Linux

Leaped out of openSUSE Leap 42.3 into Fedora 27

Mohan Sreekant

Mohan Sreekant

— 2 min read

Arch Linux is a beauty. However, the whole installation routine had become a bit too much for me. I just wanted to concentrate on the really important stuff\goals and becoming an Arch installation ninja was not one of them. I wanted a solid, slow-changing distro. openSUSE Leap 42.3 fitted the bill.

openSUSE Leap 42.3 is a well-crafted distro. I installed it on my workstation and laptop somewhere in October 2017. I had zero troubles with installed packages. Zero hardware-compatibilty troubles. The only thing that had bitten my behind on multiple occassions is the software repositories going bad. The funny thing is that this happened only on my workstation. The laptop was completely immune to this disease.

Earlier, with default repositories, zypper would go into an infinite loop of some kind trying to figure out an optimized repository for me. I think some mirrors restricted users based on IP addresses. Their algos found my IP address suspect, for reasons only known to them. It happened so frequently that I decided to take things into my own hands:

  • I purged the repositories list using YaST Control Center.
  • Got hold of a list of mirrors of the official repositories.
  • Used the nearest one.

All was OK for a few days. Then, it happened again. I had to find another mirror. This happened multiple times. Eventually, I stumbled upon a mirror in Armenia which worked for a couple of months.

The Armenian mirror was secured http or https, but has become http. Site admin seems to have forgotten to renew certificates. This bit me again.

msiyer@cobra-suse-i74770:~> sudo zypper update
[sudo] password for root: 
Download (curl) error for 'https://opensuse.ucom.am/distribution/leap/42.3/repo/oss/content':
Error code: Curl error 35
Error message: error:140770FC:SSL routines:SSL23_GET_SERVER_HELLO:unknown protocol

Abort, retry, ignore? [a/r/i/...? shows all options] (a):

Had to change repositories again and things back on track:

msiyer@cobra-suse-i74770:~> sudo zypper update
[sudo] password for root: 
Retrieving repository 'openSUSE-Leap-42.3-0' metadata ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Building repository 'openSUSE-Leap-42.3-0' cache ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Retrieving repository 'openSUSE-Leap-42.3-Non-Oss' metadata .............................................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Building repository 'openSUSE-Leap-42.3-Non-Oss' cache ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Retrieving repository 'openSUSE-Leap-42.3-Update' metadata ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Building repository 'openSUSE-Leap-42.3-Update' cache ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Retrieving repository 'openSUSE-Leap-42.3-Update-Non-Oss' metadata ......................................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Building repository 'openSUSE-Leap-42.3-Update-Non-Oss' cache ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

This horror show got to a point when I said:

I am tool old for this shit.

Also, too busy. I got rid of openSUSE and installed Fedora 27. Fedora installer is a streamlined beast. It moves like an anaconda in water - smooth and fast.

I added rpmfusion repos and got all the software I needed. Once I left the terminal emulator's domain, I felt the need to change the mouse settings. Specifically the single-click\double-click options. I was surprised to see mouse settings missing from System Settings. I knew this was a bug. I tried getting required packages from repos, but could not. Then I saw a fellow sufferer on the Fedora forums and saw light at the end of the tunnel.

Read more