Bug 2392645

Summary: Revert gnome-software to PackageKit backend for Fedora 43
Product: [Fedora] Fedora Reporter: Adam Williamson <awilliam>
Component: gnome-softwareAssignee: Milan Crha <mcrha>
Status: CLOSED ERRATA QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity: high Docs Contact:
Priority: unspecified    
Version: 43CC: gnome-sig, mcatanza, mcrha, rhughes
Target Milestone: ---   
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard: AcceptedFreezeException
Fixed In Version: gnome-software-49~rc-3.fc43 Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 2025-09-10 03:07:48 UTC Type: Bug
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:
Bug Depends On:    
Bug Blocks: 2324224    

Description Adam Williamson 2025-09-02 16:51:47 UTC
We attempted to move gnome-software to the dnf5 backend for Fedora 43, but we are now in Beta freeze and there are several significant outstanding issues with the dnf5 backend. In https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2392062#c7 , mcatanzaro expressed a desire to revert to the PK backend for F43. I think we should do this for Beta if we're going to do it - it doesn't make sense to test the dnf5 backend at Beta but ship the PK backend with Final. As we're in a freeze, that needs a freeze exception, so I'm filing this ticket to propose it and as a venue for discussion.

Comment 1 Milan Crha 2025-09-03 06:14:55 UTC
One mentioned missing thing is that the gnome-shell does not understand dnf5 offline updates [1], thus it cannot show "Install pending update/upgrade" on restart/shutdown. This requires cooperation in gnome-software upstream [2] and then gnome-shell upstream itself.

Do you know any other? It would be good to have them named, thus it's clear what to focus on.

I may also mention that the behaviour of the dnf5 plugin is not precisely the same as the PackageKit plugin behaves, though that's probably a common thing.

[1] https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/7784
[2] not necessarily this change, it's only a proposal to satisfy the [1]: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-software/-/merge_requests/2307

Comment 2 Adam Williamson 2025-09-03 06:25:49 UTC
The other issues I know of are the GPG key import prompts - https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-software/-/issues/2874 - and the missing update notifications - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2392057 .

Comment 3 Michael Catanzaro 2025-09-03 13:26:21 UTC
I think GNOME Software is triggering a memory corruption bug in dnfdaemon: https://github.com/rpm-software-management/dnf5/issues/2420. It's surely not GNOME Software's fault, and I'm not sure whether it's serious enough to be a blocker, but it's certainly not good.

Comment 4 Milan Crha 2025-09-04 05:32:54 UTC
As I wrote in the upstream bug, I tried to reproduce it under valgrind, but it did not trigger anything. It was a rawhide machine, thus I do not know whether valgrind's slowness or slightly different versions made the difference.

Comment 5 Adam Williamson 2025-09-05 07:32:42 UTC
+4 in https://pagure.io/fedora-qa/blocker-review/issue/1902 , marking accepted FE.

Comment 6 Milan Crha 2025-09-05 08:59:02 UTC
Okay, I'm on it.

Comment 7 Fedora Update System 2025-09-05 09:38:12 UTC
FEDORA-2025-7f21f13867 (gnome-software-49~rc-3.fc43) has been submitted as an update to Fedora 43.
https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2025-7f21f13867

Comment 8 Fedora Update System 2025-09-06 01:32:37 UTC
FEDORA-2025-7f21f13867 has been pushed to the Fedora 43 testing repository.
Soon you'll be able to install the update with the following command:
`sudo dnf upgrade --enablerepo=updates-testing --refresh --advisory=FEDORA-2025-7f21f13867`
You can provide feedback for this update here: https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2025-7f21f13867

See also https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Updates_Testing for more information on how to test updates.

Comment 9 Fedora Update System 2025-09-10 03:07:48 UTC
FEDORA-2025-7f21f13867 (gnome-software-49~rc-3.fc43) has been pushed to the Fedora 43 stable repository.
If problem still persists, please make note of it in this bug report.