Solved Updates; Do I need them all?

[Brian Alex]

Hi, This is not really a help request or a problem, just a question about updates. I see updates coming in 3 or 4 times a day sometimes. I saw one batch of updates that was almost 1GB in size total. I am a relative newb with limited tech understanding, so I just click "install updates" every time I see the notification and list of updates. I'm used to updates every month. I thought about just shutting off this notification and just checking once a month, say, the second Tuesday of each month. I just get the feeling that there is a legion of computer science students who need to make a contribution to satisfy some course requirement. Just now for instance I was alerted that there was an update to "exiv2 EXIF/IPTC/XMP metadata manipulation library 0.27.6-1 Ubuntu0.3". OK, drop everything and get this onboard ASAP. How do you folks deal with updates? Do you have the knowledge to discern which ones are helpful to your specific system or do you just install them all every time you see them? I'm running Mint on a 171 GB partition and space is an issue. Thanks! -BA

 

[Brickwizard]

Hi Brian, and yes we do recommend you keep everything updated for your own safety, just because they land at any time day or night you don't have to install them immediately, say chose a time, you may think I have dinner at 7pm, so run the updates whilst at dinner, as for space good housekeeping never goes amiss, deleting all the unwanted files/folders/pictures/music & etc you don't need will help [as I only have a small NVMe drive on each main computer I keep all my important stuff on a 500gb M2ssd in a shell that connects to a USB port ]but any working HDD/SSD and a SATA to USB connector will do,.
Or you could try getting in the habit of instead of using the software updater every time, occasionally use the terminal and run in order
sudo apt update && apt upgrade -y
apt autoremove
sudo apt clean [the nuke comand]

the first will update the kernel , the Debian files and the mint apps [not always any Flatpak or other 3rd party apps]
the second removes unwanted oddments such as extra kernels, and the third is a full spring clean of any detritus left behind from deleting apps, part downloads nasties etc

did you install timeshift? if you have or will do then best practice is use an external storage for it not the main drive as it can soon fill it if you don't keep it under control.

for anyone else reading these commands are for Debian based distros.

 

[Brian Alex]

Thanks Brickwizard. So just install everything maybe once a day. Got it.

As for space, this install was just an experiment originally thus the 171 GB Mint and 51 GB Ubuntu (dual-boot). I really need to just get a larger drive dedicated to Mint now that I have 100% determined that it will be my primary OS (sorry Windows 10). In the mean time, I will take your advice and expand my storage space. Right now all I have are some USB drives 256GB. Wouldn't one of these be as good as an external SSD? I could always format the SSD with Windows on it, but I'm just not to that point yet. I do have a second SATA connector internally but I don't understand how that works. Thanks again. -BA

Oh I remember now, the plan was to delete the Ubuntu partition since I don't use it and it is not update-able (25.04) and use it for Mint but I haven't learned Gparted yet.

 

[Brickwizard]

USB are fine for storage, but something like a M2 SATA would have a better read write life than a USB so better for timeshift

if you are now set on Mint and don't want a second/third OS then save everything and go for a clean installation

 

[Brian Alex]

Thanks. Anyway I forgot how to set up a USB drive for TS. "No Linux FS found" or some such. I think last time I had to boot up W-10 to format it to ext4 (?). I should keep notes. As for "save everything and go for a clean installation", maybe I will do that down the line when I have a better grasp of the "save" aspect and how to save everything including system settings and /home and getting such back on the new installation. For now I think I'm good if I just save TS to a USB. Thanks again for your input.

Edit: I just searched and was pointed to the onboard tool "USB Stick Formatter". How convenient! I love Linux.

 

[f33dm3bits]

You are referring to Linux patch Tuesday. You can also choose to do it once a week or once a month, it mostly depends on what you want, sometimes there are security updates which you generally want to update ASAP. A lot people I know just install updates when they are available.

 

[APTI]

I had a dentist that had a sign on the wall.. it read.... "You don't have to brush all of your teeth, just the ones you want to keep". You can apply that same logic to updates. They are not like windoze updates. They actually work and do good things. at least 99% of the time. You are fine in installing them.

 

[Random_Poster]

occasionally use the terminal and run in order
sudo apt update && apt upgrade -Y
apt autoremove
sudo apt clean [the nuke comand]

for anyone else reading these commands are for Debian based distros.

Howdy.
To compare my normal routine to these commands, I tried yours for funzies.
Not complaining, not questioning, not arguing, just throwing out my results.

sudo apt update && apt upgrade -Y returned:
Error: Command line option 'Y' [from -Y] is not understood in combination with the other options.

apt autoremove returned:
Error: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend - open (13: Permission denied)
Error: Unable to acquire the dpkg frontend lock (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend), are you root?

For me, the second one also needs sudo.

Debian(13) here for a couple years. Not an "expert" user, but not a beginner either.
As I said, I was trying your suggestions "just for fun".
Thank you for all the advice you give here.

 

[KGIII]

Do you have the knowledge to discern which ones are helpful to your specific system or do you just install them all every time you see them?

Yes, but I don't bother. I just apply all of the updates as they come.

I often just do it manually, with an alias that's easy to type and stored in my ~/.bash_history file.

I'm running Mint on a 171 GB partition and space is an issue. Thanks! -BA

Updates are trivial in size. They replace what's there with something new. Sometimes (and this looks confusing) it 'adds negative space', meaning the new file is smaller than the file it is replacing. It will show the upate size information as a negative number.

This is some such command, if you want to run it in the terminal:

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

 

[Brian Alex]

Random_Poster; If you enter "sudo apt update && apt upgrade" and then "y" when asked for permission to proceed, it works on Mint.

 

[Brickwizard]

my fault lower case y, corrected

 

[Random_Poster]

Random_Poster; If you enter "sudo apt update && apt upgrade" and then "y" when asked for permission to proceed, it works on Mint.

Correct. In the suggestion above it includes the "-y" in the first string so you won't get asked for permission.
It doesn't like it being capitalized

 

[bob466]

As we say...Linux isn't windoze. So Linux updates won't distroy your system...install all updates when available and you can't go wrong.

 

[hoddesdonmanc]

Not really solved is it! Many updates "appear" to be for geeks, this library that library etc etc. A good idea might be to indicate which updates are ESSENTIAL for all users.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

@hoddesdonmanc
Linux is not Windows, you don't hide certain updates and select which updates to install.
All updates are essential, if you don't like an update remove software that you don't need, if that's not possible the update is essential.

 

[Condobloke]

A good idea might be to get to know exactly what you are doing before you make statements like

Many updates "appear" to be for geeks, this library that library etc etc

How exactly would you know this, with zero experience of Linux?

 

[hoddesdonmanc]

A good idea might be to get to know exactly what you are doing before you make statements like

How exactly would you know this, with zero experience of Linux?

My point entirely,I don't know. So some indication as to "essential" updates would be very helpful.

 

[KGIII]

The thread has been cleaned up. Do not call other users names, thanks.

 

[f33dm3bits]

@hoddesdonmanc
Linux is not Windows, you don't hide certain updates and select which updates to install.
All updates are essential, if you don't like an update remove software that you don't need, if that's not possible the update is essential.

Exactly this, there's no such things as "Preview Updates" or something else on Linux as you have on Windows. So I'm talking about these types of updates that don't exist on Linux.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/windows-itpro-blog/windows-monthly-updates-explained/3773544

 

[deb_user]

It's not necessary to install every update as soon as it's available. Once a week is fine, if that's what you prefer. Many updates are for security reasons, and need to be installed within a reasonable amount of time, though. I tend to update once a day, but I'm not religious about it in either direction, sometimes more than once, sometimes not at all for a day or more. On my Debian Stable server, I'm in no big hurry because there aren't many updates. On my Sid daily driver I'm much more careful, because updates can be fatal if blindly accepted. There is no one size which fits all. Like everything else in life, some judgement is required, and judgement only comes from experience.