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This process keeps hogging my bandwidth:

  1. What does this process do?
  2. Is it safe to kill it?
  3. Is is safe to remove the package as a whole( to prevent it from starting up ever again)
  4. Or should I just prevent it from automatically running in the background again?

I am running Fedora 23.

mattdm
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ThorX2
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  • Welcome to U&L. Please use a Search Engine to find out what it is first: https://www.freedesktop.org/software/PackageKit/pk-intro.html – Kevdog777 Apr 29 '16 at 13:54
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    So it basically runs sudo dnf update in the background? Is there any way to disable the same? Because I like to have control on the updates. – ThorX2 Apr 29 '16 at 13:56
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    Is it a frontend to `dnf`, or a completely independent package update system? Does it cache in a separate folder? – That Brazilian Guy Aug 07 '16 at 17:15

2 Answers2

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PackageKit is being run by GNOME Software. It's not doing automatic updates, but it is downloading them so they're ready. There is work on making this be smarter, including not doing it over bandwidth-constrained connections, but it hasn't landed yet. In the meantime, you can disable this by running:

dconf write /org/gnome/software/download-updates false

or by using the GUI dconf editor and unchecking the download-updates box under org > gnome > software:

dconf editor gui

Note that this is per-user. For changing the default for everyone, see the GNOME docs.

flerb
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mattdm
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    I use `dnf` on the terminal to update my package. Is `packagekitd` redundant? Do they "cache" their packages on the same location, or if I use one can I stop using the other? – That Brazilian Guy Aug 07 '16 at 17:14
  • @ThatBrazilianGuy `packagekitd` is an unnecessary resource hog and is redundant if one uses `dnf`. It is one those things invented to make the UX better and not make the user think about updates and such, but it ends up frustrating the user. – ksinkar Mar 27 '22 at 03:43
  • Can someone elaborate on how packagekitd is redundant if dnf is there? Does dnf automatically update GNOME software? – Cheetaiean Apr 16 '22 at 19:42
  • @Cheetaiean It _can_ automatically update rpm-based gnome software. I think a lot of folks do it by hand periodically as a habit, rather than automatically. You'll also need to run flatpak update from the command line if you use those. – mattdm Apr 18 '22 at 14:51
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  • Kernel : GNU/Linux
  • ProductName: Fedora
  • ProductVersion: 35

Shutting Down PackageKitD for Fedora >=34

dconf write /org/gnome/software/download-updates false
sudo systemctl stop packagekit.service
sudo systemctl disable packagekit.service

Side Effects

I used the above instructions to shut down packagekitd permanently and conserve CPU, RAM and Network usage. My laptop fan went demonstrably silent after I shut down packagekitd.

Removing PackageKit

Despite disabling the packagekit.service there is a possibility that the service somehow restarts itself. It is better to uninstall packagekit using the following command

dnf remove -y PackageKit
ksinkar
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