SLE11: Running zypper se remotely produces wrong output

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11

Situation

If the command

ssh root@system zypper se

is being executed its output produces at lot of wrong data. Redirecting it to a file makes the file grow within seconds to several hundred MB where executed on the local file system the command finish quickly and output redirected to a file is only a few hundred KB.

Resolution

Workaround:

Instead of just running 'zypper se' to determine which packages and patches are installed one may use

   zypper se -i -t patch

or

   zypper se -i -t package

Customers facing this issue should contact SUSE Technical Services to request a PTF until the maintenance patch got released.
Once the patch is installed, the command

   zypper se -i -t package -t patch

is also possible.

Disclaimer

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