Dnf5 Is The Default Package Manager In Ultramarine Linux 40

Starting with UM40, dnf5 will replace dnf-3 as the default package manager. This is done via the dnf5-default-package-manager package provided by the UM40 repositories.

Technical Details

The dnf5-default-package-manager package has a %triggerin script for dnf and yum. When these 2 packages get installed/updated, the script will be executed, which will replace /usr/bin/dnf and /usr/bin/yum symlinks to point to /usr/bin/dnf5 instead of /usr/bin/dnf-3.

This change has been proposed on upstream Fedora, but has been delayed to Fedora 41. However, we’ve decided this change should be worth a try on UM40.

Effects

By using dnf5, users will be able to install, remove and upgrade packages much faster. End-users shouldn’t need to do anything to adapt to this change.

Since dnf5 isn’t bug-for-bug compatible with dnf-3, programs that rely on dnf-3 should use the dnf-3 or dnf4 command to use the older version of dnf. If you are facing compatibility issues with some apps that rely on the dnf symlink instead of the actual /usr/bin/dnf-3 binary, you are advised to report this bug to upstreams (i.e. the apps in concern), not dnf5 or Ultramarine.

FAQ

Why dnf5?

  • dnf5 provides better performance over dnf-3 because it’s written in C++ instead of Python.
  • We hope this change will push apps in the Fedora neighborhood to switch to dnf5 and at the same time discover apps that are poorly maintained/written and rely on dnf/dnf-3.

Does UM40 Remove dnf?

  • We do not remove dnf-3. We only replace the symlinks for dnf and yum to point to dnf5.

Wouldn’t that Break Compatiblility?

  • If changing only 2 symlinks actually breaks your workflows, either your workflows are poorly made, or there are some apps you use that rely on the 2 symlinks, which evinces that those apps are unfortunately poorly made. Change your workflows to adapt to dnf5 or replace dnf with the actual dnf-3 binary; or in the latter case, report the issue to the upstream apps in concern.

  • We expect dnf5 in the future to be supposedly much more compatible with dnf-3. Upstream Fedora has been working hard on making dnf5 the replacement for dnf-3. There are works in progress to adapt GNOME software for dnf5, and to make dnf5 much more feature-complete.

But Some Features are Missing in dnf5!

  • There are efforts on making dnf5 more feature-complete compared with dnf-3. You may help speed this up by contributing to upstream.