Update on x86_64 from SLES 12 sp4 to sp5 fails with
"Calling the YaST module `inst_proposal has failed
and
“Cannot read the current RPM database”.
Only choice is to abort the update!
Here are the sreenshots:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wve7nl9sffpne66/yast_1.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/beiwt4fch24sjt9/yast_2.jpg?dl=0
Content form yast log file:
YaST2 startup level (1)…
Stage [1]: ==========================
|-- declare -x Cmdline=“splash=silent”
|-- declare -x Device=“disk/by-id/usb-SanDisk_Ultra_Fit_4C530001091017118452-0:0-part2”
|-- declare -x EFI=“0”
|-- declare -x EGL_LOG_LEVEL=“fatal”
|-- declare -x ESCDELAY=“10”
|-- declare -x HOME="/"
|-- declare -x InitrdID=“2019-11-08.d7d42940”
|-- declare -x InitrdModules=“scsi_mod scsi_dh_alua scsi_dh_emc scsi_dh_rdac thermal libata sata_sil24 libahci ahci usbcore usbhid sd_mod iscsi_boot_sysfs cdrom sr_mod st sg”
|-- declare -x Insecure=“0”
|-- declare -x InstsysID=“2019-11-08.d7d42940”
|-- declare -x Keyboard=“1”
|-- declare -x LD_LIBRARY_PATH=":/y2update/lib64:/y2update/lib:/y2update/plugin"
|-- declare -x LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=“1”
|-- declare -x Locale=“en_US”
|-- declare -x Manual=“0”
|-- declare -x MemFree=“32645956”
|-- declare -x OLDPWD
|-- declare -x PATH="/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/X11/bin:/lbin"
|-- declare -x PWD="/"
|-- declare -x RepoURL=""
|-- declare -x SHLVL=“4”
|-- declare -x SSHD=“0”
|-- declare -x SelfUpdate=“1”
|-- declare -x SetHostname=“1”
|-- declare -x SetHostnameUsed=“0”
|-- declare -x Sourcemounted=“1”
|-- declare -x StartShell=“0”
|-- declare -x TERM=“linux”
|-- declare -x Textmode=“0”
|-- declare -x UpdateDir="/linux/suse/x86_64-sles12"
|-- declare -x Upgrade=“1”
|-- declare -x UseSSH=“0”
|-- declare -x VNC=“0”
|-- declare -x WithFCoE=“0”
|-- declare -x WithiSCSI=“0”
|-- declare -x XCURSOR_THEME=“DMZ”
|-- declare -x Y2GDB=“0”
|-- declare -x YAST2_SSH=“false”
|-- declare -x YAST_DEBUG="/debug/yast.debug"
|-- declare -x YaST2update=“0”
|-- declare -x ZyppRepoURL=""
|-- declare -x initrd=“initrd”
|-- declare -x install=“hd:///”
|-- declare -x kexec_reboot=“1”
|-- declare -x splash=“silent”
|-- declare -x upgrade=“1”
|-- Creating hook script list: preFirstStage…
|-- Level 1 stages:
|-- F02-hwinfo
|-- F03-umount
|-- F04-language
|-- F05-cmdline
|-- F06-terminal
|-- F08-logging
|-- F09-start
|-- F10-cleanup
Stage [1]: Starting F02-hwinfo…
Stage [1]: ======================
|-- Hardware detection for arch: x86_64
Stage [1]: Starting F03-umount…
Stage [1]: ======================
|-- Trying to umount inst-sys exits with code: 0
Stage [1]: Starting F04-language…
Stage [1]: ========================
|-- Language set to: en_US.UTF-8
|-- Starting UTF-8 mode…
Stage [1]: Starting F05-cmdline…
Stage [1]: =======================
Stage [1]: Starting F06-terminal…
Stage [1]: ========================
|-- Setup virtual console:
|-- Lines: 67
|-- Columns: 240
|-- Type: linux
Stage [1]: Starting F08-logging…
Stage [1]: =======================
|-- Set YaST2 LOG parameters:
|-- Maximum log size: 10682393 kB
|-- Maximum log count: 5
Stage [1]: Starting F09-start…
Stage [1]: =====================
|-- Creating hook script list: preFirstCall…
|-- Delegate program call to YaST2.call installation initial
Stage [call]: Starting prequalification checks…
Stage [call]: ===================================
|-- Copying /etc/X11/xorg.conf.template to /etc/X11/xorg.conf
|-- No SSH daemon running → Medium SSH disabled
Stage [call]: Evaluate medium selection…
Stage [call]: ============================
Stage [call]: Check selected medium…
Stage [call]: ========================
|-- Wished medium is: QT
|-- Selected medium is: QT
|-- X-Server is ready: 4196
|-- Allow big memory allocation: overcommit_memory=1
|-- Starting YaST2:
|-- MODULE_NAME: installation
|-- MODE_FLAGS:
|-- MODULE_ARGS: --arg initial
|-- MODE: qt
|-- UI_ARGS: --noborder --auto-fonts --fullscreen
|-- QT_IM_MODULE: xim
|-- Allow big memory allocation: overcommit_memory=1
|-- Starting YaST2:
|-- MODULE_NAME: installation
|-- MODE_FLAGS:
|-- MODULE_ARGS: --arg initial
|-- MODE: qt
|-- UI_ARGS: --noborder --auto-fonts --fullscreen
|-- QT_IM_MODULE: xim
|-- YaST seems to be aborted abnormally !
|-- Reset memory allocation: overcommit_memory=1
|-- Reset memory allocation: overcommit_memory=0
|-- Copy first level log file to installed system
Hi and welcome to the Forum 
Have you tried rebuilding the rpm database? I would look at using zypper migration from the command line and at runlevel three (multi-user target) to upgrade… or if really want to do it from the desktop run the screen command first.
screen
su -
rpm --rebuilddb
zypper ref -f
zypper migration