My personal checklist for upgrading from openSUSE Leap 42.1 to 42.2 using online update (zypper dup)

** update — also tested ok on 42.2 -> 42.3 **

This is my personal checklist for upgrading from openSUSE Leap 42.1 to 42.2 using online update (zypper dup). This may or may not include all the steps necessary for YOUR system.

You may not need all the steps. So be careful. Read it carefully, and make sure that you understand each step. Use it as an aid. Use it at your own risk.
Remember, always update 1 versionnumber at a time, so go from 42.1 -> 42.2 -> 42.3 and do not go from 42.1 to 42.3 !!

For the full (very good) documentation, see: https://doc.opensuse.org/documentation/leap/startup/book.opensuse.startup_color_en.pdf

Preparations:

  1. Check your repos.
    1. Remove all repos that you no longer need, like I have the ‘kde updated apps’ repo.
    2. It is most preferable to leave only base (oss & non-oss), update(oss & non-oss) & packman repos.
    3. # zypper verify
      to remove cache files from the repos you deleted. Saves lots of disk space beforehand.
  2. If necessary, but this may be not for you, enable packet locks on packages that you need. For instance, I still need createrepo and KDirStat and I don’t want the upgrade to delete these packages. This step may not be for you.
    1. # zypper al createrepo
    2. # zypper al kdirstat
  3. update your system to the latest patch level just before the upgrade.
    1. # zypper up
  4. IMPORTANT!! Make sure that you have enough free diskspace, >4GB is recommended. (probably in /var/cache but i’m not sure) <– yes, confirmed

To change the repos:

  1. go to the repo directory
    1. # cd /etc/zypp/repos.d/
  2. change all references from 42.1 to 42.2 (or whatever version number you need)
    1. # sed -i ‘s/42.1/42.2/g’ *.repo
  3. check if the repo files are correct now
    1. # grep base * | cut -d”:” -f2-
      and check the output
  4. check to make sure that these new repos all exist and are accessible
    1. # zypper ref -f

To start the update:

  1. please read step 4.3 below first.
  2. I like to start the update not in an X session, so either:
    1. init 3 :to switch to runlevel 3, or
    2. CTRL-ALT-F1 to start a root session on tty1. This has the benefit that a graphical console is still available during the update. (press CTRL-ALT-F7 to switch)
      but his is not a necessary step. You can skip this if you want.
  3. I like to download the files in advance, so I don’t end up with a broken system when something goes wrong during the process. Please check for >4GB free disk space beforehand.
    1. # zypper dup – -download-in-advance
      Otherwise just leave the download-in-advance option out.
  4. Really, really check the output good before giving it a go.
    1. Check especially the section on ‘downgraded packages’ and ‘removed packages’ . Check if there aren’t any packages that you know you want to keep.
    2. To check the downgraded packages, I have a little tip: type ‘v’ at the promt where zypper is asking for ‘yes or no’, and the list will be repeated but now with version numbers!
    3. This step may be difficult to do on tty1, so you might want to do a test run of this command in the graphical console first, where you have a large scroll-back buffer. So check and then simply answer no at the end will do. Then repeat the command in the tty1, where you will answer yes of course.
  5. Once you answered ‘y’, the download will start. For me, it was ~4000 packages, ~2.1GB download. How long this will take depends on your internet connection.
  6. After the download, the installation of the packages will start. How long this will take depends on the speed of your processor and disk system.
  7. then you can reboot
    # reboot

After the upgrade to 42.2, my server performed its functions (database, webserver, nfs, smb etc.) perfectly. However I had a slight issue with the KDE-desktop. The taskbar would not come up and the desktop was inaccesible.
To solve that, I had to issue the following command:
# zypper in -t pattern “kde_plasma”

That command installed some packages that were probably missing. After that, I could use the desktop as normal again.

Have a lot of fun!

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