# Unattended Upgrades - auto update OS

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/unattended-upgrades-auto-update-os/21992>\
**Category:** Share Your Projects\
**Created:** [19 February 2020 20:34 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/unattended-upgrades-auto-update-os/21992 "2020-02-19T20:34:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Paul-Reed](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/paul-reed/32/66906_2.png) [@Paul-Reed](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Paul-Reed)\
**Post date:** [19 February 2020 20:34 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/unattended-upgrades-auto-update-os/21992/1 "2020-02-19T20:34:03Z")

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Following on from this discussion about automatically updating operating systems...

> [@Scheduling raspbian OS updates & upgrades](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/scheduling-raspbian-os-updates-upgrades/21174/13):
>
> Colin, I've just installed Unattended Upgrades on a friends Pi to see how it performs. (that's what friends are for... laughing laughing) I'll let you know how it goes.

I've now had chance to review unattended-upgrades after being suggested by @Colin, and after first installing it on a friends Pi, followed by my own, and it seems to work well, with no major issues.  
It's applied numerous updates (it's surprising how many there are!) over the past week or so, and I've been comparing the updates with the default `dpkg` and they have been identical so far (`sudo apt list --upgradable`).

Installation on a Pi running Buster was quick & easy - `apt-get install unattended-upgrades` which installed the package, set up logrotate & also created systemd triggers to run the package twice daily to check for updates.

There are 2 main config files which determine how `unattended-upgrades` functions. I found them a little complicated to set up at first, but it eventually sort of made sense;  
`/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades` which is the apt configuration stub, I've edited mine to be -

```auto
APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1";
APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "1";
APT::Periodic::AutocleanInterval "7";

```

and the second, `/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades` which determines which update origins to apply. My config is -

```auto
Unattended-Upgrade::Origins-Pattern {
      "origin=Raspbian,codename=${distro_codename},label=Raspbian";
      "origin=Raspberry Pi Foundation,codename=${distro_codename},label=Raspber$
      "origin=Node Source,codename=${distro_codename},label=Node Source";
};
Unattended-Upgrade::Automatic-Reboot True;

```

..so that I allow updates from the origins 'Raspbian', 'Raspberry Pi Foundation' & 'Node Source' (to update `node`), which match the sources included in 'Buster's' `apt-cache policy`.  
I picked up a tip to rename this config file to something like `/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/52unattended-upgrades` to prevent it being overwritten when the package is updated.  
You will note that I've set `Automatic-Reboot True`, this will automatically reboot the pi if any of the updates have set the 'reboot' flag. If you don't want to do this, then set it to `False`. I've only had 1 auto-reboot so far.

I haven't set up the email reporting (as I don't want to be bothered with emails every few days), but there are 2 logs to view to see what's been happening;  
`/var/log/unattended-upgrades/unattended-upgrades.log` to see what update checks have been made, and;  
`/var/log/unattended-upgrades/unattended-upgrades-dpkg.log` to see the actual updates applied and any error messages.

Definitely worth a look!

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**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [19 February 2020 21:29 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/unattended-upgrades-auto-update-os/21992/2 "2020-02-19T21:29:54Z")

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I was surprised to find unattended-upgrades already installed on my new Debian Buster minimal installation.

I've only made a couple of minor changes so far (from: [https://wiki.debian.org/UnattendedUpgrades](https://wiki.debian.org/UnattendedUpgrades)):

In order to enable auto-updates, you need to uncomment the line of in `/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades` that has the text

```auto
"${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-updates";.

```

And run:

```auto
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -plow unattended-upgrades

```

which creates: `/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades`

I had been running webmin on my Pi 3 which includes an autoupdate feature. Don't need that now.

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**Author:** ![Paul-Reed](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/paul-reed/32/66906_2.png) [@Paul-Reed](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Paul-Reed)\
**Post date:** [19 February 2020 21:59 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/unattended-upgrades-auto-update-os/21992/3 "2020-02-19T21:59:56Z")

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Nice find Julian.

NOTE: When installing via `apt` on a Raspberry Pi, there is no need to run those commands, as `apt` does that for you.

I initially thought that checking for updates every day was excessive & unnecessary, but having thought about it. it's probably the safest way to update...  
If (like I've done in the past) I update every 3-6 months, then I'm installing a massive number of updates at once, and if something thereafter doesn't work it's not easy to establish the cause.

Whereas, updating a relatively small number of packages regularly, at least gives a good indication of where to start looking...

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**Author:** ![Paul-Reed](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/paul-reed/32/66906_2.png) [@Paul-Reed](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Paul-Reed)\
**Post date:** [21 February 2020 21:28 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/unattended-upgrades-auto-update-os/21992/4 "2020-02-21T21:28:40Z")

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> [@Paul-Reed](#):
>
> I've been comparing the updates with the default `dpkg` and they have been identical so far

Typically, most nights, I've checked which upgrades `apt` has earmarked in need of attention, by checking;

```auto
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo apt list --upgradeable
Listing... Done
libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18/stable 2.26.4-1~deb10u1+rpi1 armhf [upgradable from: 2.26.3-1~deb10u1+rpi1]
libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37/stable 2.26.4-1~deb10u1+rpi1 armhf [upgradable from: 2.26.3-1~deb10u1+rpi1]
raspberrypi-ui-mods/testing 1.20200218 all [upgradable from: 1.20200127]
pi@raspberrypi:~ $

```

The following morning, checking the `unattended-upgrades.log`, I see that the correct packages have been downloaded and an upgrade has taken place.

```auto
2020-02-21 05:26:05,442 INFO Packages that will be upgraded: libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18 libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 raspberrypi-ui-mods
2020-02-21 05:26:05,443 INFO Writing dpkg log to /var/log/unattended-upgrades/unattended-upgrades-dpkg.log
2020-02-21 05:27:35,014 INFO All upgrades installed

```

If a more detailed log is needed, the `unattended-upgrades-dpkg.log` contains entries for each of upgrades that has taken place.

```auto
Log started: 2020-02-21 05:26:50
(Reading database ... 99582 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37_2.26.4-1~deb10u1+rpi1_armhf.deb ...
Unpacking libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37:armhf (2.26.4-1~deb10u1+rpi1) over (2.26.3-1~deb10u1+rpi1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18_2.26.4-1~deb10u1+rpi1_armhf.deb ...
Unpacking libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18:armhf (2.26.4-1~deb10u1+rpi1) over (2.26.3-1~deb10u1+rpi1) ...
Setting up libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18:armhf (2.26.4-1~deb10u1+rpi1) ...
Setting up libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37:armhf (2.26.4-1~deb10u1+rpi1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.28-10+rpi1) ...
Log ended: 2020-02-21 05:27:33

```

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/1X/d073cd938eafa2e558d7c2cd59003b3ef4963033.png) [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [21 April 2020 21:28 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/unattended-upgrades-auto-update-os/21992/5 "2020-04-21T21:28:47Z")

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