In this tutorial, you will learn how to update OpenSUSE.
Updating packages on OpenSUSE is almost the same process as updating packages on other linux distros. The only thing that changes from distro to distro is the package manager, and each package manager has its own commands.
On OpenSUSE the default package manager is called zypper, so to update packages you can do so by using zypper in terminal, or by using Yast Software Management.
Update OpenSUSE via Terminal
refresh and update, are the two commands that you need to use when it comes to checking for updates and updating your OpenSUSE machine.
The refresh command will check for new packages updates, and it will notify you if there are new updates that you can install. However, the system won't install them automatically
sudo zypper refesh
To install the new updates, you need to use the update command, for example
sudo zypper update
Update OpenSUSE using GUI
The difference between updating OpenSUSE via terminal, and by using GUI is that, when using terminal you need to run the update commands manually, while when using GUI you don't need to run any command.
To update OpenSUSE using GUI, you can do so by using YaST Software Management.
First open Activities overview window by clicking to "Activities"
Next, search for "Yast software management software" and click the icon to launch Yast software management
Yast software management needs root permission in order to run, so you will be prompted to authenticate, enter your password and click to "Continue" or simply press enter
Now you can update your packages. To do so, click to "Package"
And choose "Update"
Next, you need to click to "Accept" to begin updating packages.
For example, in the image below we are updating 3 kernel packages that are marked with the upper green arrow
You should see the progress window once the downloading process begins
Once all packages have been downloaded, you can now reboot your machine, though this depends on the packages that got updated. In our case we updated kernel, so rebooting was necessary
If you updated let's say firefox, then you won't need to reboot your machine, but only firefox
Now simply click to "Finish" to close YaST Software Management window
That's it!
Conclusion
In this tutorial, you learned how to update packages on OpenSUSE using the default package manager zypper in the terminal, and by using YaST software management.
