F36 Workstation: Way to limit which updates to install

experiencing exceptionally problematic updates lately with the latest 2 kernel updates completely borking my system, audio and external monitor so I have locked a kernel in place until fedora gets its act together and doesn’t break my system each and every time it updates the kernel.

My question is there a way to pick and choose exactly what I want updated? for e.g. I only want to update my browser and nothing else in the current update list specifically because I know most if not all of those updates, especially audio, will break my system.
If I wanted the bleeding edge of a linux OS, I wouldn’t be using fedora and yet that is precisely how it’s been going lately with kernel updates borking my system.

any tips regarding how to choose a specific update to apply would be appreciated. Also, no lectures on why I should update the entire OS even if it breaks my system, pls. I need my OS to work not spending hours upon hours trying to fix what the update broke.

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Certainly you can pick and choose which updates to apply.

dnf update <package> will only update the named package and its required dependencies.

Similarly, if you want a general update but to exclude specific packages use something like dnf upgrade --exclude=<package>. eg. dnf upgrade --exclude=kernel*

In both cases you can upgrade or exclude multiple packages at the same time. man dnf or dnf --help for more info.

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dnf --help
And you will find the flags according to your need.

problem with excluding the kernel package from updating is that you won’t know if a newer kernel would fix the potential regression that you are experiencing.

so rather than excluding kernel from updates, I would increase the number of kernels the system keeps available for booting (to 6 or 7 or whatever disk space is available on /boot).

This makes booting older kernels very easy and you don’t have to entirely role back your system (using a Timeshift snapshot or other complicated stuff).

sudo dnf history list, sudo dnf history info <id>, sudo dnf history undo , sudo dnf history redo, … are probably commands you may also want to know.

Reference:

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The dnf versionlock plugin is also worth checking out:

https://dnf-plugins-core.readthedocs.io/en/latest/versionlock.html

Let’s be better here please. Regressions happen, especially in components like the kernel which aims to support basically all the hardware out there. You’re unlucky that it hit your system, but saying things like “until someone gets their act together” is inappropriate and not in line with the code of conduct—you’re not being excellent to others here.

You are, like everyone else, free to pay for a product that is tested specifically on your hardware—that’ll minimise these issues, even if it won’t guarantee no bugs. Otherwise, the right thing to do here is to report that the latest kernel does not work well on your system so that the folks that made the changes can look into them, debug them, and fix them. So, have you reported this bug somewhere yet?

Oh, and of course—Fedora does not develop the kernel, we simply package and ship it like all the other software that’s included in the repositories. Not that this means you should now go blame the upstream kernel maintainers, but it’s good to be clear about how software ends up in Fedora.

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I report bugs constantly. They are derided and written off as user error. A “user error” in the kernel that I had zero to do with developing, I might add. Also, I am entitled to my opinion. if that hurts you or anyone else, that’s not my problem.

Of course you are entitled to your opinion.

Ankur is asking that you look at how you phrase your comments and that you please do not assign blame but rather report problems.

Bugs occur, and when reported usually get fixed rapidly.

When a phrase assigns blame then readers may take that to heart and assume it is fact when it is actually only one persons opinion. That is what is hurtful: – To the community as a whole.

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Can you share a few of these so we can have take a look please?

A link to a bug here would be very useful too. May even give us some information on the current issues.

I’m afraid that’s not true. It is very much your problem. You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but if it includes you bashing others in the Fedora or FOSS community, you’re not following the Fedora community’s CoC. To participate in the Fedora community—anywhere, on any of our community channels—you must follow the CoC. This is not optional. It is mandatory.

So, yes, please air your opinion wherever as long as you continue to be excellent to others in the community.

Please take a moment to re-read the CoC:

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