Packages from one version of SLES to another are missing

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 9
 

When updating from one version of SuSE Linux Enterprise to another version, packages are missing.

Different versions of SuSE Linux Enterprise have different packages. In fact, between different service packs, the versions of drivers and packages can change. The packages that are shipped on SLEx also may have different levels of support. As such, some commonly used packages may have been moved to another releaset type of the product or even to the SDK.

check the SDK

SUSE produced the the SLEx Software Developer Kit which has many of the packages that many administrators need. Please check the SDK to find official, SUSE provided packages. Some popular packages like Subversion, and many of the -devel packages can be found on the SDK.

check the other type of SLE

The different release types of SLEx may have the package that you are looking for. For example if the package may have a desktop function, such as Open Office, it is likely to be on the desktop version of SLEx.

Please note that install of desktop packages on servers and server packages on desktops is NOT supported by SUSE. The packages should install just fine, however if you encounter problems with the packages you may be required by SUSE to remove the conflicting packages.

check if the package is on an extension

Starting with SLEx 10 SP2, SUSE started to release product add-ons. Open Enterprise Server and the Subscription Management Tools are notable examples of SLE 10 SP2 add-on products. For SLE 11, the clustering and the OCFS2 tools were broken off into the High Availability Extension (HAE).