Failed offline upgrade from F43 -> F44

Ask Fedora
1

ENVIRONMENT
Fedora 43 → 44 upgrade (KDE Plasma, Wayland)
Filesystem: btrfs with subvolume layout — subvol=/root, subvol=/home on nvme
Boot disk: third disk in system (hd2 in GRUB), UEFI
nvidia driver + CUDA stack via RPM Fusion nonfree
dnf5 version: 5.x (shipped with F43)
SYMPTOM

After a successful sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=44 --allowerasing and running sudo dnf5 offline reboot, the system reboots but returns to Fedora 43 every time with no error, no progress screen, and no indication anything went wrong. The upgrade simply does not run.

ROOT CAUSE

The dnf5-offline-transaction.service and dnf-system-upgrade.service units both have ConditionPathExists=/system-update. On systems where root is a btrfs subvolume (subvol=/root), the /system-update symlink is created inside the subvolume. When systemd evaluates the condition early in the boot sequence, it is running against the top-level btrfs volume (subvolid=5), where the symlink does not exist. Both services are skipped, system-update-cleanup.service removes the symlink, and the system boots normally.

Confirmed in journal:

dnf-system-upgrade.service skipped, unmet condition check ConditionPathExists=/system-update
dnf5-offline-transaction.service skipped, unmet condition check ConditionPathExists=/system-update
rm[1136]: removed ‘/system-update’
WHAT DID NOT WORK
Manually creating the symlink at the top-level btrfs volume via sudo mount -o subvol=/ /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt && sudo ln -s /var/lib/dnf/system-upgrade /mnt/system-update and enabling the service with sudo systemctl enable dnf-system-upgrade.service — the system still booted past the upgrade environment each time. The symlink timing issue with btrfs subvolumes appears to be deeper than a simple path fix can resolve with dnf5’s current implementation.
WHAT WORKED — CONFIRMED FIX
Drop to a non-graphical multi-user target, then use dnf-3 (dnf4) explicitly instead of dnf5 for both the download and reboot steps. dnf-3’s offline upgrade implementation handles the btrfs subvolume layout correctly where dnf5’s does not.

1. Drop to non-graphical target (eliminates KDE/Plasma/Wayland from the equation

and ensures a clean environment for the upgrade trigger)

sudo systemctl isolate multi-user.target

2. Re-download packages using dnf-3 explicitly

sudo dnf-3 system-upgrade download --releasever=44 --allowerasing

3. Reboot into the offline upgrade using dnf-3

sudo dnf-3 system-upgrade reboot

The upgrade ran successfully on the next boot. Fedora 44 with KDE Plasma 6.6, kernel 6.19, and nvidia driver 580.x all came up cleanly.

ADDITIONAL BLOCKER ENCOUNTERED

RPM Fusion release packages (rpmfusion-free-release-43, rpmfusion-nonfree-release-43) also block the transaction because they are version-pinned. The F44 replacements require system-release(44) which doesn’t exist pre-upgrade, so dnf install rejects them. Pre-stage them with:

sudo rpm -Uvh --nodeps
https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-44.noarch.rpm
https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-44.noarch.rpm
SUGGESTED FIX FOR DNF5

dnf5 offline reboot should detect btrfs subvolume root layouts and write the /system-update symlink to the top-level btrfs volume, not only inside the subvolume. Alternatively the condition check timing in the systemd units needs to be reviewed relative to btrfs subvolume mount ordering. At minimum, a warning when the symlink cannot be confirmed visible outside the subvolume would prevent silent failure.

2

?

Sorry, but posting AI-slop makes it harder to understand what you’ve actually done. So to start, could you try the manual offline upgrade steps from here? https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/upgrading-fedora-offline/

Then let us know what happened, without the AI-slop. To provide additional info on your setup, please see the instructions at this thread: What is fpaste and how can I use it?

3

Doubtful unless you customised away from the default way Fedora works.

4

I freely admit to being a linux noob. Have tried it before but only successfully made the switch very recently. this was after numerous attempts at running the update using discover failing silently, searching for help and trying to many different options and reboots without success. Then asking an LLM for assistance. after seriously 12+ attempts to initiate the reboot update this is what actually worked:

sudo systemctl isolate multi-user.target

2. Re-download packages using dnf-3 explicitly

sudo dnf-3 system-upgrade download --releasever=44 --allowerasing

3. Reboot into the offline upgrade using dnf-3

sudo dnf-3 system-upgrade reboot

I then asked the LLM to write it up what we had tried coherently to share. Sorry if it has not achieved that.

5

Try the command line dnf method of upgrading, sadly discover hides errors and makes debugging near impossible. Follow the docs that @yurislnx suggested should work.

6

I did, repeatedly. downloading the 7gig update package each time. each time it was lost or stymied silently during boot one way or another.

7

On this forum posting LLM ‘garbage’ is strongly discouraged unless the user explicitly identifies the circumstances and what is personal comment and what came from the AI in each such post.

Many LLM answers are obviously the LLM in learning mode and making sometimes less than intelligent suggestions to see what might possibly work.

Your first post is at least twice as much verbage as needed to convey that information.

8

So to clarify, is your system successfully upgraded to F44 now, and you just meant to share the AI’s solution? Or are you asking for help with troubleshooting?

If you need help with troubleshooting, then please provide more info about your system, with a tool like fpaste as mentioned previously.

9

Hi Yuri, yes correct, had a hell of time getting it to to update and thought I would share what actually worked in the end.

10

Nice thought, but IMO what the AI said is totally wrong.
If you have time, it would be great to provide the journal of the last boot where
dnf5-offline-transaction.service failed or did not start.

Assuming that you did try less than 30 days agos, and using dnf system-upgrade, can
you execute:

sudo journalctl --since -30d \
  | grep -E -i '^-- Boot|dnf5-offline-transaction.service' \
  | grep -B1 -i 'dnf5-offline-transaction.service'

Then post here the ouput, as preformatted text please using the </> button.

This will show the boot’s where you attempted the system-upgrade.
One may later on ask for the full journal of some boot.

11

The log of the offline upgrade is stored outside of the journal.
Here for example is what I have on one of my systems:

$ sudo dnf offline log
The following boots appear to contain offline transaction logs:
1 / 7ee8662589d1481484b83322cf9d799d: 2026-05-26 11:51:40 43→44

$ sudo dnf offline log --number=1
May 26 12:50:31 fender.internal kernel: Linux version 7.0.9-105.fc43.x86_64 (mockbuild@ba432eeba>
May 26 12:50:31 fender.internal kernel: Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=(hd0,gpt2)/vmlinuz-7.0.9-105.fc>
May 26 12:50:31 fender.internal kernel: BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
...

You can pull out just the dnf log lines like this:

$ dnf offline log --number=1 | grep dnf
May 26 12:51:39 fender.internal systemd[1]: Starting dnf-system-upgrade.service - System Upgrade using DNF...
May 26 12:51:39 fender.internal systemd[1]: Starting dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5...
May 26 12:51:40 fender.internal dnf-3[8321]: another upgrade tool is running. exiting quietly.
May 26 12:51:40 fender.internal systemd[1]: dnf-system-upgrade.service: Deactivated successfully.
May 26 12:51:40 fender.internal systemd[1]: Finished dnf-system-upgrade.service - System Upgrade using DNF.
...
May 26 12:51:40 fender.internal dnf5[8322]: Starting system upgrade. This will take a while.
May 26 12:51:42 fender.internal dnf5[8322]: Package                                              Arch   Version                             Repository                                                    Size
May 26 12:51:42 fender.internal dnf5[8322]: Removing:
May 26 12:51:42 fender.internal dnf5[8322]:  kernel                                              x86_64 7.0.4-100.fc43                      updates                                                    0.0   B
May 26 12:51:42 fender.internal dnf5[8322]:  kernel-core                                         x86_64 7.0.4-100.fc43                      updates                                                   98.6 MiB
...

I edited the output to keep the example short.

12

Sure thing

sudo dnf offline log --number=1 | grep dnf

Jun 07 10:45:44 fedora systemd[1]: Starting dnf-system-upgrade.service - System Upgrade using DNF...
Jun 07 10:45:44 fedora systemd[1]: Starting dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5...
Jun 07 10:45:44 fedora dnf-3[1140]: another upgrade tool is running. exiting quietly.
Jun 07 10:45:44 fedora systemd[1]: dnf-system-upgrade.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jun 07 10:45:44 fedora systemd[1]: Finished dnf-system-upgrade.service - System Upgrade using DNF.
Jun 07 10:45:44 fedora audit[1]: SERVICE_START pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=system_u:system_r:init_t:s0 msg='unit=dnf-system-upgrade comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success'
Jun 07 10:45:44 fedora audit[1]: SERVICE_STOP pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=system_u:system_r:init_t:s0 msg='unit=dnf-system-upgrade comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success'
Jun 07 10:45:44 fedora dnf5[1141]: Starting system upgrade. This will take a while.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Failed to resolve transaction. This indicates some bigger problem, since the offline transaction was already successfully resolved before. Was the cache at "/usr/lib/sysimage/libdnf5/offline" modified?
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Failed to resolve the transaction:
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: gcc14-c++-14.3.1-1.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: atkmm-2.28.5-1.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: cairomm-1.14.5-12.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: gcc14-14.3.1-1.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: glibmm2.4-2.66.8-2.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: gtk2-2.24.33-23.fc43.i686.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: gtkmm3.0-3.24.10-2.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: jxrlib-1.1-32.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: libXScrnSaver-1.2.4-6.fc43.i686.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: libcanberra-gtk2-0.30-38.fc43.i686.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: libkolabxml-1.2.0-34.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: libsigc++20-2.12.1-6.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: maliit-framework-2.3.0-10.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: maliit-framework-qt5-2.3.0-10.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: maliit-keyboard-2.3.1-11.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: pangomm-2.46.4-4.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: python3-sniffio-1.3.1-8.fc43.noarch.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: qt5-qtfeedback-20180903gita14bd0b-12.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: sdl2-compat-2.32.68-1.fc43.i686.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Cannot perform Remove action, no match for: woff2-1.0.2-23.fc43.x86_64.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora audit[1]: SERVICE_START pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=system_u:system_r:init_t:s0 msg='unit=dnf5-offline-transaction comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=failed'
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Consumed 4.322s CPU time, 1G memory peak.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Triggering OnFailure= dependencies.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora kernel: audit: type=1130 audit(1780793149.836:48): pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=system_u:system_r:init_t:s0 msg='unit=dnf5-offline-transaction comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=failed'
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora systemd[1]: Starting dnf5-offline-transaction-cleanup.service - Offline upgrade/transaction using DNF 5 failed...
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction-cleanup.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora systemd[1]: Finished dnf5-offline-transaction-cleanup.service - Offline upgrade/transaction using DNF 5 failed.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora audit[1]: SERVICE_START pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=system_u:system_r:init_t:s0 msg='unit=dnf5-offline-transaction-cleanup comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success'
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora audit[1]: SERVICE_STOP pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=system_u:system_r:init_t:s0 msg='unit=dnf5-offline-transaction-cleanup comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success'
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora kernel: audit: type=1130 audit(1780793149.982:53): pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=system_u:system_r:init_t:s0 msg='unit=dnf5-offline-transaction-cleanup comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success'
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora kernel: audit: type=1131 audit(1780793149.982:54): pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=system_u:system_r:init_t:s0 msg='unit=dnf5-offline-transaction-cleanup comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success'

and

sudo journalctl --since -30d \
  | grep -E -i '^-- Boot|dnf5-offline-transaction.service' \
  | grep -B1 -i 'dnf5-offline-transaction.service'
-- Boot 4b9693c1378e4b9bbe34597296ed8c8c --
May 13 06:13:36 fedora systemd[1]: Starting dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5...
May 13 06:13:36 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Deactivated successfully.
May 13 06:13:36 fedora systemd[1]: Finished dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5.
--
-- Boot 4011a74a862c40649609fbab9a380b7b --
May 17 06:28:45 fedora systemd[1]: Starting dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5...
May 17 06:28:46 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Deactivated successfully.
May 17 06:28:46 fedora systemd[1]: Finished dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5.
--
-- Boot d285297366e143b8b151bad7c771c0b2 --
May 29 19:31:51 fedora systemd[1]: Starting dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5...
May 29 19:31:51 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Deactivated successfully.
May 29 19:31:51 fedora systemd[1]: Finished dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5.
--
-- Boot 1e1cd5c4d5fd489c9064730feee13a32 --
Jun 02 17:34:50 fedora systemd[1]: Starting dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5...
Jun 02 17:34:50 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jun 02 17:34:50 fedora systemd[1]: Finished dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5.
--
-- Boot ebe56ff9eb644941a214b59172027a34 --
Jun 04 21:29:04 fedora systemd[1]: Starting dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5...
Jun 04 21:29:04 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jun 04 21:29:04 fedora systemd[1]: Finished dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5.
--
-- Boot f13ebb6f3931478fa64074ceb6f1414e --
Jun 07 08:37:11 fedora systemd[1]: Starting dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5...
Jun 07 08:37:11 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jun 07 08:37:11 fedora systemd[1]: Finished dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5.
--
-- Boot cd14861ab4f244b0898f91adef01a629 --
Jun 07 10:45:44 fedora systemd[1]: Starting dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5...
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Consumed 4.322s CPU time, 1G memory peak.
Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Triggering OnFailure= dependencies.
--
-- Boot 7d718d8be6514720b3cab7ab76b31961 --
Jun 07 11:01:34 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5 skipped, unmet condition check ConditionPathExists=/system-update
-- Boot 1ecc6a7360fd4697859a3e334aaf49a4 --
Jun 07 11:06:08 customer.brseaus1.isp.starlink.com sudo[9734]:  CrivenS : TTY=pts/1 ; PWD=/home/CrivenS ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/cat /usr/lib/systemd/system/dnf5-offline-transaction.service
-- Boot fc931d422f5244a8940df2fee9576f02 --
Jun 07 11:07:27 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5 skipped, unmet condition check ConditionPathExists=/system-update
--
-- Boot 16a033ef5dd84d769f296c3209239eb0 --
Jun 07 20:05:08 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5 skipped, unmet condition check ConditionPathExists=/system-update
--
-- Boot 2bfe677f422b461985b163d33d54575a --
Jun 07 20:26:02 customer.brseaus1.isp.starlink.com sudo[10149]:  CrivenS : TTY=tty3 ; PWD=/home/CrivenS ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/systemctl status dnf5-offline-transaction.service
-- Boot a2edf2cfcb1948019c0cb1cb5ff5dcb6 --
Jun 07 20:51:32 fedora systemd[1]: Starting dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5...
Jun 07 20:52:38 fedora systemd[1]: Reexecution requested from client PID 1470 ('systemctl') (unit dnf5-offline-transaction.service)...
Jun 07 20:54:11 fedora systemd[1]: Reload requested from client PID 4307 ('systemctl') (unit dnf5-offline-transaction.service)...
Jun 07 20:54:12 fedora systemd[1]: Reload requested from client PID 4373 ('systemctl') (unit dnf5-offline-transaction.service)...
Jun 07 20:54:28 fedora systemd[1]: Reload requested from client PID 4566 ('systemctl') (unit dnf5-offline-transaction.service)...
Jun 07 20:56:26 fedora systemd[1]: Reload requested from client PID 8295 ('systemctl') (unit dnf5-offline-transaction.service)...
Jun 07 20:57:43 fedora systemd[1]: Reexecution requested from client PID 9918 ('systemctl') (unit dnf5-offline-transaction.service)...
Jun 07 20:58:44 fedora systemd[1]: Reload requested from client PID 11116 ('systemctl') (unit dnf5-offline-transaction.service)...
Jun 07 20:58:44 fedora systemd[1]: Reload requested from client PID 11180 ('systemctl') (unit dnf5-offline-transaction.service)...
Jun 07 21:00:52 fedora systemd[1]: Reexecution requested from client PID 16683 ('systemctl') (unit dnf5-offline-transaction.service)...
Jun 07 21:01:57 fedora systemd[1]: Reload requested from client PID 28469 ('systemctl') (unit dnf5-offline-transaction.service)...
Jun 07 21:01:57 fedora systemd[1]: Reload requested from client PID 28534 ('systemctl') (unit dnf5-offline-transaction.service)...
Jun 07 21:01:59 fedora systemd[1]: Reload requested from client PID 29127 ('systemctl') (unit dnf5-offline-transaction.service)...
Jun 07 21:02:07 fedora systemd[1]: Reload requested from client PID 34678 ('systemctl') (unit dnf5-offline-transaction.service)...
Jun 07 21:02:55 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jun 07 21:02:55 fedora systemd[1]: Stopped dnf5-offline-transaction.service - Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5.
Jun 07 21:02:55 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service: Consumed 17min 19.694s CPU time over 11min 22.456s wall clock time, 32.9G memory peak.
13

Hi. Thanks for that update.

This boot is of interest. Paste it with:

  • sudo journalctl -b cd14861ab4f244b0898f91adef01a629 | fpaste --title=Jun07-1045

then post here the obtained URL.

This one is the first with this unmet condition. Paste it with:

  • sudo journalctl -b 7d718d8be6514720b3cab7ab76b31961 | fpaste --title=Jun07-1101

then post here the obtained URL.

14

I don’t think so: strace -f dnf offline log --number=N shows that dnf calls
journalctl with the boot ID related to N.

15

Interesting and good to know.
My journals are keep for a very long time as I setup to purge on disk size used not on time.

16

&

17

Sadly, the Jun07-1045 log do not provide enough details that may explain the
dnf5-offline-transaction failure, no more than:

Jun 07 10:45:49 fedora dnf5[1141]: Failed to resolve transaction. \
  This indicates some bigger problem, since the offline transaction was already \
  successfully resolved before.\
  Was the cache at "/usr/lib/sysimage/libdnf5/offline" modified?

I don’t see a reasonable way to dig further. Let’s hope your machine is now fine in
F44. If you have some issue, please open a new topic.

For the Jun07-1101, one have:

 kernel: Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=(hd2,gpt2)/vmlinuz-7.0.11-100.fc43.x86_64 \
   root=UUID=d525116f-2515-42f6-971f-17cc235ae136 ro rootflags=subvol=root \
   rhgb quiet \
   rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau,nova_core modprobe.blacklist=nouveau,nova_core

this shows 1) that the subvol root is of course used, 2) that nvidia is in use.

Jun 07 11:01:34 fedora systemd[1]: dnf5-offline-transaction.service - \
  Offline upgrades/transactions using DNF 5 skipped, \
  unmet condition check ConditionPathExists=/system-update

Here /system-update do not exist as a file or is a symlink pointing to
nowhere (dangling symlink).

Jun 07 11:01:34 fedora systemd[1]: Starting system-update-cleanup.service \
  - Remove the Offline System Updates Symlink...
Jun 07 11:01:34 fedora rm[1136]: removed '/system-update'

Since the system-update-cleanup.service has those conditions:

ConditionPathExists=|/system-update
ConditionPathIsSymbolicLink=|/system-update

and rm -fv says removed, the /system-update path existed as a file or a symlink

It was thus a dangling symlink.
One will not know what it was pointing to :frowning:

Somebody else may compare that to what the LLM said …