Bug 1098922

Summary:	Software Updates widget can no longer install packages, asks user to run 'zypper dup' manually
Product:	[openSUSE] openSUSE Tumbleweed	Reporter:	Mircea Kitsune <sonichedgehog_hyperblast00>
Component:	KDE Workspace (Plasma)	Assignee:	E-Mail List <opensuse-kde-bugs>
Status:	RESOLVED DUPLICATE	QA Contact:	E-mail List <qa-bugs>
Severity:	Normal
Priority:	P5 - None	CC:	sonichedgehog_hyperblast00, wbauer
Version:	Current
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	Other
OS:	Other
Whiteboard:
Found By:	---	Services Priority:
Business Priority:		Blocker:	---
Marketing QA Status:	---	IT Deployment:	---

Description Mircea Kitsune 2018-06-24 10:29:57 UTC

The package updater in the Plasma system tray is no longer able to install updates. It will detect new packages, but instead of offering an install button it now tells you "run 'zypper dup' manually".

This renders the update widget useless: It now does nothing but show you a list of new packages. Further more, the updater won't even detect that you've installed those packages after you do run 'zypper dup' and will keep the tray icon active forever, making it even more of an annoyance as you need to restart plasmashell to get rid of the outdated notification.

I was told this might be a deliberate decision on Tumbleweed, as a normal 'zypper up' might leave the system broken (I never had that problem). If that is the case, my suggestion solution would be teaching the widget how to run 'zypper dup' on its own: It will need to ask for a root password each time you click install, but this is far better than disabling its update functionality entirely and leaving Tumbleweed users without an embedded package manager altogether.

Comment 1 Wolfgang Bauer 2018-06-24 11:16:37 UTC

Yes, this was a deliberate decision.

The applet is just a frontend to PackageKit, for making its zypp backend support TW properly, see bug#1030829.

And the problem that it still shows updates after running zypper manually is tracked in bug#1009129.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 1030829 ***

Comment 2 Mircea Kitsune 2018-07-22 12:09:02 UTC

May I add a suggestion for a compromise? The issue is that the Software Updates applet uses PackageKit, which only supports the equivalent of "zypper up" and not "zypper dup". So what if instead of the current approach, which has now changed to the applet telling you "run 'zypper dup' manually", the applet could launch a console with the command ran automatically?

When you click the Install button after being informed of the updates, it could basically popup a console with 'zypper dup' automatically executing as the first command. The user is prompted to input the root password, and can follow the update progress in this console as they would if they opened it themselves. When the console finishes and closes, it calls the applet back and informs it to refresh so that it notices the updates were installed.

Sorry if I'm reviving old discussion here: Just wanted to know what people think of this option since I don't think it's been brought up yet. Having the applet constantly tell you "do it yourself" on Tumbleweed is a big annoyance, especially since after you install updates the notification won't go away. This could be an useful temporary solution to the problem.