering to help you solve a problem that it sounded to
me like you were having, but I couldn’t determine what it was because
there was insufficient information.
So again, no need to get angry at people’s good intentions. Just state
that you got what you needed and let it go at that.
Jim
–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
You also must realize that there are people from all over the world here and not all have a great command of English. It sounded to me that your question may have been about a problem you were having but with possible limited English. Since we expect a problem not a general question here it was miss interpreted. And in any case it was a bit redundant so could be interpreted several ways. In any case I don’t think there is a single person behind zypper it is a openSUSE project. Maybe look at the source there may be references to the main programmers
On Thu, 26 Jun 2014 23:06:02 +0000, gogalthorp wrote:
> It sounded to me that your
> question may have been about a problem you were having but with possible
> limited English.
That was my interpretation.
Looking at the first post again, the statement “I’m not currently on
OpenSUSE because it’s broken.” sounded to me like he was saying “I’m not
currently on openSUSE because zypper is broken.”
In the context of a help/support forum, that’s a perfectly reasonable
interpretation of the post.
Jim
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
On 2014-06-27 00:36, binarydepth wrote:
> But in this case I lost it because I don’t get why you guys wna t to
> solve a problem without requested help. I hope you can unsderstand.
>
> I will do my part and use the forum only for support as expected. BD
Well, you see, this particular forum is named “help on applications”
Forum -> English -> Get Technical Help Here -> Applications
So, you see, we plainly expect to be asked for technical help on an
application. If you just want to chat on something related to openSUSE
or Linux, we have another place instead:
Forum -> English -> Other Forums -> Community & Fun -> General Chit-Chat
where your question, because of the different context, would not be
interpreted as a request for help. And you will find people there happy
to chat on who we think or know designed zypper or its history, goals,
whatever. You will find people there very happy to chat about that or
whatever (even if we are the same people than here).
It is quite easy to ask a moderator (and several of the people in this
thread are moderators) to just move your thread over there.
And even if you want to chat about the grizzly bear in Antartica, fine,
we even have another one called “Soapbox” where you can talk about that.
But better if its about scientists using Linux to get a count of
grizzlies in the Antartic, so we have an excuse! 
And in any case, never forget this is an international forum, with many
participants for which English is not their own language, and many for
which it is (and in this case, from different countries that use English
differently), with many different levels of understanding, and many
different ages and cultures. So, please try to consider that and try to
avoid confusions. As soon as you find out that you are being
misunderstood, explain differently.
Thanks
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)