What does the last column mean when listing dnf packages

[nasif (Nasif Imtiaz)]

If I run the command “dnf list --all” in the terminal, it shows something like this -

zynaddsubfx-lv2.x86_64                  3.0.2-3.fc29                   fedora   
zynaddsubfx-vst.x86_64                  3.0.2-3.fc29                   fedora   
zynjacku.x86_64                         6-21.fc29                      fedora   
zypp-common.noarch                      17.14.0-1.fc29                 updates  
zypp-plugins.noarch                     17.14.0-1.fc29                 updates

The last column can be ‘@anaconda’ as well. What does the last column actually mean? For some project, the last column is only available as ‘updates’. What would that mean as well?

[biosharkdev (R.J.S.)]

The last column is the repository the package is coming from.

You can run the following command to get more info about a particular package:

[xxx@wasteland ~]$ dnf info zypp-common
Name         : zypp-common
Version      : 17.14.0
Release      : 1.fc31
Architecture : noarch
Size         : 486 k
Source       : libzypp-17.14.0-1.fc31.src.rpm
Repository   : fedora
Summary      : Common files for ZYpp
URL          : https://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Libzypp
License      : GPLv2+
Description  : This package provides the common files expected by libzypp
             : and its consumers.

[nasif (Nasif Imtiaz)]

Thanks. Why are some packages only in the update repository, and not in the fedora. Why distinguish between them (fedora and updates)?

[biosharkdev (R.J.S.)]

Explanations from fedora docs:

Repositories

The updates repository exists for Branched and stable releases, but is only populated and used for stable releases. It is represented for Yum or [DNF](http://dnf.baseurl.org/) in the fedora-updates.repo file in the repository path. It exists in Branched releases solely to prevent various tools that expect its existence from breaking. For any Fedora installation, this repository will be enabled by default, and should usually remain so.