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 compatiblility 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 overdnf-3
because it’s written in C++ instead of Python.- We hope this change will push apps in the Fedora neighbourhood to switch to
dnf5
and at the same time discover apps that are poorly maintained/written and rely ondnf
/dnf-3
.
Does UM40 remove dnf
?
- We do not remove
dnf-3
. We only replace the symlinks fordnf
andyum
to point todnf5
.
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 replacednf
with the actualdnf-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 withdnf-3
. Upstream Fedora has been working hard on makingdnf5
the replacement fordnf-3
. There are works in progress to adapt GNOME software fordnf5
, and to makednf5
much more feature-complete.
But some features are missing in dnf5
!
- There are efforts on making
dnf5
more feature-complete compared withdnf-3
. You may help speed this up by contributing to upstream.