Frequent updating

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Windowbreaker

Frequent updating

Post by Windowbreaker »

I appreciate the time and effort that goes into updating Ubuntu/Mint, I really do. But would it be possible to bundle all of a day's updates into one? There have been several days where I've gotten 3-4 updates hours apart. They are rarely large, so bundling 4 into one download cycle shouldn't strain anyone.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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richyrich

Re: Frequent updating

Post by richyrich »

All you have to do is adjust your Mint Update program to check for updates less frequently.
DataMan

Re: Frequent updating

Post by DataMan »

Just kick off the updates on your schedule. I run the week's accumulation of updates on Saturday mornings. You do not have to install every available update the nano second that it's released.

-DataMan
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Re: Frequent updating

Post by Pjotr »

Good advice, but in Mint 17.x increasing the update notification frequency might cause a perennial postponement of the updates. See this GitHub issue report by karlchen:
https://github.com/linuxmint/mintupdate/issues/98
Forum thread about it: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 5#p1000626

There's a workaround, however:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... ew-updates
(item 2, left column)
Last edited by Pjotr on Thu May 28, 2015 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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NeoGeo64

Re: Frequent updating

Post by NeoGeo64 »

I usually update my 17.1 Cinnamon 64-bit every two to three weeks. I have it set to check for updates every 60 days but I always have it manually refresh to look for updates every 14-21 days.

And then I reboot because I don't know how to start/stop the necessary services or whatever needs to be done to avoid a reboot. It doesn't really matter since this isn't some mission critical server. It's just a home use desktop computer.
MagicMint

Re: Frequent updating

Post by MagicMint »

NeoGeo64 wrote:And then I reboot because I don't know how to start/stop the necessary services or whatever needs to be done to avoid a reboot.
You don’t (ever) need to reboot, unless you’ve updated the kernel. Fortunately, this is not Windows :wink:

@Pjotr: Refreshing the list at boot time wouldn’t work out in some settings, e.g. when you don’t reboot for quite a long time. As far as I’m concerned, I do this with a cron job. But the votes on that tutorial suggest to me, that nobody really cares about the Update Manager :o
DrHu

Re: Frequent updating

Post by DrHu »

I do manual updates only
--so that I have complete control over how often and which types of updates to apply
  • Of course that means I have to be responsible for the updating on the system
    --and I am usually only really concerned about security update; as applications updates I can always wait for or choose when to install..
DeMus

Re: Frequent updating

Post by DeMus »

Pjotr wrote:There's a workaround, however:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... ew-updates
(item 1.2.2, left column)
I have read your story about changing the rc.local file and setting the interval in the updater to 1 day, but what does it do exactly?
When you change the rc.local file to make the updater check for updates 50 seconds after boot and after that, through the preferences in the updater, wait one day, doesn't this mean it will check for updates at every boot? What is the difference with changing nothing to the system and leave it the way it is?
Maybe I am missing something but the way I see it it will check for updates 50 seconds after every boot. Please explain Pjotr, as I said, maybe I am missing something.
Last edited by DeMus on Thu May 28, 2015 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Frequent updating

Post by Pjotr »

DeMus wrote:
Pjotr wrote:There's a workaround, however:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... ew-updates
(item 2, left column)
I have read your story about changing the rc.local file and setting the interval in the updater to 1 day, but what does it do exactly?
When you change the rc.local file to make the updater check for updates 50 seconds after boot and after that, through the preferences in the updater, wait one day, doesn't this mean it will check for updates at every boot? What is the difference with changing nothing to the system and leave it the way it is?
Maybe I am missing something but the way I see it is will check for updates 50 seconds after every boot. Please explain Pjotr, as I said, may I am missing something.
The database will be refreshed 50 seconds after boot. Update Manager will then check that updated database once a day and not every 30 minutes. :)
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Re: Frequent updating

Post by Hoser Rob »

Also remember that linux updates all software including apps, unlike in Windows where it just updates the OS. This is not only convenient (IMO) but an important security feature. So many of those are not really ubuntu/mint updates.
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Re: Frequent updating

Post by BigEasy »

There is no any corelation between updates of all and security in Linux. For example in Fedora everyone get about 100 updates per week. Every week during life time of release. If every of this updates is about security, then be sure you every day working on dangerous OS which never became safe. After 8 month released new Fedora and everything goes around again.
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Re: Frequent updating

Post by MtnDewManiac »

BigEasy wrote:There is no any corelation between updates of all and security in Linux. For example in Fedora everyone get about 100 updates per week. Every week during life time of release. If every of this updates is about security, then be sure you every day working on dangerous OS which never became safe. After 8 month released new Fedora and everything goes around again.
I'm not sure I entirely understand the point you were trying to make.

People find new bugs/security exploits in existing versions of applications/components, lol. If they didn't, the only updates would be for new features, "hacking" would be limited to fiction novels/movies, and the world would be a far safer and boring place.
BigEasy wrote:If every of this updates is about security
Not knowing Fedora, I can only speculate, but I doubt that every update is directly related to security (unless one chooses to use a broader definition of the term, of course).
BigEasy wrote:then be sure you every day working on dangerous OS which never became safe.
The only truly "safe" OS is one which is never used, lol. Or, at the least, one that is locked down in such a way that there is NO outside access and the only interaction is with the user who must be physically present. And, even then, a Faraday Cage might be called for :roll: . Alas(?), we live in a connected world, a dynamic world, and while linux in general is safer (and more secure, which is not the same thing) than (for example) one of Microsoft's OS, there is no "ultimate, never needs updated, all components guaranteed to be 100% non-exploitable" in linux - nor should there be any expectation of same.

Regards,
MDM


Regards,
MDM
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parsma

Re: Frequent updating

Post by parsma »

I honestly don't understand the original problem. I mean, it's (usually, at least) not like you have to restart the system or anything, like on some other "operating system" I can think of, and could mention if pressured about it. ;)

I usually let that blue icon shine me in the eye for a bit, and I'll get around to clicking on it when I have the time.
MagicMint

Re: Frequent updating

Post by MagicMint »

parsma wrote:I honestly don't understand the original problem. I mean, it's (usually, at least) not like you have to restart the system or anything, like on some other "operating system" I can think of, and could mention if pressured about …
It’s probably that vicious Windows mindset after all :wink:
SleeperService

Re: Frequent updating

Post by SleeperService »

MagicMint wrote: You don’t (ever) need to reboot, unless you’ve updated the kernel. Fortunately, this is not Windows :wink:
I'm not entirely sure this is true. Ubuntu's update system will occasionally prompt the user that a restart is necessary after updates (although to be fair, this may be only after kernel updates, I haven't paid that close attention when updating my virtual machines). CentOS,for example, through yum will update components that are loaded into memory which cannot be stopped and reloaded to the newer version without causing the system to be unstable, so the only way to actually apply the updates is to restart.
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Re: Frequent updating

Post by MtnDewManiac »

I remember being prompted to reboot, but it has been a long time (and may have been with a different distro). Maybe not every single update is immediately "activated" and, instead of being told to reboot, the files are not used until the user next (re)boots? Or at least logs out and back in?

Seems like I've seen troubleshooting threads where a user made changes, reported no improvement, and was told to log out/in or reboot - and the user did, whereupon he/she reported success.

I may (cannot remember) have seen a mention or two of people installing something via Synaptic and doing the same thing, IDK.

I'll freely admit that having my system tell me I need to reboot during the update process is very rare. And, in any case, it certainly has never appeared to be the "checking for updates... {wait}, downloading updates... {wait} installing updates... {wait} still installing updates {wait} still installing updates {wait} some updates could not be blah blah blah, please reboot to complete the installing of updates. Reboot now? {reboot} System is installing updates, please wait {wait some more}" that Microsoft has been known to do (on somewhat of a regular basis, at least in previous versions of its OS which I used). Additionally, when I update through mint-Update/Update Manager, I'm done. No checking most applications to see if there's a menu command to have them check for their own individual updates.

So I'm pretty happy with the way things occur in Mint :D . I could - and, occasionally, do - wish that we were not on the "three(?)-year LTS version release cycle," but I foresee being able to add a PPA if I want a newer version of a given application than is in our "stock" repositories.

To the OP: I believe that LMDE, the set of Mint editions that are based on Debian, might have less frequent updates. I cannot remember if they still use the "Update Pack" strategy or not. If so, switching to that is an option. Might be a little drastic, though (assuming you are happy, otherwise, now).

Regards,
MDM
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NChewie

Re: Frequent updating

Post by NChewie »

@MDM

You carelessly missed: "Do not power off or disconnect your laptop" [for up to an hour] [before shutdown] ... and the [no message, but your system is locked up while I check for updates just after boot up] scenarios.
And I miss having to look at the update log to see which updates failed, so that I can do them again! And again with a few more reboots, a couple of system restores and a lot of cold sweats.

With regards to Mint, I love the snappy updates without killing the other processes or requiring multiple (or any) reboots.
... And as I've said before, if all gets corrupted, it reinstalls from DVD in less time than it takes to do a Super Tuesday update on my old OS :wink:
parsma

Re: Frequent updating

Post by parsma »

SleeperService wrote:
MagicMint wrote: You don’t (ever) need to reboot, unless you’ve updated the kernel. Fortunately, this is not Windows :wink:
I'm not entirely sure this is true. Ubuntu's update system will occasionally prompt the user that a restart is necessary after updates (although to be fair, this may be only after kernel updates, I haven't paid that close attention when updating my virtual machines). CentOS,for example, through yum will update components that are loaded into memory which cannot be stopped and reloaded to the newer version without causing the system to be unstable, so the only way to actually apply the updates is to restart.
Seriously? I've never encountered that. Perhaps you're one of them specialists that run things close to the edge, so to speak. I'm not. Perhaps there lies the difference. :)
SleeperService

Frequent updating

Post by SleeperService »

When updating certain libraries that are in use when the updates are installed, only new instances of software will load the new libraries after the update. To get the system fully working on the new libraries a reboot is required, although if an administrator knows which daemons load which libraries that are updated, it is sufficient to restart only those processes if they can be restarted without bringing the whole system down.
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Re: Frequent updating

Post by Ranthe »

I have noticed a truckload of Mint-related updates coming out in the last week after I upgraded from 17.1 to 17.2...

... not that I consider it a problem or anything as I don't have to reboot after every update like Windows does. Just slightly unusual to see a bit more stuff than usual coming down the pipe lately.
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