zypper command to manage packages on suse Linux

zypper is a command line tool for package management in openSUSE and SUSE Enterprise Linux. It using the 'libzypp' library for installing, updating, searching and removing packages a well as for managing repositories, perform various queries, and more.

Common syntax:

The general syntax of zypper is as follow:

zypper [--global-options] command [--command-options] [arguments]

File location:

Important ‘zypper’ configuration files are as follows:

FileUsage
/etc/zypp/zypper.confMain zypper configuration file
/var/cache/zyppzypper cached file location
/var/log/zypp/historyzypper history file
/usr/lib/zypper/commandszypper subcommands executables location

1) Refreshing repositories

When you add a new repository or the repository expires you will need to run the below zypper command to update the repository. It downloads package metadata from repositories.

$ sudo zypper ref
or
$ sudo zypper refresh

Repository 'Atom Editor' is up to date.
Repository 'Google-Chrome' is up to date.
Repository 'google-chrome' is up to date.
Repository 'packman' is up to date.
Repository 'Non-OSS Repository' is up to date.
Repository 'Main Repository' is up to date.
Repository 'Main Update Repository' is up to date.
Repository 'Update Repository (Non-Oss)' is up to date.
All repositories have been refreshed.

2) Installing packages

To install packages, use the following zypper command:

sudo zypper install PACKAGE_NAME

If you already know the exact package name, run: For instance, to install ‘apache2’ package run:

$ sudo zypper install apache2
or
$ sudo zypper in apache2

To install a package with a specific version number, run:

$ sudo zypper in apache2-2.4.43

To install a pattern package, run: This install LAMP Stack on your system with single command.

$ sudo zypper in -t pattern lamp_server

To install a rpm package that is available in the local path, run:

$ sudo zypper /path/to/file.rpm

To install a rpm package from remote path, run:

$ sudo zypper https://xyz.com/file.rpm

To install and remove packages simultaneously, use the '+/-' modifiers. To install ‘vim’ and simultaneously remove ‘nano’, run:

$ sudo zypper install vim -nano

To remove ‘vim’ and simultaneously install ’emacs’, run:

$ sudo zypper install vim +emacs

3) Removing packages

The zypper removal command is similar to the installation command, except that the effect is opposite.

sudo zypper remove PACKAGE_NAME

To remove a package, run: For instance, to remove ‘apache2’ package, run:

$ sudo zypper remove apache2
or
$ sudo zypper re apache2

If you automatically want to remove any dependencies that become unused after removing the specified package, run:

$ sudo zypper rm --clean-deps PACKAGE_NAME

4) Updating Patches

There are two different ways to update packages using zypper on openSUSE and SUSE Enterprise Linux.

  • Installing patches
  • Installing all the available updates

To install all officially released patches, run:

$ sudo zypper patch

The above command does not apply patches from third party repositories. To install all together, run:

$ sudo zypper patch --with-update

To install patches related to a specific Bugzilla issue, run

$ sudo zypper patch --bugzilla=NUMBER

To install a security patch related to a specific CVE number, run:

$ sudo zypper patch --cve=NUMBER

5) Listing patches

You can check available patches on your system using the following two commands.

To list the number of patches to be installed, run:

$ sudo zypper patch-check

Loading repository data…
Reading installed packages…

0 patches needed (0 security patches)

To list actual patches with details, run:

$ sudo zypper list-patches

Loading repository data…
Reading installed packages…
No updates found.

6) Managing Repositories with zypper

The zypper command has numerous options for managing repositories.

  • Listing all repositories
  • Adding repositories
  • Removing repositories
  • Modifying repositories

6.1) Listing all Repositories

To list all repositories active on the system, run:

$ zypper repos

Repository priorities in effect:
                                                       (See 'zypper lr -P' for details)
      90 (raised priority)  :  1 repository
      99 (default priority) :  7 repositories

#  | Alias                     | Name                               | Enabled | GPG Check | Refresh
---+---------------------------+------------------------------------+---------+-----------+--------
 1 | Atom                      | Atom Editor                        | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | No
 2 | Google-Chrome             | Google-Chrome                      | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | No
 3 | google-chrome             | google-chrome                      | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes
 4 | openSUSE-Leap-15.2-1      | openSUSE-Leap-15.2-1               | No      | ----      | ----
 5 | packman                   | packman                            | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes
 6 | repo-debug                | Debug Repository                   | No      | ----      | ----
 7 | repo-debug-non-oss        | Debug Repository (Non-OSS)         | No      | ----      | ----
 8 | repo-debug-update         | Update Repository (Debug)          | No      | ----      | ----
 9 | repo-debug-update-non-oss | Update Repository (Debug, Non-OSS) | No      | ----      | ----
10 | repo-non-oss              | Non-OSS Repository                 | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes
11 | repo-oss                  | Main Repository                    | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes
12 | repo-source               | Source Repository                  | No      | ----      | ----
13 | repo-source-non-oss       | Source Repository (Non-OSS)        | No      | ----      | ----
14 | repo-update               | Main Update Repository             | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes
15 | repo-update-non-oss       | Update Repository (Non-Oss)        | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes

6.2) Listing Repositories with URI

$ zypper lr -u

6.3) Listing Repositories with priority

$ zypper lr -p

6.4) Refreshing a specific Repositories

$ sudo zypper ref Atom
Repository 'Atom Editor' is up to date.                                                                                                                                        

Specified repositories have been refreshed.

6.5) Disabling a specific Repositories

$ sudo zypper mr -d google-chrome

Repository 'google-chrome' has been successfully disabled.

6.6) Enabling a specific Repositories

$ sudo zypper mr -e 1
Repository 'google-chrome' has been successfully enabled.

6.7) Ading a new Repository

$ sudo zypper addrepo -cfp 90 'https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/packman/suse/openSUSE_Leap_$releasever/' packman

6.8) Removing a Repository

$ sudo zypper rr packman-repository
or
$ sudo zypper removerepo repo-no

Removing repository 'packman-repository' .......................[done]
Repository 'packman-repository' has been removed.

7) Querying Packages with zypper

zypper offers various methods to query packages.

To get lists of all products, run:

$ zypper products

To get lists of all patterns, run:

$ zypper patterns

To get lists of all packages, run:

$ zypper packages

8) Searching Packages

If you do not know the exact package name that you want to install. Use the search option with zypper command, which will return the matching string based on the given input text. For example, to see a list of ftp packages, run:

$ zypper search ftp
or
$ zypper se ftp

9) Checking package information

To find out detailed information about a package, run. It will give you package version, size, repo name, package version, architecture etc.

$ zypper info apache2

10) Checking Updates

A list of availble package updates can be obtained with the following command.

$ zypper list-updates

11) Updating Packages

To update all installed packages with newer available versions, run:

$ sudo zypper update
or
$ sudo zypper up

12) Installing Missing Dependencies

To verify whether all dependencies are still fulfilled or not by running the below command.

$ sudo zypper verify

If you found missing dependencies, run the below command to repair it.

$ sudo zypper install-new-recommends

13) Rebuilding database

If you have trouble accessing the packages in the configured repositories after the ‘zypper refresh’, execute the below command: This forces a complete refresh and rebuild of the database, including a forced download of raw metadata.

$ sudo zypper refresh -fdb

14) Cleaning zypper Cache

zypper command cache can be cleared using the below commands:

To clean zypper cache only, run:

$ sudo zypper clean

To clean metadata and package cache at once, run:

$ sudo zypper clean -a
or
$ sudo zypper clean --all

15) zypper command help

To get a help from zypper command and know more about it, run:

To list the available global options and commands, run:

$ zypper

Print help for a specific command

$ zypper help [command]

For more information, run:

$ man zypper
and
$ zypper --help

Conclusion

This tutorial explains how to manage packages using ‘zypper’ command in openSUSE and SUSE Enterpise Linux systems.

If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to comment below and we shall get back to you as soon as possible. Happy learning!

About Magesh Maruthamuthu

Love to play with all Linux distribution

View all posts by Magesh Maruthamuthu

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