Problem reading the RPM header

[ryan-carpenter]

JabRef version

5.11 (latest release)

Operating system

GNU / Linux

Details on version and operating system

openSUSE Tumbleweed WSL2

Checked with the latest development build (copy version output from About dialog)

• I made a backup of my libraries before testing the latest development version.
• I have tested the latest development version and the problem persists

Steps to reproduce the behaviour

1. Download JabRef 5.11 RPM from https://www.fosshub.com/JabRef.html?dwl=jabref-5.11-1.x86_64.rpm
2. Attempt to install with zypper
   > sudo zypper install jabref-5.11-1.x86_64.rpm
Problem reading the RPM header of JabRef-5.11-1.x86_64.rpm. Is it an RPM file?
No valid arguments specified.
3. Download JabRef 5.12 RPM from https://builds.jabref.org/main/jabref-5.12-1.x86_64.rpm
4. Attempt to install with zypper
   > sudo zypper install jabref-5.12-1.x86_64.rpm
Problem reading the RPM header of JabRef-5.12-1.x86_64.rpm. Is it an RPM file?
No valid arguments specified.
5. Create a directory for RPMs (I used ~/.rpm), according to the instructions here for installing local RPMs.
6. Add the directory as a repository (I used Yast in the terminal for this)
7. Try again, this time successfully, to install JabRef 5.11
   >sudo zypper in jabref-5.11-1.x86_64.rpm
Loading repository data... Reading installed packages... Resolving package dependencies...
The following package is going to be upgraded: jabref
1 package to upgrade.
Overall download size: 210.5 MiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation, additional 26.0 MiB will be used. Continue? [y/n/v/...? shows all options] (y): y

If this is an openSUSE issue, or not at issue at all -- I don't know how RPMs work -- then maybe specific instructions for openSUSE could be added to the JabRef installation instructions.

Appendix

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Log File

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[HoussemNasri]

It works for me, I'm using zypper 1.14.61. The linked zypper bug report says that the bug was fixed in version 1.14.25. @ryan-carpenter Can you run zypper info on the terminal to check what version are you running?

[ryan-carpenter]

Can you run zypper info on the terminal to check what version are you running?

I have upgraded my operating system since I submitted this issue and I am not sure how to look up the previous zypper version. However, I ran sudo zypper install jabref-5.11-1.x86_64.rpm in the /opt directory using the currently installed zypper 1.14.66-1.1 and got the same error message as before.

I have not tested the rpm's checksum, but a corrupt file seems unlikely since I had the same error (previously) with JabRef 5.11. and 5.12 and because the installation succeeded when I started from the ~/.rpm directory instead of /opt.

I suggest adding a line for openSUSE to the JabRef Installation Guide. I was unaware until recently that I could install an rpm with zypper, and I was also unsure if the JabRef rpm was expected to work on openSUSE. Previously, I had JabRef 5.10 installed as a flatpak and wanted to make the browser extension work. Learning how to install the rpm was quickest and preferred solution for me.

Edit: p.s. I did not want to edit the documentation myself until I knew if zypper was, in fact, the 'right' way to do the installation and if there were other considerations to include.

[HoussemNasri]

I did not want to edit the documentation myself until I knew if zypper was, in fact, the 'right' way to do the installation and if there were other considerations to include.

I think zypper install should work, regardless of whether it is the best practice for installing RPMs or not. I'll create an issue in the user documentation repository and close this one.