tdnf 3.5.13 - Failed to enable unit: Unit file tdnf-cache-updateinfo.timer does not exist

[dcasota]

Describe the bug

On Ph5, the new tdnf-cache-updateinfo.timer exists:

find / -name tdnf-cache-updateinfo.timer
/usr/lib/systemd/system/tdnf-cache-updateinfo.timer
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/tdnf-cache-updateinfo.timer

When upgrading Ph4 to Ph5, tdnf-cache-updateinfo.timer is not installed.
Output - upgrade Ph4 to Ph5

Reproduction steps

1. Setup Ph4
2. tdnf install -y photon-upgrade
3. photon-upgrade.sh --upgrade-os --to-ver=5.0 --assume-yes
4. find / -name tdnf-cache-updateinfo.timer

Expected behavior

Same behavior setup as Ph5 and upgraded to Ph5

Additional context

Upgrade has two minor issues
/sbin/ldconfig: /usr/lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 is not a symbolic link
Failed to enable unit: Unit file rpmdb-rebuild.service does not exist.

[oliverkurth]

Which version of tdnf did you upgrade to? The file /usr/lib/systemd/system/tdnf-cache-updateinfo.timer has been removed in version 3.5.13-2. We are at 3.5.13-3 now, so the file should no longer exist in Photon 5.0. See the changelog at https://github.com/vmware/photon/blob/5.0/SPECS/tdnf/tdnf.spec :

* Wed Sep 24 2025 Shreenidhi Shedi <shreenidhi.shedi@broadcom.com> 3.5.13-2
- Remove updateinfo timer
- MOTD has its own timer now

@sshedi , it looks like the https://github.com/vmware/photon/blob/5.0/SPECS/photon-upgrade/photon-upgrade.sh gets a list of all enabled services before upgrade, then tries to re-enable them. That does not take into account that services may have been removed, as is the case here.

[dcasota]

Here the tested scenarios.

Release   |                      build                |  tdnf  |     Action                                                                     | result
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ph5       | photon-5.0-f7e5808d2.x86_64.iso (nightly) | 3.5.11 | `tdnf update -y tdnf`. tdnf version is now 3.5.13-3.                           | 
          |        November 19th 2025                 |        | /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/tdnf-cache-updateinfo.timer exists | issue
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ph5       | photon-5.0-8da2c3d9d.x86_64.iso (nightly) | 3.5.13 | `tdnf update -y tdnf` nothing to do. tdnf version is already 3.5.13-3.         |
          |        November 22nd 2025                 |        | no tdnf-cache-updateinfo.timer at all                                          | passed
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ph4       | photon-4.0-e65d11f1c.x86_64.iso (nightly) | 3.3.12 | (reproduction steps above)                                                     | 
          |        March 17th 2025                    |        | no tdnf-cache-updateinfo.timer at all                                          | passed*
                                                                                                                       

• photon-upgrade.sh removed services handling

[sshedi]

This is working as intended. tdnf-cache-updateinfo.timer was used to trigger tdnf-cache-updateinfo.service which in turn was invoking /usr/bin/tdnf-cache-updateinfo script which was used for motd info. Now, motd has its own timer and invokes the allowed scripts under /etc/motdgen.d.

So, in a nutshell you don't need updateinfo.timer and its job is done by something else; photon-upgrade is working properly.

[dcasota]

Okay. I missed the change remove of updateinfo timer. The error message during upgrade has no impact.

Why is /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/tdnf-cache-updateinfo.timer still present in the first scenario above?