LiveUpdates

It's known that some Fedora packages can't be updated if the particular packaged software is running at the same time. If these packages are updated, this will cause unexpected behaviour, hangup or even crash in running process when files change on disk. There are package management tools that work in the same environment (desktop) which the updates may break, which is contradicting situation itself. Currently these tools and user interfaces don't communicate the possible symptoms to the user and leave a feeling of unpolished system.

This can lead to indirect security issues if all updates are suspended for long period of time while trying to avoid harmful interrupts and some critical updates don't get installed soon enough.

Purpose of this page is to list those packages and collect detailed information about symptoms and reasons that cause it and possibly suggest/refer solutions if possible.

While reading this it should remembered that continuing to work while files change on disk may not always possible depending on the nature of software. Thus items on the list shouldn't be seen as bad designs.

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package	F	symptoms	cause	notes
firefox	f18	crash due to files being removed from the disk without firefox noticing.	Potentially due to the nature of xul engine
kde	f18	Usually desktop starts leaking memory and forces restart/logout to resume normal operations. Sometimes whole KDE network layer breaks when updates are applied. Browsers, plasmoids cannot connect via network anymore.
kde	f24	Filesystem operations hang, pressing 'Save' or 'Open' button for filesystem causes hang. Restarting core processes (after kill & restart cycle attempts) causes hang, no visible GUI elements. Not being able to save open documents before reboot/relogin causes data loss.
NetworkManager	f18	temporarily deconfigures networking for some connection types
thunderbird	f18			same as firefox

Comments about workarounds and solutions

Communicate the issues to upstream and solve them? Tuju (talk) 15:14, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

• Please track these issues in bugzilla too (probably a rerequisite for "communication with upstream". rdieter 15 March 2014
  • very hard, issue is vague --Tuju (talk) 08:49, 30 March 2017 (UTC)
  • hard to reproduce, would require uninstalling a pile of updates--Tuju (talk) 08:49, 30 March 2017 (UTC)
  • reports get closed when reporter can't produce more exact information--Tuju (talk) 08:49, 30 March 2017 (UTC)
• most likely to fail, based on upstream track record in similar issues.--Tuju (talk) 08:49, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

Forward responsibility away from Fedora brand (where it belongs):

• Users think they install Fedora, when it fails, they blame Fedora.--Tuju (talk) 08:49, 30 March 2017 (UTC)
• Add a (warning|informational) message to a package|yum metadata that gets delivered into user interface? Tuju (talk) 15:14, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Pragmatic and practical solutions:

• Split updates into yum -y update (list but leave 'em out from update) and yum -y update-reboot? (some require just desktop logout) Tuju (talk) 15:14, 7 April 2013 (UTC)
• Add an update button into displaymanager. Would solve desktops that break during updates. (suggested by muep)