On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 11:31:19AM -0400, J(tWdy)P wrote:
Hello. I'm a multi-Linux distro Multi-boot user. I have a strong preference for text based package managements systems that can be run when X isn't. Currently I have a better understanding of apt-get, pacman and equo from my Ubuntu, Arch, and Sabayon installations than I have of zypper.
I've looked at man zypper on my OpenSuSE 11.3 installation. But as much as I like Linux, and have been using it for years, I still get easily confused by much of the documentation. So please bear with me if I only partially understand what I'm talking about...
First question: "zypper up vs zypper patch":
I gather that zypper up (without arguments) will update all installed packages to the latest available versions except when the vendor changed or some manual dependency issues are involved.
Whereas zypper patch (without args) will install all needed patches (which will sometimes even remove existing software and WILL change the package vendor if needed. (I suspect that it will even downgrade a package if necessary. And that it won't touch any packages outside the scope of the patch involved...)
No, that would be "zypper dup". zypper patch uses the updateinfo/patch meta information to update the packages according to the patches we have in our update repository. It will not do vendor changes, downgrades or deinstalls. Only zypper "dup" aka "distribution upgrade" does. So in order of aggressiveness: - zypper patch only official updates - zypper up updates with all available package updates, no vendor change or downgrade. (includes "patch" parts too) - zypper dup try to move the system to the state reflected by the repositories. useful for switching to a new distro, or following openSUSE Factory. Ciao, MArcus -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org