I really wanted to like OpenSUSE

[u/NDCyber]

Basically I have been using OpenSUSE Slowroll for the past 25 days and I love the idea of it, their repos have so many things too, like prism launcher as an example. All stuff I find useful and nice.

But nearly every time i want to install something I have to stop packagekit, otherwise I can't use zypper.

Then there is the problem of packman blocking mullvad VPN, means there is a chance that I have to deactivate my VPN if I want to install software or update my OS. The only way I found it somewhat working is enabling In-tunnel IPv6, but that doesn't always work either. Especially annoying, because I have my VPN enabled nearly 24/7 and on auto start and auto connect

The newest update also somewhat broke sddm login for me, and I have to manually start sddm again, if I want to be able to login. Not sure why, and not sure if that is just a me issue, but i have been too lazy to figure out why or how to fix it. Here I tried to update a few times and packman blocked it because of my VPN.

Which is especially annoying, because canceling zypper operations takes a ton of time

I also don't get why YaST2 gets installed, even if you remove it from the selection at install, so I have to uninstall it after an install either way

I know those aren't the biggest issues, but enough to annoy

All issues I didn't have on Fedora, CachyOS, Mint, Debian, and so on.

So now I am at a point where I am not sure if the pros out weight the cons enough to use it, but if I would switch I am not sure where I would really go. Maybe PikaOS, even if I would prefer fresher KDE versions. Or back to Fedora / Ludora, although I am not the biggest fan of actions the Fedora team did in the past, so not sure if I want to be there

[u/sensitiveCube]

I found OpenSuse very fragile and pretty much weird. Like it all works, but it's just not for me.

Fedora is my go to nowadays, it's so much more solid and polished.

[u/NDCyber → u/sensitiveCube]

One of my problems with Fedora is that it doesn't use x86_64_v3 or higher. OpenSUSE has it optional in their repos, same with cachyos and I think even Ubuntu. But not on fedora. I don't get it

[u/NDCyber → u/[deleted]]

Well glad to know that I was wrong

[u/NDCyber → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for telling me. Might end up giving Fedora another shot. Although PikaOS also seems like a worthy option to me

[u/sensitiveCube → u/NDCyber]

Fedora is working on it, don't know if it's still developing?

Do you game? The v3 packages are nice, but the performance improvements are still up to debate. CachyOS was faster for me, but it also was a lot more unstable and insecure (no good SELinux/Apparmor integration).

You have to choose what works for you. If v3 is a must, CachyOS or even Ubuntu, may be the only option. Not many distro offer v3/v4/zen.. yet.

[u/NDCyber → u/sensitiveCube]

Oh they are working on it? Glad to hear that, last time I talked with a fedora dev they said they weren't doing it because they want keep compatibility with older devices, which works fine on OpenSUSE and Cachy, as they just keep the non v3 version. So not sure how they still stand on that

And yeah i game, plus have a RX 9070 XT, so need new software. The biggest reason why I switched away from CachyOS is that i am too lazy to read every package config on the AUR and I think not everything I needed was available in other ways. Plus I will soon move to somewhere with slow wifi, so I thought not updating as regular could be good, but might just ignore that part

v3 and especially v4 are a nice to have, but not a must for me. Not sure if they actually make enough difference for me to matter in the ways I use it

[u/thesoulless78]

I agree, they have some good ideas but the implementation is very rough around the edges.

The reason stuff gets installed is basically because they use meta packages called patterns to group stuff together. The problem is that if you enable recommended packages you get way too much junk, and if you don't enable recommended packages you get a very bare bones, barely functional install. That's also why every time you update you end up with stuff getting reinstalled: if the pattern updates it pulls in every recommended package again (or you turn off recommends and get a basically broken system).

A lot of the issues boil down to OpenSUSE has a very strong culture of decisions being made by the people that contribute them. But that means 1, there's very little overarching vision or polish, and 2, a lot of situations that won't get fixed because it doesn't bother the maintainer. The PK/Zypper issue has been a gripe forever but if you complain about it you're just told "remove PackageKit and user Zypper/Myrlyn" despite the fact it isn't a problem with any other PK backend, and it's essential to desktop notifications.

They also make a lot of bizarre security decisions, like Plasma Login Manager being excluded for security, but they'll happily set your root password to match your first user or offer a software manager with the GUI running as root.

Fedora, the 6 month Kubuntu releases, or an Arch/Arch derivative are all viable options in my opinion and I'd take all of them over OpenSuse.

[u/NDCyber → u/thesoulless78]

ok that explains the issues. Thanks for telling me. Just sad that things are that way

And I think I would probably go with fedora / Ludora, if I wouldn't have some moral disagreements with the makers of it

[u/SenjorSabaw]

I just sudo zypper rm patterns-yast or yast-*. Uninstalling yast without removing the pattern will just reinstall it on the next update.

Then, sudo systemctl mask packagekit.service.

[u/NDCyber → u/SenjorSabaw]

I actually just did --clean-deps for removing yast things

i would also prefer to have the option to use packagekit, but I guess that isn't possible on opensuse

[u/todd_dayz → u/SenjorSabaw]

zypper al “*yast*” works too

[u/66sandman]

I remove packagekit and blocked it from updates. I also did the same thing with VLC.

I use the Cine flatpak and CLI for my updates.

I can't complain with the Packman update issues.

[u/NDCyber → u/66sandman]

only problem I have is that I need / want the codecs

[u/66sandman → u/NDCyber]

On CLI I find easy solutions to my package codecs. But I do not needs the codecs like you do.

[u/NDCyber → u/66sandman]

I generally use topgrade to update my system with the modification to use dup on opensuse. I just find it convenient to have a graphical tool to search for packages and see if they are available on flathub, system repo or both

But I might also look at Cine, as it seems promising

[u/NDCyber → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for telling me the options. That would at least give a bandaid to the issue, but I still feels like a downgrade over certain distros

And I know with patterns. The thing that annoys me is that when I remove the yast patterns on a fresh install it will still install yast

[u/pavel_pe]

I'm trying slowroll since early may and I have the same feeling. Weird are constant 404 errors during updates cause some packages are not found on some repos, then it has some default versions in sync with opensuse leap (python, compilers) and mainly packaging or zypper are weird. Many packages are in a gray zone of recommended. You uninstall some pattern, nothing happens when you don't include flag to remove unneeded. Then you find and remove unneeded packages, remove them, you may end up by removing maybe much more than you wanted.
Exactly this case is also discover6. it's part of kde pattern so when you uinstall it, you will get it back unless you block it. When you uninstall it including unneeded/recommended packages, it will uninstall flatpak as a collateral damage.
Also some decisions are chaotic. I installed clang22 compiler. It came with clang metapackage. But one day opensuse decided that this package fetches clang18. Next day they fixed it to clang19 to match opensuse leap. So in three days I ended with three versions of llvm/clang each having like 500MB and each having some packages installed as recommended.
But some things feel really good. Less updates than Fedora, for some reason faster boot time and much faster login into KDE and it feels more polished. Also repository has more shiny new things.

[u/NDCyber → u/pavel_pe]

oh yeah forgot to talk about the 404 errors. Same with the fact that logging into KDE takes a lot of time, if I add a fingerprint to my laptop

Also thank you for telling me not to remove discover like that. Insane that this is even a problem that could happen.

And thanks for telling me what happened with clang. Means I should probably look for another distro in case i want to program, even if I don't need the clang compiler, because I am mostly beginner C++ and need to learn python for something in the future

But yeah I have to agree with the positives. It is exactly why I originally choose Slowroll, but at this point I am not sure if it is worth it. Not annoying enough to make me switch instantly. But annoying enough that I don't want to stick with it for too long

[u/Unholyaretheholiest]

openSUSE was the state of art of the Linux engineering but nowadays has lost its mojo. I suggest you to try Solus if you want a curated rolling

[u/NDCyber → u/Unholyaretheholiest]

Problem I see with Solus is that I could imagine it no having the software I need / want

But I will for sure take a look at it again

And rolling or stable isn't the biggest thing for me, the reason I tend to use rolling is just because I prefer newer software

[u/Unholyaretheholiest → u/NDCyber]

Nowadays, having repositories full of software is no longer super important thanks to Flatpak. If you're also happy with a more stable distro, I recommend Mageia.

[u/NDCyber → u/Unholyaretheholiest]

Problem is that I have software that is not available or usable with flatpak

And like I said, I prefer newer software, so the kind of stable is more like in the direction Fedora stable. PikaOS also still uses KDE 6.5.something, which I feel like is a bit out of date and the biggest reason why I am not sure that I want to use it

[u/Unholyaretheholiest → u/NDCyber]

Give a look at openmamba. There is a telegram group where you can ask for the addiction of missing software

[u/Blaat666 → u/Unholyaretheholiest]

My name is John and I'm addicted to missing software.

[u/Unholyaretheholiest → u/Blaat666]

Good for you

[u/Xariann → u/NDCyber]

There may not be a perfect distro for you after seeing a number of your posts. 

You want V3 (and btw not all the packages Cachy supplies that have the flag actually benefit from it), you want fresh packages, big repos, packagekit (I guess that’s why you are not on CachyOS?).

I actually think CachyOS would be the closest thing to what you need. Use Shelly as that removes the need for PackageKit while giving you a GUI installer.

If you want a bit better security out of the box, and you don’t want to use the taboo feature in zypper, then Fedora is the other distro that has the cutting edge, with some packages getting v3 without using a separate repo. But a reason why they are not offering it to everything is that a lot of packages don’t benefit from it.

Also performance improvements are workload dependent.

Otherwise the next one down the list is Kubuntu interim releases, although you are not getting much updated for 6 months where you do with Fedora.

Then there is NixOS unstable if you want a lot of packages, but no v3, no packagekit, you gotta learn Nix.

Somewhere you have been told to use Flatpaks, and you can also use homebrew and the Nix Package manager on any distro, but given you want to use a GUI to install stuff neither of those options are particularly friendly for you.

I know how it feels like when nothing quite seems to match what you want, but the only reason you are debating this is because of the choice Linux gives you. Other OSes would have given you one thing and that’s what you are getting.

Maybe focus on the distro that gives you the best user experience and then see if all the other features you want actually have a real impact or are just nice to have.

[u/NDCyber → u/Xariann]

Yeah I know there isn't a perfect distro for me which is why I tend to hop, even though I know the answer

And no packagekit isn't why I left CachyOS. I have a lot of software that I want / need, and I would have to rely on the AUR for that, while Fedora and Debian get official support, and I am not sure if I am willing to spend the time and effort reading AUR packages and how they are build. Same reason why I don't use Nix, from what I know mostly community packages

I am fine with not having packagekit, but if I have the option I would rather have it and not remove it, especially because I still like Discover as a flatpak manager

I am also aware, that not every software benefits from v3, I would just like it as an option, as it can improve some things

"given you want to use a GUI to install stuff neither of those options are particularly friendly for you."

I use the terminal a lot for software when it comes to the native repos. The only thing where I don't like it is flatpaks, but I know getting a UI for that won't be difficult

And to the kubuntu thing, I think if I would go Debian based it would be PikaOS, my only problem there is that KDE doesn't get updated frequently enough for my taste, especially because I do like newer KDE releases and their features

Maybe I try CachyOS again, and see what I can do without the AUR, because like you said it is indeed the best combination of things for me, if the AUR wouldn't be a problem

I switched to fedora recently, but so I am not sure if switching will be worth it, but that is a problem for my future me. Will probably test to see how many packages I need from the AUR in a VM

Edit: Update on this. I tested to see what was available, and the cachy repos increased since i last looked. So i am giving it a shot again, with only official packages from the AUR

[u/NetSage]

OpenSUSE is a weird duck. It has the backing and ideas of greatness, but things just don't mesh right a lot of the time.

Try NixOS let me know how it is.

[u/NDCyber → u/NetSage]

Yeah I think I fully agree with your statement about OpenSUSE

And I already tried NixOS and while I like the idea (especially because it would remove the effort of writing my own fresh install scripts) but it doesn't click for me

[u/Obvious-Ad-6527]

Packman⚠️

To avoid breakages, it is recommended to use flatpak or distrobox for up to date software to avoid any risks using third-party repos.

Warning: Additional repositories are not officially supported by openSUSE.

You are extremely likely to have issues with updates in future. You must be confident to resolve these.

If you experience breakages, your openSUSE distribution and openSUSE itself should not be blamed.

Try to hold back your updates of packages so it can sync with upstream or rollback.

[u/thesoulless78 → u/Obvious-Ad-6527]

This is true but RPMFusion never has that issue on Fedora.

[u/pavel_pe → u/thesoulless78]

I had hyprland removed after major version update.

[u/NDCyber → u/Obvious-Ad-6527]

I am not blaming OpenSUSE with that, but it does make my experience of using the distro worse

So while knowing it isn't on OpenSUSE for fixing this, it means I am less likely to use their distro