Spin Ink

If you are like me, then you want your machines to be as up-to-date as possible. I do not mean using alphas and betas up-to-date, that is just asking for trouble. I mean latest stable package up-to-date. While these packages are considered stable, they have not been through the same level of testing as those that were released with SuSE 10. As a result, you could run into application crashes and other random issues. I have been using this method regularly since suse 9.2 and I have not had any major issues with it, but you should still be aware that some problems may arise. I resolved the 2 issues I have had by just going back to the older version of the package.

This tutorial assumes that you know what YaST is, and that you have already completed the tutorial to add YaST Installation Sources.

Now having added those sources, we can click Finished and proceed to looking for updated packages.

1. Open YaST
2. Click ‘Software Management’
3. Change the filter from ‘Search’ to ‘Packge Groups’
4. Select ‘zzz All’ at the bottom of the list of ‘Package Groups’
5. In the top right window, listing all of the packages, Right Click any of the packages
6. Choose ‘All in this List’ → ‘Update if Newer Version Available’
7. Now change the filter to ‘Installation Summary’ to see what packages will be updated

The ‘Installation Summary’ view will tell you what is going to be updated when you click Accept.

Dealing With Dependancy Conflicts

Chances are pretty good that there will be some sort of dependency issue when you do. Never to fear though, these are easy enough with a little common sense.

If you have no idea what something is, and don’t know what action to take;

1. Hit Cancel on the dependency resolution dialog dealee
2. Search for the package, read the description and determine if you need it
3. Take the appropriate action
4. Rinse, Wash, Repeat…

NOTE Some times, you need to use the ‘Version Tab’ in ‘Software Management’ to force yast to install a particular version of a package in order to resolve a dependancy conflict.

You should NEVER, EVER have to ‘risk inconsistancies‘, and when all else fails, ask in #SuSE on irc.freenode.net. With any luck, you will be able to easily resolve the few dependency conflicts that require human intervention, and then your machine will be very up-to-date.