On an Oracle Linux 8, I installed a new package and did not pay attention that dnf used an old Oracle Linux 7 repository. Trying to remove it again, I was getting following error:
Error:
Problem: The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: systemd
(try to add '--skip-broken' to skip uninstallable packages or '--nobest' to use not only best candidate packages)
In this blog I would like to share the solution with you.
So I was just running dnf install, as described here:
[root@SRV ~]# dnf install libzstd Last metadata expiration check: 0:03:23 ago on Tue 02 Jun 2026 04:18:15 PM CEST. Package libzstd-1.4.4-1.0.1.el8.x86_64 is already installed. Dependencies resolved. ========================================================================================================================================================================================= Package Architecture Version Repository Size ========================================================================================================================================================================================= Upgrading: libzstd x86_64 1.5.5-1.el7 epel 292 k Transaction Summary ========================================================================================================================================================================================= Upgrade 1 Package Total download size: 292 k Is this ok [y/N]: y Downloading Packages: [MIRROR] libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64.rpm: Curl error (56): Failure when receiving data from the peer for https://fedora-archive.ip-connect.info/epel/7/x86_64/Packages/l/libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64.rpm [Received HTTP code 403 from proxy after CONNECT] [MIRROR] libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64.rpm: Status code: 403 for http://fedora-archive.ip-connect.info/epel/7/x86_64/Packages/l/libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64.rpm (IP: 172.16.1.200) [MIRROR] libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64.rpm: Curl error (56): Failure when receiving data from the peer for https://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/archive.fedoraproject.org/epel/7/x86_64/Packages/l/libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64.rpm [Received HTTP code 403 from proxy after CONNECT] [MIRROR] libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64.rpm: Status code: 403 for http://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/archive.fedoraproject.org/epel/7/x86_64/Packages/l/libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64.rpm (IP: 172.16.1.200) libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64.rpm 384 kB/s | 292 kB 00:00 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 306 kB/s | 292 kB 00:00 Running transaction check Transaction check succeeded. Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded. Running transaction Preparing : 1/1 Upgrading : libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64 1/2 Running scriptlet: libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64 1/2 Cleanup : libzstd-1.4.4-1.0.1.el8.x86_64 2/2 Running scriptlet: libzstd-1.4.4-1.0.1.el8.x86_64 2/2 Verifying : libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64 1/2 Verifying : libzstd-1.4.4-1.0.1.el8.x86_64
Unfortunately, I was too fast and did not realize dnf was using an el7 repo. And more over the command removed the proper el8 package to install the el7 package.
I agree, I should have pay attention and see:
Package libzstd-1.4.4-1.0.1.el8.x86_64 is already installed.
Or package version to be: 1.5.5-1.el7
Anyhow, I realized after having push y.
And trying to remove it, gave following error message:
[root@SRV ~]# dnf remove libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64 Error: Problem: The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: systemd (try to add '--skip-broken' to skip uninstallable packages or '--nobest' to use not only best candidate packages)
So it seems it is a full mess now. But checking which installed rpm package requires libzstd, I was surprised to see none:
[root@SRV ~]# rpm -q --whatrequires libzstd no package requires libzstd
The problem was that after a previous upgrade to Oracle linux 8, and as leapp upgrade does not remove custom repo, there was still an el7 customized repo, epel, activated.
[root@SRV ~]# cat /etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo [epel] name=Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 7 - $basearch # It is much more secure to use the metalink, but if you wish to use a local mirror # place its address here. #baseurl=http://download.example/pub/epel/7/$basearch metalink=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=epel-7&arch=$basearch&infra=$infra&content=$contentdir failovermethod=priority enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7
At that time, I asked one of my colleague having very good linux experience, Joel Cattin, who guided me to the resolution. I would like to take the opportunity here, to thank him again for the great help.
We first tried to cleanup the cache and to upgrade the package, but it did not helped:
[root@SRV yum.repos.d]# dnf clean all 66 files removed [root@SRV yum.repos.d]# dnf make cache No such command: make. Please use /usr/bin/dnf --help It could be a DNF plugin command, try: "dnf install 'dnf-command(make)'" [root@SRV yum.repos.d]# dnf upgrade libzstd Oracle Linux 8 EPEL Packages for Development (x86_64) 10 MB/s | 111 MB 00:10 Oracle Linux 8 EPEL Modular Packages for Development (x86_64) 2.3 MB/s | 332 kB 00:00 Oracle Linux 8 BaseOS Latest (x86_64) 10 MB/s | 143 MB 00:13 Oracle Linux 8 Application Stream (x86_64) 10 MB/s | 81 MB 00:07 Latest Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 6 for Oracle Linux 8 (x86_64) 11 MB/s | 146 MB 00:13 Dependencies resolved. Nothing to do. Complete! [root@SRV yum.repos.d]# rpm -qa | grep -i el7 libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64
Still getting the error:
[root@SRV yum.repos.d]# dnf remove libzstd Error: Problem: The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: systemd (try to add '--skip-broken' to skip uninstallable packages or '--nobest' to use not only best candidate packages) [root@SRV yum.repos.d]#
And we finally went to the magic command, dnf distro-sync, which will synchronize the installed package with the versions available in the enabled repositories, and most important the repository that should match the version. So in my case an el8 repo.
And this command did the work, removing the el7 package and installing the el8 version package.
[root@SRV ~]# dnf distro-sync libzstd Last metadata expiration check: 0:23:38 ago on Wed 03 Jun 2026 07:27:26 AM CEST. Dependencies resolved. =========================================================================================================================================================================== Package Architecture Version Repository Size =========================================================================================================================================================================== Downgrading: libzstd x86_64 1.4.4-1.0.1.el8 ol8_baseos_latest 266 k Transaction Summary =========================================================================================================================================================================== Downgrade 1 Package Total download size: 266 k Is this ok [y/N]: y Downloading Packages: libzstd-1.4.4-1.0.1.el8.x86_64.rpm 1.5 MB/s | 266 kB 00:00 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 1.4 MB/s | 266 kB 00:00 Running transaction check Transaction check succeeded. Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded. Running transaction Preparing : 1/1 Downgrading : libzstd-1.4.4-1.0.1.el8.x86_64 1/2 Cleanup : libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64 2/2 Running scriptlet: libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64 2/2 Verifying : libzstd-1.4.4-1.0.1.el8.x86_64 1/2 Verifying : libzstd-1.5.5-1.el7.x86_64 2/2 Downgraded: libzstd-1.4.4-1.0.1.el8.x86_64 Complete!
And finally, I did not have any remaining el7 package. The version of libzstd package was one from the ol8 distribution.
[root@SRV ~]# rpm -qa | grep -i el7 [root@SRV ~]# rpm -qa | grep -i libzstd libzstd-1.4.4-1.0.1.el8.x86_64 [root@SRV ~]#
And to avoid problem again, I did what should be done after all leapp upgrade… Removing any el7 repo, in my case the epel el7 repo:
[root@SRV ~]# rpm -qa | grep -i epel epel-release-7-14.noarch [root@SRV ~]# dnf remove epel-release-7-14.noarch Dependencies resolved. ========================================================================================================================================================================================= Package Architecture Version Repository Size ========================================================================================================================================================================================= Removing: epel-release noarch 7-14 @System 25 k Transaction Summary ========================================================================================================================================================================================= Remove 1 Package Freed space: 25 k Is this ok [y/N]: y Running transaction check Transaction check succeeded. Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded. Running transaction Preparing : 1/1 Running scriptlet: epel-release-7-14.noarch 1/1 Erasing : epel-release-7-14.noarch 1/1 Running scriptlet: epel-release-7-14.noarch 1/1 Verifying : epel-release-7-14.noarch 1/1 Removed: epel-release-7-14.noarch Complete!
I again checked that no other el7 repo was enabled:
[root@SRV ~]# dnf repolist all --enabled repo id repo name ol8_UEKR6 Latest Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 6 for Oracle Linux 8 (x86_64) ol8_appstream Oracle Linux 8 Application Stream (x86_64) ol8_baseos_latest Oracle Linux 8 BaseOS Latest (x86_64) [root@SRV ~]#
I installed the el8 epel repo, as customer was using it:
[root@SRV yum.repos.d]# dnf install oracle-epel-release-el8 Last metadata expiration check: 0:50:57 ago on Tue 02 Jun 2026 04:18:15 PM CEST. Dependencies resolved. ========================================================================================================================================================================================= Package Architecture Version Repository Size ========================================================================================================================================================================================= Installing: oracle-epel-release-el8 x86_64 1.0-5.el8 ol8_baseos_latest 15 k Transaction Summary ========================================================================================================================================================================================= Install 1 Package Total download size: 15 k Installed size: 18 k Is this ok [y/N]: y Downloading Packages: oracle-epel-release-el8-1.0-5.el8.x86_64.rpm 136 kB/s | 15 kB 00:00 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 134 kB/s | 15 kB 00:00 Running transaction check Transaction check succeeded. Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded. Running transaction Preparing : 1/1 Installing : oracle-epel-release-el8-1.0-5.el8.x86_64 1/1 Verifying : oracle-epel-release-el8-1.0-5.el8.x86_64 1/1 Installed: oracle-epel-release-el8-1.0-5.el8.x86_64 Complete!
And checked again the enabled repo to ensure there is only el8 repo with now the epel el8 repo as additional one:
[root@SRV yum.repos.d]# dnf repolist all --enabled repo id repo name ol8_UEKR6 Latest Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 6 for Oracle Linux 8 (x86_64) ol8_appstream Oracle Linux 8 Application Stream (x86_64) ol8_baseos_latest Oracle Linux 8 BaseOS Latest (x86_64) ol8_developer_EPEL Oracle Linux 8 EPEL Packages for Development (x86_64) ol8_developer_EPEL_modular Oracle Linux 8 EPEL Modular Packages for Development (x86_64) [root@SRV yum.repos.d]#
And last repo check in the repo files directly:
[root@SRV ~]# ls -ltrh /etc/yum.repos.d/ total 40K -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 530 Mar 28 2022 oracle-epel-ol8.repo -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 243 May 23 2024 virt-ol8.repo -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1.4K Apr 22 2025 epel-testing.repo -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1.8K Apr 22 2025 epel-testing-modular.repo -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1.7K Apr 22 2025 epel-modular.repo -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 4.5K Sep 19 2025 leapp-upgrade-repos-ol8.repo.save -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 4.1K Jun 2 13:46 oracle-linux-ol8.repo -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 941 Jun 2 13:46 uek-ol8.repo [root@SRV ~]# rm -f /etc/yum.repos.d/leapp-upgrade-repos-ol8.repo.save [root@SRV ~]# grep -i el7 /etc/yum.repos.d/* [root@SRV ~]# grep -i el8 /etc/yum.repos.d/* | wc -l 6 [root@SRV ~]# grep -i ol8 /etc/yum.repos.d/* | wc -l 50 [root@SRV ~]# grep -i ol7 /etc/yum.repos.d/* | wc -l 0 [root@SRV ~]#
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