[opensuse] software updates in LEAP system tray
Having just recently gotten Leap up and running on my main desktop and main laptop, I noticed that the software updates reminder is giving reminders pretty regularly now. In older versions of openSUSE, this was run by a program called apper, and I would just uninstall it so that I would run updates at my own convenience. My general practice has been to only run security patches regularly, as in daily, and bigger updates I would check maybe once a month or at longer intervals. I also remember there being a lot of complaints about apper, that was why in older versions I would just uninstall apper and run a zypper patch or zypper update to update everything when I needed to. I am interested in knowing 2 things about the new way of doing it in Leap. 1 - what is the name of the program/application/daemon that is running the software updates reminder that keeps popping up in my system tray? Apper is not installed on my new system, and I was not able to figure it out 2 - What does everyone thinkabout the new software updates management tool? Should I get rid of it and go back to my old practice? (thatis what I intend to do unless there are good reasons not to) Do people like it? Are the updates better now that Leap is a more stable system? -- George Box #1: 42.1 | KDE Plasma 5 | AMD Phenom IIX4 | 64 | 16GB Box #2: 13.1 | KDE 4.12 | AMD Athlon X3 | 64 | 4GB Laptop #1: 13.1 | KDE 4.12 | Core i7-2620M | 64 | 8GB Laptop #2: 42.1 | KDE Plasma 5 | Core i7-4710HQ | 64 | 16GB -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Monday 11 January 2016 13:11:43 George Olson wrote:
[…] I am interested in knowing 2 things about the new way of doing it in Leap.
1 - what is the name of the program/application/daemon that is running the software updates reminder that keeps popping up in my system tray? Apper is not installed on my new system, and I was not able to figure it out
It might help if you tell what environment you are using. I assume you are using a desktop environment, probably gnome or KDE?
2 - What does everyone thinkabout the new software updates management tool? Should I get rid of it and go back to my old practice? (thatis what I intend to do unless there are good reasons not to) Do people like it? Are the updates better now that Leap is a more stable system?
What exactly do you mean with "better"? In Leap you can at least assume there won't be big changes breaking stuff so might even want to enable auto-updates, e.g. only for the "security" category. See the yast module on this. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2016-01-11 12:14, Oliver Kurz wrote:
On Monday 11 January 2016 13:11:43 George Olson wrote:
[…] I am interested in knowing 2 things about the new way of doing it in Leap.
1 - what is the name of the program/application/daemon that is running the software updates reminder that keeps popping up in my system tray? Apper is not installed on my new system, and I was not able to figure it out
It might help if you tell what environment you are using. I assume you are using a desktop environment, probably gnome or KDE?
This is very important information, because what is the "program/application/daemon" depends on what is the desktop used.
2 - What does everyone thinkabout the new software updates management tool? Should I get rid of it and go back to my old practice? (thatis what I intend to do unless there are good reasons not to) Do people like it? Are the updates better now that Leap is a more stable system?
What exactly do you mean with "better"? In Leap you can at least assume there won't be big changes breaking stuff so might even want to enable auto-updates, e.g. only for the "security" category. See the yast module on this.
Mmm. I would expect the "official updates" to be of the same quality as ever. However, not all updates fall in that category; ie, not all are "patches". Ie, not all come from the "update" repo, but come as updates inside extra repos. In those you can well assume as big changes as ever. Or as small :-) Me, in my test systems I do as always, use yast or zypper, no change. I take the tray gadget as an announcer only. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 13.1 x86_64 "Bottle" at Telcontar)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 01/12/2016 03:52 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
Me, in my test systems I do as always, use yast or zypper, no change. I take the tray gadget as an announcer only.
That is my approach too, although I have been known to use the tray gadget to update non-critical things like userland application that I don't consider essential. Never any core portions of linux, or even KDE. That said, I've never had any problems with running from the apper tray notifier. The biggest problem is that it disappears from time to time, and so it is not reliable even as a notifier. - -- After all is said and done, more is said than done. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2 iEYEARECAAYFAlaVVMsACgkQv7M3G5+2DLIlygCgj0xJU2HbX89D2nTmxQI0MyCx VpgAn3L5BFFuVB+jdQAshgzdDoRp8tj/ =YEup -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 01/12/2016 02:32 PM, John Andersen wrote:
The biggest problem is that it disappears from time to time, and so it is not reliable even as a notifier.
Indeed. I've long since given up on it as such. -- A: Yes. > Q: Are you sure? >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation. >>> Q: Why is top posting frowned upon? -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 01/10/2016 11:11 PM, George Olson (SUSE list) wrote:
1 - what is the name of the program/application/daemon that is running the software updates reminder that keeps popping up in my system tray? Apper is not installed on my new system, and I was not able to figure it out
I'm not certain, but I think it is "plasma5-pk-updates".
2 - What does everyone thinkabout the new software updates management tool? Should I get rid of it and go back to my old practice? (thatis what I intend to do unless there are good reasons not to) Do people like it? Are the updates better now that Leap is a more stable system?
You can disable the updates in system tray settings. That's what I have done. I left it enabled on one system, for a while. And it seemed to work reasonably well (better than Apper). But it was too noisy for my liking, and I prefer doing update in other ways (Yast online update and zypper). -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 01/11/2016 11:35 PM, Neil Rickert wrote:
On 01/10/2016 11:11 PM, George Olson (SUSE list) wrote:
1 - what is the name of the program/application/daemon that is running the software updates reminder that keeps popping up in my system tray? Apper is not installed on my new system, and I was not able to figure it out
I'm not certain, but I think it is "plasma5-pk-updates".
2 - What does everyone thinkabout the new software updates management tool? Should I get rid of it and go back to my old practice? (thatis what I intend to do unless there are good reasons not to) Do people like it? Are the updates better now that Leap is a more stable system?
You can disable the updates in system tray settings. That's what I have done.
I left it enabled on one system, for a while. And it seemed to work reasonably well (better than Apper). But it was too noisy for my liking, and I prefer doing update in other ways (Yast online update and zypper).
Ok, thanks. I also figured out that you can go to /etc/PackageKit and edit the file ZYpp.conf: ------------------------------------ [Updates] ## If set to true, only show updates that are available as maintenance patches # HidePackages=false HidePackages=true ------------------------------------ By setting HidePackages to true, it is supposed to be less noisy. I am going to try it this way at first and see how it goes. -- George Box #1: 42.1 | KDE Plasma 5 | AMD Phenom IIX4 | 64 | 32GB Box #2: 13.1 | KDE 4.12 | AMD Athlon X3 | 64 | 4GB Laptop #1: 13.1 | KDE 4.12 | Core i7-2620M | 64 | 8GB Laptop #2: 42.1 | KDE Plasma 5 | Core i7-4710HQ | 64 | 16GB -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 12/01/16 06:48, George Olson (SUSE list) wrote:
On 01/11/2016 11:35 PM, Neil Rickert wrote:
On 01/10/2016 11:11 PM, George Olson (SUSE list) wrote:
1 - what is the name of the program/application/daemon that is running the software updates reminder that keeps popping up in my system tray? Apper is not installed on my new system, and I was not able to figure it out
I'm not certain, but I think it is "plasma5-pk-updates".
2 - What does everyone thinkabout the new software updates management tool? Should I get rid of it and go back to my old practice? (thatis what I intend to do unless there are good reasons not to) Do people like it? Are the updates better now that Leap is a more stable system?
You can disable the updates in system tray settings. That's what I have done.
I left it enabled on one system, for a while. And it seemed to work reasonably well (better than Apper). But it was too noisy for my liking, and I prefer doing update in other ways (Yast online update and zypper).
Ok, thanks. I also figured out that you can go to /etc/PackageKit and edit the file ZYpp.conf:
------------------------------------ [Updates] ## If set to true, only show updates that are available as maintenance patches # HidePackages=false HidePackages=true ------------------------------------
By setting HidePackages to true, it is supposed to be less noisy. I am going to try it this way at first and see how it goes.
I recently installed Leap with KDE on a new system for my parents. IMO, this new package applet is the most ghastly implementation in any version of openSUSE. Why? 1) The bloody thing pops up incessantly, even if you 'acknowledge' it by clicking the system tray icon. I've gone into its configuration and told it to only pop up once a month (it has no 'off' setting in the GUI), and ensured the system is up-to-date, but it comes back. It ignores the setting. This is exactly the kind of annoyance that drove me off Windows 12 years ago. 2) Musing over whether I really wanted to trust my parents to apply updates, I gave it a test under their user account. When it popped up, I clicked the button to install the updates, expecting it to prompt me at some point for the root password. It began downloading, then kept progressing, and entirely finished the job, without ever prompting me. WTF? I have granted no special root privileges to my parents' user account. Okay, so I could probably configure things somewhere to restrict access, but as far as I know, this has never been the way things have worked before. Just as with the default autologin, it feels like another brick in the wall that makes Linux naturally secure has been chipped away in the name of 'user friendliness'. If I had done other things during the install or in later configuration such as accepting autologin on this account and selecting the 'make this account the administrator' option, I could understand such a default. But I haven't. It's a multi-user machine. I only want package updates handled by root. 3) Going back to point 1), there is no 'off' setting, or obvious way to disable the update utility. In the end the only way I could find to stop it without delving into config files was to edit the system tray settings and deselect it as one of the entries. I recall reading threads on the ML about last-minute addition of a Plasma package updater. Perhaps this is it. But given the great stability Leap is being touted for, I think it would have been better off leaving it as an installable option, not a default. gumb -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2016-01-13 01:35, gumb wrote:
2) Musing over whether I really wanted to trust my parents to apply updates, I gave it a test under their user account. When it popped up, I clicked the button to install the updates, expecting it to prompt me at some point for the root password. It began downloading, then kept progressing, and entirely finished the job, without ever prompting me. WTF?
Normal, intentional, and not new. The user is allowed to install updates (not new packages) without special permissions, since some years ago. The justification is that those packages are already installed, so there is little risk in allowing users to do it. I think it can be restricted somewhat, but I don't remember how, sorry. It is one of the the reasons I remove packagekit in my production systems.
3) Going back to point 1), there is no 'off' setting, or obvious way to disable the update utility. In the end the only way I could find to stop it without delving into config files was to edit the system tray settings and deselect it as one of the entries.
Well, yes, that's one way :-) But you have to repeat for all users. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 13.1 x86_64 "Bottle" at Telcontar)
On 01/13/2016 10:05 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
Well, yes, that's one way :-) But you have to repeat for all users.
What about removing the package "plasma5-pk-updates", that Neil pointed out was possibly the package behind software updates? Has anyone tried that? -- George Box #1: 42.1 | KDE Plasma 5 | AMD Phenom IIX4 | 64 | 32GB Box #2: 13.1 | KDE 4.12 | AMD Athlon X3 | 64 | 4GB Laptop #1: 13.1 | KDE 4.12 | Core i7-2620M | 64 | 8GB Laptop #2: 42.1 | KDE Plasma 5 | Core i7-4710HQ | 64 | 16GB -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
* George Olson (SUSE list)
On 01/13/2016 10:05 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
Well, yes, that's one way :-) But you have to repeat for all users.
What about removing the package "plasma5-pk-updates", that Neil pointed out was possibly the package behind software updates? Has anyone tried that?
Did *you* try it? sudo zypper -vv rm --dry-run --details --clean-deps plasma5-pk-updates zypper will not remove the package but will advise you what actions it *would* take if it were to remove the package. zypper rm --help Did *you* try it? -- (paka)Patrick Shanahan Plainfield, Indiana, USA @ptilopteri http://en.opensuse.org openSUSE Community Member facebook/ptilopteri http://wahoo.no-ip.org Photo Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2 Registered Linux User #207535 @ http://linuxcounter.net -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2016-01-13 09:21, George Olson (SUSE list) wrote:
On 01/13/2016 10:05 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
Well, yes, that's one way :-) But you have to repeat for all users.
What about removing the package "plasma5-pk-updates", that Neil pointed out was possibly the package behind software updates? Has anyone tried that?
Sure. I often remove the engine and the applets, but leave some of the libraries that are required by dependencies of other packages. I simply haven't made a list of suitable components to remove in Leap. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 13.1 x86_64 "Bottle" at Telcontar)
participants (8)
-
Anton Aylward -
Carlos E. R. -
George Olson (SUSE list) -
gumb -
John Andersen -
Neil Rickert -
Oliver Kurz -
Patrick Shanahan