[SOLVED]"Automatic Updates" in Update Manager, haven't been automatic..
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[SOLVED]"Automatic Updates" in Update Manager, haven't been automatic..
According to what I've read, I have auto-updates turned on but I'm still having to do them manually.
Some may chime in and say "it isn't good practice to let your machine be updated automatically." To those, I would respectfully say "you do you and I'll do me."
I'm a recent convert to LMDE and I would really like this to work so I don't have to waste time in Update Manager every day. Any advice?
Some may chime in and say "it isn't good practice to let your machine be updated automatically." To those, I would respectfully say "you do you and I'll do me."
I'm a recent convert to LMDE and I would really like this to work so I don't have to waste time in Update Manager every day. Any advice?
Last edited by TriggerDingus on Sun Mar 24, 2024 11:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: "Automatic Updates" in Update Manager, haven't been automatic..
In the standard format the automated update is subject to a random delay which can make it look like it isn't going to happen.
There is also the added bonus that mintupdate cannot update itself.
The solution which I have working happily on LMDE (and is a variation of what I have been using for about 15 years) is as follows
Terminal -
Go to the empty bottom row of the screen and put in and save it. If it has opened in nano that would be Ctrl+O then Ctrl+X
What this does is to wait 40 seconds after booting and then goes off and tries to update mintupdate.
Terminal -
Make it look like this -
Save it via Ctrl+O Ctrl+X
This creates an override file in /etc/systemd/system/ which will not be altered even if the original in /lib/... is updated.
What this does is to wait 4 minutes after boot and then runs mintupdate
Finally I set my Options screen in the update settings as this So the whole sequence becomes:-
Boot + 40 seconds - apply any update to mintupdate
Boot + 2 minutes mintupdate looks for any updates
Boot + 4 minutes minyupdate runs and applies any updates
Mintupdate then goes away until it finds any new updates every 4 hours or until next reboot if sooner.
Mintupdate logs in /var/log/mintupdate.log
Do be aware that if you are using a disk with legacy MSDOS structure as opposed to GPT then Grub updates will not complete. I used to exclude updates to grub-pc and check manually once in a while. Got fed up with that and swapped to GPT and that made life a lot easier.
There is also the added bonus that mintupdate cannot update itself.
The solution which I have working happily on LMDE (and is a variation of what I have been using for about 15 years) is as follows
Terminal -
Code: Select all
sudo crontab -e
Code: Select all
@reboot sleep 40 && sudo apt update && sudo apt install mintupdate mint-upgrade-info
What this does is to wait 40 seconds after booting and then goes off and tries to update mintupdate.
Terminal -
Code: Select all
sudo systemctl edit --full mintupdate-automation-upgrade.timer
Code: Select all
[Unit]
Description=Update Manager automatic upgrades
[Timer]
##OnCalendar=daily
OnBootSec=4m
##RandomizedDelaySec=60m
Persistent=true
[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target
This creates an override file in /etc/systemd/system/ which will not be altered even if the original in /lib/... is updated.
What this does is to wait 4 minutes after boot and then runs mintupdate
Finally I set my Options screen in the update settings as this So the whole sequence becomes:-
Boot + 40 seconds - apply any update to mintupdate
Boot + 2 minutes mintupdate looks for any updates
Boot + 4 minutes minyupdate runs and applies any updates
Mintupdate then goes away until it finds any new updates every 4 hours or until next reboot if sooner.
Mintupdate logs in /var/log/mintupdate.log
Do be aware that if you are using a disk with legacy MSDOS structure as opposed to GPT then Grub updates will not complete. I used to exclude updates to grub-pc and check manually once in a while. Got fed up with that and swapped to GPT and that made life a lot easier.
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Re: "Automatic Updates" in Update Manager, haven't been automatic..
bin wrote: ⤴Sun Mar 24, 2024 3:18 am In the standard format the automated update is subject to a random delay which can make it look like it isn't going to happen.
There is also the added bonus that mintupdate cannot update itself.
The solution which I have working happily on LMDE (and is a variation of what I have been using for about 15 years) is as follows
Terminal -Go to the empty bottom row of the screen and put inCode: Select all
sudo crontab -e
and save it. If it has opened in nano that would be Ctrl+O then Ctrl+XCode: Select all
@reboot sleep 40 && sudo apt update && sudo apt install mintupdate mint-upgrade-info
What this does is to wait 40 seconds after booting and then goes off and tries to update mintupdate.
Terminal -Make it look like this -Code: Select all
sudo systemctl edit --full mintupdate-automation-upgrade.timer
Save it via Ctrl+O Ctrl+XCode: Select all
[Unit] Description=Update Manager automatic upgrades [Timer] ##OnCalendar=daily OnBootSec=4m ##RandomizedDelaySec=60m Persistent=true [Install] WantedBy=timers.target
This creates an override file in /etc/systemd/system/ which will not be altered even if the original in /lib/... is updated.
What this does is to wait 4 minutes after boot and then runs mintupdate
Finally I set my Options screen in the update settings as this options.png
So the whole sequence becomes:-
Boot + 40 seconds - apply any update to mintupdate
Boot + 2 minutes mintupdate looks for any updates
Boot + 4 minutes minyupdate runs and applies any updates
Mintupdate then goes away until it finds any new updates every 4 hours or until next reboot if sooner.
Mintupdate logs in /var/log/mintupdate.log
Do be aware that if you are using a disk with legacy MSDOS structure as opposed to GPT then Grub updates will not complete. I used to exclude updates to grub-pc and check manually once in a while. Got fed up with that and swapped to GPT and that made life a lot easier.
My updates haven't been working automatically. I've gone over all instructions above a few times and it appears I have everything done exactly as described, but still I'm nagged daily by mint updater. I'd post anything helpful here that might describe where I've failed, but there's no error messages or anything, so I don't even know where to begin troubleshooting. Any ideas?
Re: "Automatic Updates" in Update Manager, haven't been automatic..
Sorry to hear that.TriggerDingus wrote: ⤴Fri Apr 12, 2024 7:50 pm My updates haven't been working automatically. I've gone over all instructions above a few times and it appears I have everything done exactly as described, but still I'm nagged daily by mint updater. I'd post anything helpful here that might describe where I've failed, but there's no error messages or anything, so I don't even know where to begin troubleshooting. Any ideas?
First thing is go back and look for typo(s) in sudo systemctl edit --full mintupdate-automation-upgrade.timer
Next /var/log/mintupdate.log
For example this is the start of the log for this morning
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-- Automatic Upgrade starting Sat 13 Apr 2024 06:32:59 BST:
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
Recommended packages:
xcvt
The following packages will be upgraded:
xserver-common xserver-xephyr xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-legacy
4 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 11.8 MB of archives.
After this operation, 4,096 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://security.debian.org bookworm-security/main amd64 xserver-common all 2:21.1.7-3+deb12u7 [2,383 kB]
Get:2 http://security.debian.org bookworm-security/main amd64 xserver-xephyr amd64 2:21.1.7-3+deb12u7 [3,293 kB]
Get:3 http://security.debian.org bookworm-security/main amd64 xserver-xorg-legacy amd64 2:21.1.7-3+deb12u7 [2,388 kB]
Get:4 http://security.debian.org bookworm-security/main amd64 xserver-xorg-core amd64 2:21.1.7-3+deb12u7 [3,720 kB]
Preconfiguring packages ...
The log may also show you if there is an issue with an update.
The update manager will show you which packages are due to update - are there lots or just one or two?
It occurs to me you might never or rarely actually reboot your machine - in which case you'd need to remove the ## in front of OnCalendar=daily in the timer edit.
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Re: [SOLVED]"Automatic Updates" in Update Manager, haven't been automatic..
I checked the log you mentioned and there were no paragraphs describing Auto Upgrade, so the upgrade hasn't been running.
I suspect your last suggestion might fix the OS auto-updates, though. You are correct in guessing I might not reboot often: the machine runs several backup schedules and is also my Syncthing hub and so it gets rebooted quite sparingly.
-----Update:
I just rebooted to try and trigger the updates and to re-inspect the log file. There are some peculiar logs from the test run today (see April 13):
Strange thing is, the machine is never not connected to a power supply (E.G. A/C wall power).
I suspect your last suggestion might fix the OS auto-updates, though. You are correct in guessing I might not reboot often: the machine runs several backup schedules and is also my Syncthing hub and so it gets rebooted quite sparingly.
-----Update:
I just rebooted to try and trigger the updates and to re-inspect the log file. There are some peculiar logs from the test run today (see April 13):
Code: Select all
-- Automatic Removal Mon Apr 1 12:21:34 AM EDT 2024:
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
-- Automatic Removal Mon Apr 8 12:01:35 AM EDT 2024:
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
-- Automatic Upgrade starting Sat 13 Apr 2024 11:43:35 EDT:
-- Power supply not connected, abort automatic update.
-- Automatic Upgrade starting Sat 13 Apr 2024 11:47:08 EDT:
-- Power supply not connected, abort automatic update.
Re: [SOLVED]"Automatic Updates" in Update Manager, haven't been automatic..
Curious - without knowing more about the machine it's hard to comment. Not a laptop running without a battery is it??
On my desktop machine the log ends
Maybe that will help point you in the right direction?
On my desktop machine the log ends
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/sys/class/power_supply/AC/online not found. Ignore power supply check.-- Automatic Upgrade completed
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Re: [SOLVED]"Automatic Updates" in Update Manager, haven't been automatic..
My machine is a laptop with an installed battery, however, it's a big beast of a thing and it's plugged into desktop speakers, monitor etc etc. It's essentially my desktop system.
It's interesting how your log ends, deciding to ignore the power supply check altogether. I'll have to try and figure out how I might be able to configure mine to do that.
It's interesting how your log ends, deciding to ignore the power supply check altogether. I'll have to try and figure out how I might be able to configure mine to do that.
Re: [SOLVED]"Automatic Updates" in Update Manager, haven't been automatic..
Just checked on a Thinkpad that has Mint 21.3 clean install.
If the machine is connected to charger which is switched on, or the battery is removed and it is just running on mains, then it just ends
Yesterday I forgot to switch on the charger and the log says
So, I wonder if you might just want to pop the battery out and just run on mains - see what happens? Possible battery issue?
If the machine is connected to charger which is switched on, or the battery is removed and it is just running on mains, then it just ends
Code: Select all
-- Automatic Upgrade completed
Code: Select all
-- Power supply not connected, abort automatic update.
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Re: [SOLVED]"Automatic Updates" in Update Manager, haven't been automatic..
Thanks so much for experimenting with that!
That sounds very promising! I'm removing the battery now - will report results soon!
That sounds very promising! I'm removing the battery now - will report results soon!
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Re: [SOLVED]"Automatic Updates" in Update Manager, haven't been automatic..
Well, this is confounding. I pulled the battery on the 18th and it's been sitting on my desk since then. I rebooted a few times but the mysterious power supply error messages continue. See log entries from 19th and 20th below.
I'm not expecting you would be able to explain or assist, but I wanted to provide the info for posterity!
I'm not expecting you would be able to explain or assist, but I wanted to provide the info for posterity!
Code: Select all
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
-- Automatic Upgrade starting Tue 16 Apr 2024 00:00:00 EDT:
-- Power supply not connected, abort automatic update.
-- Automatic Upgrade starting Wed 17 Apr 2024 00:00:21 EDT:
-- Power supply not connected, abort automatic update.
-- Automatic Upgrade starting Thu 18 Apr 2024 00:00:10 EDT:
-- Power supply not connected, abort automatic update.
-- Automatic Upgrade starting Fri 19 Apr 2024 00:00:00 EDT:
-- Power supply not connected, abort automatic update.
-- Automatic Upgrade starting Fri 19 Apr 2024 10:10:27 EDT:
-- Power supply not connected, abort automatic update.
-- Automatic Removal Fri Apr 19 01:25:17 PM EDT 2024:
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
-- Automatic Upgrade starting Sat 20 Apr 2024 00:00:09 EDT:
-- Power supply not connected, abort automatic update.