Correct order when upgrading to Silverblue 39

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1

This article on Fedora Magazine seems to contain errors:How to rebase to Fedora Linux 39 on Silverblue - Fedora Magazine

For example: >

Prior to actually doing the rebase to Fedora Linux 39, you should apply any pending updates. Enter the following in the terminal:

$ rpm-ostree update

or install updates through GNOME Software and reboot.

Gnome Software is easiest so I do that, but it shows me Fedora 39 in the list! I hit update and now I assume it is also going to get Fedora 39 base for me…

I would expect Gnome Software to not install Fedora 39 yet until all other updates were installed and the system has been rebooted?
Because now, I cannot follow the recommendation in the guide to remove RPMFusion temporarily before upgrading.

edit: after reboot, I am still on F38, that is good, but Gnome Software does not show F39 as an available update anymore:

GNOME Software shows you that there is new version of Fedora Linux available on the Updates screen. According to the article, it should:

GNOME Software shows you that there is new version of Fedora Linux available on the Updates screen.

I’d love the option to do everything via Gnome Software, except for temporarily removing RPM Fusion. But that doesn’t seem to be possible?

2

I avoid gnome software like a plague. Not that it is bad, merely that it does whatever it does while totally hiding the process from the user (as well as hiding any problem messages). It also only does whatever the developer designed it to do and if that is not what the user wants then too bad.

It seems much easier to use the command line in 3 steps with

  1. dnf upgrade --refresh to verify all packages are currently up to date for the presently running version.
  2. dnf system-upgrade download --releasever 39 to download all the packages and at the same time be able to see what is downloaded and receive any messages related to a problem with updating (and there may be some if using software that was not installed directly from fedora – or if there is a timing issue with mirror updates).
  3. When fully satisfied that the download completed successfully and ready to complete the install that is done with dnf system-upgrade reboot.

For most individuals these 3 steps manage it all and still leave the user in full control.

edit:
Note that rpm-ostree or other command line tools may do similar for silverblue.

3

Those are for workstation edition. OP was about silverblue.

4

OOPs!
I did not note that in the tags.
I added a comment above.

1 Like
5

I figured it out.

The main issue is the complete lack of an intuitive UI for Gnome Software.

There is a Reload/Refresh icon in the top left corner of the Update tab. Never noticed that one. It’s not in an obvious location at all.

When I hit that, it checks for software again and shows the Fedora 39 update is waiting for me nicely.

I updated, rebooted and done.

I hope in a next version, the manual command for RPMFusion won’t be necessary anymore.

6

Don’t hold your breath. Those codecs are patent encumbered so they will never be as long as that is the case.

7

For the record, that’s not what the guide is telling you to do. It’s having you convert the RPM Fusion release packages from local to layered packages, which allows future rebases to happen without any further intervention.

It would be nice if rpm-ostree handled this better, but ultimately the best option for most users is to use flatpaks instead of layering RPM Fusion.

1 Like
8

All I meant was that command to no longer be needed. I still expect to have to add RPMFusion manually ofcourse.

9

Aha! Thanks this is good news. So next time I can skip that command. But for the next system I install, would it also be possible to run that command immediately after adding RPMFusion (with --apply-live) in the first place ?
So after this command:
rpm-ostree install --apply-live https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

Indeed I use Flatpaks as much as possible but I’ve been through the whole Firefox issue already multiple times and for now RPMFusion is the only way for that and a few other things. So I guess pretty much every user will need it anyway.

10

Yes, you only need to run the re-install command for RPM Fusion once and you can do it directly after the first reboot after installing the RPMs the first time: Tips and Tricks :: Fedora Docs

11

But if I use --apply-live, then install RPMs, can’t I run the command immediately after and then reboot?

12

That might work. Would need to be tested.

13

Will do and report back.