When I’m downloading something in Software, it would be nice if I could see what it’s actually doing rather than just a progress bar
The software center is the way the developer chose to make it.
A feature request would need to be sent to the developer for what you would like to see changed.
You can see full details of what is being updated before starting an upgrade, and the upgrade process (downloading and the actual upgrades) if you were to use dnf on the command line in a terminal
I meant is there like a hidden config or something? I wasn’t asking for a feature request.
Do you know if it’s possible to view the state of install from the cli while doing an install from Software?
What is done within the gui is only visible as the developer designed it.
This is one reason I never use the gui for software changes. I want to see the detailed status and that is only visible AFAICT using the cli with dnf.
It’s probably not what you had in mind, but pressing Esc during installation reveals the usual verbose mode boot process, which in case of installations via GNOME Software would also present the progress of the specific packages being installed.
However, the way GNOME Software works is IMO in line with GNOME’s HIG design principles, some of them being make it simple and reduce user effort. Before accepting the installation of the updates, the user is presented with the packages to be installed, but then after reboot&install not anymore, because most of the users aren’t interested in such details (they might even move away from the computer, given that the system is not usable during the update process anyway).
For the rest of us there is always the option of running updates via CLI.
To add to what people have said:
That’s not the target audience for Gnome software. It’s designed for people who just want the update done with the details kept away from them. If you want more information with the processes, you should use other tools that allow that. Folks have mentioned the cli, and perhaps dnfdragora shows more information (but I’ve not used it recently).
Interesting thanks for link
In addition, Software center takes care of flatpak packages.
You would also need to take a look at
flatpak update
if you choose the CLI route.