Mark transient transactions in DNF history

[evan-goode]

It may be useful to mark transient transactions as such in the DNF history database. dnf4 history list could display this marker in the table output or omit transient transactions by default. A flag could be added to history list to show only transient transactions.

dnf4 history list does include the command line used to initiate a transaction, which would include the --transient flag if it was used, but the user might have set persistence=transient in dnf.conf, so it's not clear whether the transaction was transient just based on the command line.

[ppisar]

What about moving the DNF history database under /usr which is subject of overlayfs?

[evan-goode]

What about moving the DNF history database under /usr which is subject of overlayfs?

That might be a good idea. That would mean after dnf -y install --transient hello && reboot , the operation wouldn't be shown in DNF history at all, so the history DB would accurately reflect the state of the system.

Would we still want a marker in the history for transient transactions? So that a user with persistence=transient running dnf -y install hello && dnf history list could clearly see which transactions were transient and which weren't. This gets into the broader question of getting a diff of the installed packages between the transient overlay and the host system, and maybe the history command is not the best tool for that job.

[ppisar]

I did not know that users want to see a border line between persistent and transient transaction in the history. Then we would still have to keep the marker in the history.