Bug 35168 - Cannot upgrade to Cauldron with dnf system-upgrade due to "protected packages: dnf"
Summary: Cannot upgrade to Cauldron with dnf system-upgrade due to "protected packages...
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: Mageia
Classification: Unclassified
Component: RPM Packages (show other bugs)
Version: Cauldron
Hardware: All Linux
Priority: High normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: All Packagers
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2026-03-02 17:28 CET by Ulrich Beckmann
Modified: 2026-05-11 21:50 CEST (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Source RPM:
CVE:
Status comment:
j.alberto.vc: in_errata10?


Attachments
CLI log of test (1.33 KB, text/plain)
2026-03-02 17:31 CET, Ulrich Beckmann
Details
CLI logs of test (15.39 KB, text/plain)
2026-05-07 20:55 CEST, Ulrich Beckmann
Details
first attempt tu upgrade via dnf - log file (6.64 KB, text/plain)
2026-05-09 09:37 CEST, Angelo Naselli
Details

Description Ulrich Beckmann 2026-03-02 17:28:49 CET
The attempt to upgrade to Cauldron with # dnf system-upgrade 
fails. 
The error messages is:
Error:
 Problem: The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: dnf

Ulrich
Comment 1 Ulrich Beckmann 2026-03-02 17:31:42 CET
Created attachment 15461 [details]
CLI log of test
Comment 2 Lewis Smith 2026-03-02 21:06:00 CET
Thank you for the report.

Summary: Cannot upgrade to Cauldron with dnf system-upgrade => Cannot upgrade to Cauldron with dnf system-upgrade due to "protected packages: dnf"
Assignee: bugsquad => pkg-bugs

Comment 3 Ulrich Beckmann 2026-03-19 18:09:35 CET
I tested an online upgrade using dnf now.

# dnf upgrade --downloadonly --releasever=cauldron --allowerasing

I did expect the same error, as the same solver is supposed to be active. But this did not occur. I'd like to have an explanation.

The final upgrade was successfully carried out in a virtual terminal (Ctrl + Alt + F3). So it is possible to upgrade to Cauldron (and later MGA 10) using dnf.

Grub-efi and dnf are working. As always one has to reconfigure the repos from mageia to Cauldron.

The installation is KDE Plasma only and went into https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=34966 kwin_x11 not installed anymore after an upgrade.

Ulrich
Comment 4 Ulrich Beckmann 2026-04-22 19:44:32 CEST
(In reply to Ulrich Beckmann from comment #3)
> I tested an online upgrade using dnf now.
> 
> # dnf upgrade --downloadonly --releasever=cauldron --allowerasing
> 
> I did expect the same error, as the same solver is supposed to be active.
> But this did not occur. I'd like to have an explanation.
> 
> The final upgrade was successfully carried out in a virtual terminal (Ctrl +
> Alt + F3). So it is possible to upgrade to Cauldron (and later MGA 10) using
> dnf.
> 
> Grub-efi and dnf are working. As always one has to reconfigure the repos
> from mageia to Cauldron.
> 
> The installation is KDE Plasma only and went into
> https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=34966 kwin_x11 not installed anymore
> after an upgrade.
> 
> Ulrich

The upgrade was only partial, and I did not succeed to complete it. Cauldron has already switched to dnf5, and I learnt that dnf and dnf5 metadata are  n o t  compatible.

So I gave up further test. As dnf5 is missing in Mageia 9, I assume that it is not possible to upgrade using dnf at the present state.

Ulrich

Status: NEW => NEEDINFO

Comment 5 katnatek 2026-04-29 04:52:42 CEST
Usually upgrade with dnf is a complex procedure 
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Mageia_10_Release_Notes#Online-Upgrade.2C_using_DNF_.28CLI.29

Did you follow all the steps?
Comment 6 Ulrich Beckmann 2026-04-30 15:42:07 CEST
I am a longtime dnf user, also with Fedora, and know the procedure.

I did not read the release notes before. The procedure there seems like the procedure of Mageia 9 and does not consider any difference between dnf and dnf5.

Ulrich
Comment 7 katnatek 2026-05-01 05:30:06 CEST
(In reply to Ulrich Beckmann from comment #6)
> I am a longtime dnf user, also with Fedora, and know the procedure.
> 
> I did not read the release notes before. The procedure there seems like the
> procedure of Mageia 9 and does not consider any difference between dnf and
> dnf5.
> 
> Ulrich

Thanks for the reply, just covering the bases.
If I can, I'll test on one of my VMs
Comment 8 katnatek 2026-05-05 19:22:47 CEST
I can confirm this bug on a VM
If this can't be fixed before mageia 10 release we should remove dnf as upgrade method in the release notes

CC: (none) => anaselli, ngompa13
Priority: Normal => High

Comment 9 Angelo Naselli 2026-05-05 19:29:20 CEST
@Ulrich dnf5 is available using copr (copr.fedorainfracloud.org:papoteur:dnf5-mga.repo) If you wanted to try dnf5. In the case it works we could consider a backport maybe?
Comment 10 katnatek 2026-05-06 23:56:30 CEST
(In reply to Angelo Naselli from comment #9)
> @Ulrich dnf5 is available using copr
> (copr.fedorainfracloud.org:papoteur:dnf5-mga.repo) If you wanted to try
> dnf5. In the case it works we could consider a backport maybe?

I think that if works should be released as update if not broke other thing
I'll test when I can
Comment 11 katnatek 2026-05-07 00:13:23 CEST
(In reply to Angelo Naselli from comment #9)
> @Ulrich dnf5 is available using copr
> (copr.fedorainfracloud.org:papoteur:dnf5-mga.repo) If you wanted to try
> dnf5. In the case it works we could consider a backport maybe?

I think could be an issue that package name is dnf5 and mageia in cauldron is just dnf
Comment 12 Ulrich Beckmann 2026-05-07 20:55:31 CEST
Created attachment 15555 [details]
CLI logs of test

I installed dnf5 from COPR successfully, but

# dnf5 system-upgrade download --releasever=cauldron

fails with multiple errors, which I can't explain. Note that dnf5 system-upgrade no longer provides the option --allowerasing.
Comment 13 Angelo Naselli 2026-05-09 09:37:55 CEST
Created attachment 15557 [details]
first attempt tu upgrade via dnf - log file

Any hint to avoid mirror issues? I can't even start the upgrade....
Comment 14 Ulrich Beckmann 2026-05-09 14:22:07 CEST
Mageia 9: dnf and dnf5 are different calls.
Cauldron: dnf and dnf5 are synonyms.

I use a specific and reliable mirror.

Ulrich
Comment 15 Angelo Naselli 2026-05-09 14:25:35 CEST
I used baseurl instead of mirrorlist into repo file configuration, and that allowed to make some progresses.

As reported system-upgrade fails, so i make some tests:
1. upgrade dnf5 only (failed) in both cases with or without dnf5 installed from copr.

Problema 1: package python3-dnf-plugins-core-4.10.1-1.mga10.noarch from cauldron-x86_64 requires python(abi) = 3.13, but none of the providers can be installed
  - problem with installed package python3-dnf-plugins-core-4.3.1-1.mga9.noarch
  - cannot install both python3-3.13.12-1.mga10.x86_64 from cauldron-x86_64 and python3-3.10.18-1.5.mga9.x86_64 from @System
  - package dnf5-5.4.0.0-1.mga10.x86_64 from cauldron-x86_64 conflicts with python3-dnf-plugins-core < 4.7.0 provided by python3-dnf-plugins-core-4.3.1-1.mga9.noarch from @System
  - package lib64python3.10-stdlib-3.10.18-1.5.mga9.x86_64 from @System requires python(abi) = 3.10, but none of the providers can be installed
  - cannot install the best update candidate for package dnf-4.14.0-1.mga9.noarch
  - problem with installed package lib64python3.10-stdlib-3.10.18-1.5.mga9.x86_64
 Problema 2: package dnf-plugins-core-4.10.1-1.mga10.noarch from cauldron-x86_64 requires python3-dnf-plugins-core = 4.10.1-1.mga10, but none of the providers can be installed
  - package python3-dnf-plugins-core-4.10.1-1.mga10.noarch from cauldron-x86_64 requires python(abi) = 3.13, but none of the providers can be installed
  - problem with installed package dnf-plugins-core-4.3.1-1.mga9.noarch
  - cannot install both python3-3.13.12-1.mga10.x86_64 from cauldron-x86_64 and python3-3.10.18-1.5.mga9.x86_64 from @System
  - package dnf-plugins-core-4.3.1-1.mga9.noarch from @System requires python3-dnf-plugins-core = 4.3.1-1.mga9, but none of the providers can be installed
  - package lib64python3.10-stdlib-3.10.18-1.5.mga9.x86_64 from @System requires python(abi) = 3.10, but none of the providers can be installed
  - package dnf5-5.4.0.0-1.mga10.x86_64 from cauldron-x86_64 conflicts with python3-dnf-plugins-core < 4.7.0 provided by python3-dnf-plugins-core-4.3.1-1.mga9.noarch from @System
  - package lib64python3.10-3.10.18-1.5.mga9.x86_64 from @System requires lib64python3.10-stdlib = 3.10.18-1.5.mga9, but none of the providers can be installed
  - cannot install the best update candidate for package yum-4.14.0-1.mga9.noarch
  - problem with installed package lib64python3.10-3.10.18-1.5.mga9.x86_64


2. installed mageia-repos-cauldron and run "dnf --refresh upgrade"
That worked, upgraded the system but dnf, python and some other packages remained the same (mga9 ones), so yes it was still dnf4. Same issues as above trying to upgrade them.

3. I run:
# urpmi.removemedia -a
# urpmi.addmedia --distrib --mirrorlist http://mirrors.mageia.org/api/mageia.cauldron.x86_64.list
# urpmi dnf
That required some updgrades more than dnf (about 200 packages), but the idea was to see if urpmi upgraded dnf. And it does. Though the result dnf5 is not usable at that stage:
# dnf --version
dnf: symbol lookup error: /lib64/libmodulemd.so.2: undefined symbol: g_once_init_enter_pointer

4. offline upgrade.
# dnf offline-upgrade download --releasever=cauldron
# dnf offline-upgrade reboot
That worked exactly as in the point 2.
Comment 16 Angelo Naselli 2026-05-09 14:31:40 CEST
regarding point 4 repos for drakrpm are still pointing 9. Probably because i forced them before the upgrade.
Comment 17 Neal Gompa 2026-05-09 16:35:24 CEST
I've committed a "fix" in the dnf5 package for mga10: https://svnweb.mageia.org/packages?view=revision&revision=2323640

It's getting built in updates_testing right now.

Status: NEEDINFO => ASSIGNED

Comment 18 Angelo Naselli 2026-05-10 12:01:43 CEST
I seem to still have problems:

LANGUAGE=en_us dnf upgrade dnf --releasever=cauldron --repoid "updates_testing-x86_64"
Last metadata expiration check: 0:04:22 ago on dom 10 mag 2026, 11:52:17.
Dependencies resolved.

 Problem: cannot install the best update candidate for package dnf-4.14.0-1.mga9.noarch
  - nothing provides dnf5 = 4.99.0^really5.4.0.0-2.mga10 needed by dnf-4.99.0^really5.4.0.0-2.mga10.noarch from updates_testing-x86_64
=================================================================================================================================================================================================
 Package                           Architecture                         Version                                                       Repository                                            Size
=================================================================================================================================================================================================
Skipping packages with broken dependencies:
 dnf                               noarch                               4.99.0^really5.4.0.0-2.mga10                                  updates_testing-x86_64                               8.4 k

Transaction Summary
=================================================================================================================================================================================================
Skip  1 Package

Nothing to do.
Complete!
Comment 19 Angelo Naselli 2026-05-10 21:21:27 CEST
I had to use baseurl instead of mirrorlist again, force the priority to use update_testing repository and worked. I didn't enable i586/i686 repos. 

Following the tested commands:

dnf config-manager --setopt=updates_testing-x86_64.priority=1 --save
dnf config-manager --setopt=mageia-x86_64.priority=10 --save
dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=cauldron --allowerasing
dnf system-upgrade reboot

[anaselli@localhost ~]# cat /etc/release 
Mageia release 10 (Cauldron) for x86_64
[anaselli@localhost ~]$ uname -a
Linux localhost.localdomain 6.18.28-desktop-1.mga10 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri May  8 11:37:38 UTC 2026 x86_64 GNU/Linux
[anaselli@localhost ~]$ rpm -qa | grep ^dnf
dnf5-plugins-5.4.0.0-3.mga10
dnf5-5.4.0.0-3.mga10
dnf-data-4.23.0-2.mga10
dnf-4.99.0^really5.4.0.0-3.mga10
dnf-plugins-core-4.10.1-1.mga10
[anaselli@localhost ~]$ rpm -qa | grep ^python\-
python-srpm-macros-3.13-2.mga10
python-rpm-macros-3.13-2.mga10
python-setuptools-wheel-80.9.0-1.mga10
python-pip-wheel-26.0.1-1.mga10
[anaselli@localhost ~]$ rpm -qa | grep mga9 | wc -l
129
Comment 20 katnatek 2026-05-11 03:27:30 CEST
I can confirm (one more time) that use mirrorlist not works, could at less the metadata be fetched from a static mirror instead the "fasted" mirror?

Running the update right now, If 

dnf config-manager --setopt=mageia-x86_64.priority=10 --save

Is mandatory, I can't be sure as I do it before change to use baseurl instead of mirrorlist 

Will report when procedure ends if the disk space in VM is enough
katnatek 2026-05-11 03:28:04 CEST

Flags: (none) => in_release_notes10?

Comment 21 papoteur 2026-05-11 08:20:37 CEST
Hello,
I have run the upgrade procedure as exposed in the Release Notes. It went fine.

CC: (none) => yves.brungard

Comment 22 katnatek 2026-05-11 19:10:08 CEST
(In reply to papoteur from comment #21)
> Hello,
> I have run the upgrade procedure as exposed in the Release Notes. It went
> fine.

The procedure end well for the VM, so if Ulrich not have objections we can close this

But we really need to do something to improve the use of mirror list or add to erratas the workaround

Flags: in_release_notes10? => in_errata10?

Comment 23 Ulrich Beckmann 2026-05-11 21:50:22 CEST
Yes, I can confirm now. The procedure works now without installing the fix from Cauldron.

Ulrich

Status: ASSIGNED => RESOLVED
Resolution: (none) => FIXED


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