Comment # 4 on bug 1204956 from Volker Kuhlmann

(In reply to Benjamin Zeller from comment #3)
> You can enable keep-packages per repo ( see zypper modifyrepo
> --keep-packages ) so that zypper does not delete rpms anymore after
> installing them.

That is not correct, sorry. Yes, enabling keeppackages is necessary for
anything to be kept, and is enabled for all repos. But it does not stop zypper
from obliterating all /var/cache/zypp/packages/*/ for which there is no repo
configured (because this particular host doesn't need it, or because one hasn't
got that far yet after system installation). This is what this bug report is
about.

> A possibility would be to use plain dir repos for all but one host, e.g.
> after installing the packages on one host that has keep-packages enabled you
> copy them to a shared directory that the others use as repository.

I don't really have one master host, and any host may put new packages into the
cache, depending on which is updated first etc. (keeppackages is already
enabled everywhere).