OpenSUSE Factory Turns Into Rolling Release Distribution

[przemoli]

Wiki! http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Factory_installation

I'm actually in a similar boat as you are. The difference is one day: I am just about to do a clean install, but haven't done it yet. And I'm just as torn! Thing is, I don't really like rolling releases, regular releases is a good opportunity to do clean installs... But then I end up with a makeshift semi-rolling distribution because I want to try out shiny things. Hmm.

Ok.

I will go for update via switching repos (without disabling pontostroy repos, just switching them too to the factory), and will post results.

[SebastianB]

Ok.

I will go for update via switching repos (without disabling pontostroy repos, just switching them too to the factory), and will post results.

I switched from manjaro to it, tried a fresh install with a factory iso first but that didn't work out, installer in the live iso crashed on startup for me, so i installed a 13.1 live cd, stripped it of the stuff i didn't want, changed the repos and was able to update via 'zypper dup'. Only had to deinstall a single branding package i think.

Afterwards further zypper dup wanted to reinstall all the "recommended" packages some packages wanted, which was about 90 packages, some of which i had expressly deinstalled beforehand(not just libs, but useless crap like a webcam gnome program ... i don't have a webcam, i deinstalled it, why do you want to feed me that crap again?). So i could have either used zypper up which was clean, or change the behavior of zypper in general. Decided on the latter, installRecommends = no in /etc/zypp/zypper.conf did the trick just fine, system stays as i stripped it without some unknown metapackage pulling crap in.

BTW the system is impressive. They did quite a bit to Yast, its software installer is a bit slow but im not using that anyway. The rest of it? Kernel 3.16-rc6, Firefox 31, Mesa 10.2.3, Gnome-shell 3.12.2 ... Pretty recent stuff. However you also stumble over things like calibre 1.37(may 16th, current is 1.46). Its a bit of a mixed bag, some packages more recent that even Arch, but not as recent on packages outside the spotlight.

That being said OBS repos are available for Factory! So getting f.e. calibre or some other uncommon package in a recent version seems simple ... I think i have found a new home.

[mar04]

I don't see where he said boring. Can you?

He said he was confused by the fact that Factory suddenly transformed from a playground to a user targeting rolling release distro. And I just pointed out that there is still a playground left in factory-totest.
Cheers.

[przemoli]

He said he was confused by the fact that Factory suddenly transformed from a playground to a user targeting rolling release distro. And I just pointed out that there is still a playground left in factory-totest.
Cheers.

NO.

He was citing OpenSuSE Factory wiki.

(Downloading 1438 package out of 2005)

[Guest]

Wonder if they fixed their LiveCD yet. Last time I tried it (the last build; I think July 20th), the KDE installer wouldn't install, something about packages.

In any case, I also don't believe Factory was all that bleeding edge last I tried it either. Was on Mesa 10.2.3, and I think kernel 3.16rc5. Using the mainline kernel repo and XOrg repo (on both factory and 13.1), you get 10.2.4 and now 3.16rc7.

Not sure what to make out on http://download.opensuse.org/factory/iso/ also; seems there's no true x86/86_64 DVD images. There are two different ppc64 images, and both are smaller than the usual 4GB size.

[przemoli]

Update via changing repos (I moved old ones, added 3 new and then added pontostroy repos for Factory), works.

Need to remove 1 package (artwork/branding so it can go away without functionality loss!).
Need to download 1,8GB of new packages (vs up to date 13.1).

Machine rebooted for me (i7 720q + 5720M on r600g from Mesa 10.3.git)



(And Yes pontostroy have fresher packages for kernel and Mesa even for Factory)

[GreatEmerald]

Afterwards further zypper dup wanted to reinstall all the "recommended" packages some packages wanted, which was about 90 packages, some of which i had expressly deinstalled beforehand(not just libs, but useless crap like a webcam gnome program ... i don't have a webcam, i deinstalled it, why do you want to feed me that crap again?). So i could have either used zypper up which was clean, or change the behavior of zypper in general. Decided on the latter, installRecommends = no in /etc/zypp/zypper.conf did the trick just fine, system stays as i stripped it without some unknown metapackage pulling crap in.

That is the recommended method, yes. YaST has installRecommends toggleable as a checkbox. An alternative would be to mark the packages you don't want as taboo/locked (zypper addlock), it's easy enough to remove the lock later if you need to.

[SebastianB]

So far i have to say i like it very much.

After adding the packman factory repo and the games:tools repo and installing steam(which pulled in everything necessary to run steam games on linux aswell as watching the video previews on the store pages etc, nice) it has literally everything i want. I wouldn't mind a more recent systemd and calibre but thats about it.

Its also one of the few distributions who deals well with my QWERTZ keyboard on a logitech unifiying receiver(this one). Most others give me a QWERTY keyboard layout and require a setxkmap command to make QWERTZ stick. Its a pretty evil regression from kernel 3.2 introduced with hid_logitech_dj module that most don't recognioze and have people walk though pointless steps to fix. No idea what opensuse does differently it just works here and always has.

[Guest]

Wonder if they fixed their LiveCD yet. Last time I tried it (the last build; I think July 20th), the KDE installer wouldn't install, something about packages.

In any case, I also don't believe Factory was all that bleeding edge last I tried it either. Was on Mesa 10.2.3, and I think kernel 3.16rc5. Using the mainline kernel repo and XOrg repo (on both factory and 13.1), you get 10.2.4 and now 3.16rc7.

Not sure what to make out on http://download.opensuse.org/factory/iso/ also; seems there's no true x86/86_64 DVD images. There are two different ppc64 images, and both are smaller than the usual 4GB size.

Seems they fixed it. The ppc64 images are gone, and the normal DVDs are available now.

As for two things; I can't seem to remove or add activities (KDE), and the only activity available (Main) doesn't appear to be started (it is, but the indicator for it has a play sign). There are also two Service Managers in YaST settings.