Changes/ExcludeFromWeakAutodetect

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Enable exclude_from_weak_autodetect by default in LIBDNF

Summary

exclude_from_weak_autodetect enables autodetection of unmet weak dependencies (recommends or supplements) of installed packages and block installation of packages satisfying unmet dependencies.

Owner

• Name: Jaroslav Mracek
• Email: jmracek@redhat.com

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora 36
• Last updated: 2021-09-16
• FESCo issue: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Tracker bug: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>

Detailed Description

The feature is designed to prevent an install of removed weak dependencies from the system by users and to not install weak dependencies missing after system deployment. It will change the behaviour of DNF, microdnf, and PackageKit. The feature will be backported to all Fedoras, but in default the feature will be off. Additional information: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1699672

The default value for exclude_from_weak_autodetect configuration can be overridden in /etc/dnf/dnf.conf

Feedback

The feature was requested by Miro Hroncok mhroncok@redhat.com. Additional feedback: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1699672

Benefit to Fedora

After installation of a fresh system the first upgrade will not install a lot of weak dependencies. Some of them were excluded from kick-start installation set for a good reasons (security, image size, minimal functional set, ...), but after the first update, all weak dependencies are installed, therefore some feature of deployment simply disappear.

Scope

• Proposal owners:
  • The feature is ready in Pull Request - https://github.com/rpm-software-management/libdnf/pull/1279
  • PRs only wait for a release of libsolv
  • The Feature will be enabled in upstream as default, therefore from Fedora 36 we start to release libdnf without a revert patch of default in comparison to upstream.

• Other developers:

The change requires a new release of libsolv.

• Release engineering: #Releng issue number

No coordination required.

• Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)

No update required.

• Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Alignment with Objectives:

Upgrade/compatibility impact

No manual changes will be required. After libdnf update the feature will be on by default.

How To Test

1. Install package without satisfied weak dependencies 2. Upgrade the upgrade. With exclude_from_weak_autodetect=true, it will not install weak dependencies of already installed packages. With exclude_from_weak_autodetect=false, weak dependencies will be installed on upgrade.

User Experience

The change in default will help to keep some values for particular deployments (minimal system will be still minimal without disabling weak dependencies). Users will be able to remove particular weak dependencies and they will be not installed on the first upgrade. In case when feature will not work according to the user expectation it can be switched off in the dnf configuration file.

Dependencies

libsolv - Required code changes are already in upstream. We only wait for the next release of libsolv.

Contingency Plan

There are no external dependencies, therefore we can easily to postpone the feature and the change of default behaviour.

• Contingency mechanism: (What to do? Who will do it?) N/A (not a System Wide Change)
• Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
• Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change), Yes/No

Documentation

The feature will be documented in dnf man pages.

N/A (not a System Wide Change)