"error: Could not depsolve transaction" "The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: systemd, systemd-udev"

[westurner]

Describe the bug

Trying to rpm-ostree upgrade but it keeps erroring with error: Could not depsolve transaction The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: systemd, systemd-udev and it doesn't indicate which packages are trying to remove protected packages.

(w/ RPMfusion's NVIDIA modules and also rpmdevtools layered, I eventually determined)

Reproduction steps

0. From fc38? Rebase to fc41 gnome.
1. Layer packages including RPMfusion's nvidia modules and rpmdevtools
2. rpm-ostree upgrade which - for nvidia - does this:
3. rpm-ostree install rpmdevtools akmods
   • Akmods does not sign compiled module when using rpm-ostree fedora-silverblue/issue-tracker#499

Expected behavior

• rpm-ostree upgrade should upgrade the system
• rpm-ostree install rpmdevtools akmods should work
• rpm-ostree should explain exactly which packages are "removing the following protected packages" (so that manual bisection of the package set isn't necessary)
  • Fix error message to indicate which operation would result in removing the protected packages

Actual behavior

Vague error messages about systemd?

$ rpm-ostree upgrade
# [...]
error: Could not depsolve transaction; 6 problems detected:
 Problem 1: The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: systemd, systemd-udev
 Problem 2: The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: systemd, systemd-udev
 Problem 3: The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: systemd, systemd-udev
 Problem 4: The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: systemd, systemd-udev
 Problem 5: The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: systemd, systemd-udev
 Problem 6: The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: systemd, systemd-udev

$ rpm-ostree install rpmdevtools akmods
# [...]
error: Could not depsolve transaction; 2 problems detected:
 Problem 1: The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: systemd
 Problem 2: The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: systemd

System details

• $ rpm-ostree --version
  rpm-ostree:
   Version: '2024.9'
   Git: bd152998332c2b11af671447d3fd311319d5b3a8
   Features:
    - rust
    - compose
    - container
    - fedora-integration
  

• fc41

Additional information

Workaround

rpm-ostree status | tee rpmostreestatus.log
rpm-ostree reset
systemctl reboot
# ...
rpm-ostree upgrade
systemctl reboot
# ...
rpm-ostree install <pkgs less those that cause the error>
systemctl reboot

To determine the <pkgs less those that cause the error> set, I did a binary search through the list of packages by commenting out half the packages to install from a script and re-running the rpm-ostree install command

[westurner]

• /? "The operation would result in removing the following protected packages"
  • rpm-ostree: https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Acoreos%2Frpm-ostree%20%22The%20operation%20would%20result%20in%20removing%20the%20following%20protected%20packages%22&type=code
  • dnf: https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Arpm-software-management%2Fdnf%20%22The%20operation%20would%20result%20in%20removing%20the%20following%20protected%20packages%22&type=code
  • dnf5: https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Arpm-software-management%2Fdnf5+%22The+operation+would+result+in+removing+the+following+protected+packages%22&type=code
    • {ProblemRules::RULE_PKG_REMOVAL_OF_PROTECTED,
      https://github.com/rpm-software-management/dnf5/blob/d51f61461d223de9c347f72a2c373852c1df7a56/libdnf5/base/solver_problems.cpp#L71C5-L73
      • /? RULE_PKG_REMOVAL_OF_PROTECTED: https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Arpm-software-management%2Fdnf5%20RULE_PKG_REMOVAL_OF_PROTECTED&type=code
        • get_removal_of_protected(
          https://github.com/rpm-software-management/dnf5/blob/d51f61461d223de9c347f72a2c373852c1df7a56/libdnf5/base/transaction.cpp#L101-L158