Dnf update vs dnf4 update

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1

I noticed today that I had some python updates pending, but dnf update did not find them. By mistake I entered dnf4 update and there they were and my system is again up to date.

Why did this happen, does anyone have an explanation or is it just one of those things….

I am presently running: System Details Report

Report details

  • Date generated: 2026-05-03 22:47:38

Hardware Information:

  • Hardware Model: TUXEDO TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Gen7 MK1
  • Memory: 16.0 GiB
  • Processor: 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-12700H × 20
  • Graphics: Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics (ADL GT2)
  • Graphics 1: NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ 3050 Ti Laptop GPU
  • Disk Capacity: 2.5 TB

Software Information:

  • Firmware Version: N.1.05A09
  • OS Name: Fedora Linux 43 (Design Suite)
  • OS Build: (null)
  • OS Type: 64-bit
  • GNOME Version: 49
  • Windowing System: Wayland
  • Kernel Version: Linux 6.19.14-200.fc43.x86_64
2

I suspect this is due to DNF metadata caching. When you run an update, DNF5 checks the metadata cache and, if less than six hours (longer or shorter depending on repository configs) have passed since the last update, considers the cache still valid and does nothing. In contrast, DNF4 uses a different cache directory, so it immediately checks for metadata updates and finds the Python updates.

Next time, you can try dnf update --refresh to force DNF5 to refresh the metadata immediately before checking for updates.