Today's article is updating Mint.

[KGIII]

Upgrade Linux Mint In The Termanal • Linux Tips

If you have chosen Linux Mint as your distro then you have a handy GUI way to upgrade, but today we'll upgrade Linux Mint in the terminal.

linux-tips.us

If you want to upgrade your Mint from the terminal, you can do that. It's not hard. In fact, that's why I wrote it. It was a Sunday. I was lazy.

I'm having connectivity issues and may be offline for an extended period of time.

 

[Condobloke]

My 'go to' command looks remarkably similar:

 sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y && sudo apt autoremove -y && sudo apt clean -y

At the moment, Linux Mint is showing two packages 'not to upgrade'

1 is Python update manager, and the other is update-manager-core.....I suspect both of them have to do with the imminent release/upgrade to LM21.3

I finish with :

sudo dpkg --configure -a

(

• sudo gives root privilege to your command (necessary for dpkg command`)
• dpkg is a package manager, notably used for Debian and Debian-derived distros such as Ubuntu; it's an alternative way to install package next to apt (apt use internally dpkg command, but is easier to use due to repository automatic management)
• --configure -a is an option of dpkg. In this case, it tells dpkg to just do the configuration of all non configured package (-a is here to say all); globally, all unpackaged packages not now installed would be installed by using this option

 

[Condobloke]

I also run the following to simply 'tidy up' the ssd/nvme

sudo fstrim -av

I guess it's an update... of sorts

I only run that , maybe once a fortnight....or thereabouts

 

[Condobloke]

The screenshot below is of the system tray....lower right hand side of the screen....contains the clock and various other bits and pieces.

The arrow points to the update manager Icon....the little shield.

To make a check quick and easy, (without opening terminal etc etc)......simply right click the Icon/shield and select Refresh

It will go through the procedure to check for updates without disturbing anything. You can continue on with whatever you may be doing

If an update is available, a small red dot will appear on the icon/shield. Click on the icon and click on Install Updates...put in your password and then carry on with whatever you are doing. The updater will take care of the install.

 

[KGIII]

These days, trim should run when needed.

I should add clean to my alias. I seldom remember to run that command.

Man, using a phone sucks. I'm a bit surprised that this tower is still up and running.

The radio is going bonkers but it has slowed down a bit.

 

[bob466]

Occasionally I'll run sudo apt update...I have Trim set to run daily but sometimes I'll plug in my portable SSD and run Trim too.
If I run...sudo apt upgrade -y...I get all packages are up to date...great as it should be.

Another great article all Mint beginners should know.

 

[osprey]

These days, trim should run when needed.

Yes. If the installation is running systemd, the likelihood is that the trim program runs regularly on a schedule so that the user doesn't need to intervene.

To check how often trim runs, one can look into the systemd fstrim.timer unit file:

[tom@min ~]$ systemctl cat fstrim.timer
# /lib/systemd/system/fstrim.timer
<snip>
[Timer]
OnCalendar=weekly
AccuracySec=1h
Persistent=true
RandomizedDelaySec=100min
<snip>

It's scheduled to run weekly, and will do that if the machine stays up for that period, but the Persistent variable being "true" means the timer triggers the fstrim service immediately each time the machine is booted as far as I understand it since that's what happening on my machines.

To check whether it's actually run on the boot before the current one, one can run:

[tom@min /lib/systemd/system]$ journalctl -b -1 | grep fstrim
Dec 18 06:33:20 min systemd[1]: Started fstrim.timer - Discard unused filesystem blocks once a week.
Dec 18 07:02:38 min systemd[1]: Starting fstrim.service - Discard unused blocks on filesystems from /etc/fstab...
Dec 18 07:03:20 min fstrim[8044]: /boot/efi: 469.2 MiB (491995136 bytes) trimmed on /dev/nvme0n1p1
Dec 18 07:03:20 min fstrim[8044]: /: 428.7 GiB (460324110336 bytes) trimmed on /dev/nvme0n1p3
Dec 18 07:03:20 min systemd[1]: fstrim.service: Deactivated successfully.
Dec 18 07:03:20 min systemd[1]: Finished fstrim.service - Discard unused blocks on filesystems from /etc/fstab.
Dec 18 21:17:41 min systemd[1]: fstrim.timer: Deactivated successfully.
Dec 18 21:17:41 min systemd[1]: Stopped fstrim.timer - Discard unused filesystem blocks once a week.

For the current boot one can use "-b" without the "-1".

If by chance the fstrim.service is not running on a systemd service, it can be usually be enabled to run on the next boot by enabling the timer:

systemctl enable fstrim.timer

 

[KGIII]

I should do an article about trim.

Tomorrow may not have an article. I'm not sure. I could hop in a car and go somewhere to find a tower that is up and running. I'm not sure that I should be out driving around and getting in the way of legitimate traffic and emergency traffic.

 

[KGIII]

I was able to login and leave a week's worth of messages saying I am offline. If I'm online, I can delete the posts and write regular articles

I drove to a small city that had power and I borrowed bandwidth from a hotel. There's mostly emergency vehicles out there so I am heading home.

 

[Condobloke]

Drive safely.

 

[KGIII]

Drive safely.

Done and done. I'm home.

We're having what NOAA is calling the 100 year flood. The best way to describe it would be to say that we're well and truly screwed.

We had gusting well into the hurricane strength levels. I may have another 18 hours of online time. We will have to wait and see.

Ah well... This is the price I pay to live here. If it had been below freezing we'd be a whole lot worse than we are. They are driving in from all around to get power restored.

But, just know that we're okay at my place. I expect it could take a week to get back to normal but it could be longer than that.

So, I will be back!