That's intentional. It's dbus activated on demand and times out when no longer busy with any tasks.  Timeout is controlled by /etc/PackageKit/PackageKit.conf

On Wed, Mar 20, 2024 at 10:19 AM Sid Boyce via openSUSE Factory <factory@lists.opensuse.org> wrote:

# systemctl status packagekit
* packagekit.service - PackageKit Daemon
    Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/packagekit.service; static)
    Active: inactive (dead)

Mar 19 14:01:45 tindog systemd[1]: Starting PackageKit Daemon...
Mar 19 14:01:45 tindog PackageKit[887435]: daemon start
Mar 19 14:01:45 tindog systemd[1]: Started PackageKit Daemon.
Mar 19 14:02:05 tindog PackageKit[887435]: daemon quit
Mar 19 14:02:05 tindog systemd[1]: packagekit.service: Deactivated successfully.
tindog:/usr/src/XXX/linux # systemctl start packagekit
tindog:/usr/src/XXX/linux # systemctl status packagekit
* packagekit.service - PackageKit Daemon
    Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/packagekit.service; static)
    Active: active (running) since Wed 2024-03-20 14:15:10 GMT; 2s ago
  Main PID: 1173179 (Zypp-main)
     Tasks: 6 (limit: 76752)
       CPU: 17ms
    CGroup: /system.slice/packagekit.service
            `-1173179 /usr/libexec/packagekitd

Mar 20 14:15:10 tindog systemd[1]: Starting PackageKit Daemon...
Mar 20 14:15:10 tindog PackageKit[1173179]: daemon start
Mar 20 14:15:10 tindog systemd[1]: Started PackageKit Daemon.
tindog:/usr/src/XXX/linux # systemctl status packagekit
* packagekit.service - PackageKit Daemon
    Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/packagekit.service; static)
    Active: inactive (dead)

Mar 19 14:01:45 tindog systemd[1]: Starting PackageKit Daemon...
Mar 19 14:01:45 tindog PackageKit[887435]: daemon start
Mar 19 14:01:45 tindog systemd[1]: Started PackageKit Daemon.
Mar 19 14:02:05 tindog PackageKit[887435]: daemon quit
Mar 19 14:02:05 tindog systemd[1]: packagekit.service: Deactivated successfully.
Mar 20 14:15:10 tindog systemd[1]: Starting PackageKit Daemon...
Mar 20 14:15:10 tindog PackageKit[1173179]: daemon start
Mar 20 14:15:10 tindog systemd[1]: Started PackageKit Daemon.
Mar 20 14:15:30 tindog PackageKit[1173179]: daemon quit
Mar 20 14:15:30 tindog systemd[1]: packagekit.service: Deactivated successfully.

-- 
Sid Boyce ... Hamradio License G3VBV, Keen licensed Private Pilot
Retired IBM/Amdahl Mainframes and Sun/Fujitsu Servers Tech Support Specialist
Microsoft Windows Free Zone - Linux used for all Computing Tasks