Arch Linux

jebez

Member

Registered: 2025-01-15

Posts: 81

When to run sudo pacman -Syu ?

E.g. daily 20:00 UTC ? When are the packages likely updated?

About only the core repo?

Is there a curve of packages updates versus time?

Last edited by jebez (2025-02-17 10:22:15)

mpan

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Registered: 2012-08-01

Posts: 1,382

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Re: When to run sudo pacman -Syu ?

(OP has changed post since I replied)
Please don’t put a single sentence split between the topic and the message. It’s ambiguous, confusing, and hard to read. And in this case it makes a very bad subject line too.

Not sure, what to answer. This is the second thread of yours I see recently, which apparently makes no sense. Once again you seem to have some weird assumptions, which you conceal from people. What is in your mind the connection between -Syu, -Scc, and time of update? Be clear, when asking questions.

Last edited by mpan (2025-02-16 12:02:55)

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Head_on_a_Stick

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From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,831

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Re: When to run sudo pacman -Syu ?

How regularly to update depends on how outdated you are prepared to let your system get. I would say upgrading for every kernel release would be a basic minimum, and upgrading for News advisories would be the absolute minimum.

When I run Arch I Syu at least three times a day, just in case. FOMO is bad at this end...

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2025-02-16 10:47:05)

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seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 62,012

Re: When to run sudo pacman -Syu ?

Whenever you've time to deal with the outfall or need the latest yt-dlp update because youtube changed the protection measures again…
Ie. whenever you want.

Cause

When are the packages likely updated?

Whenever the maintainer has the time to deal with the outfall or needs to apply the latest yt-dlp update because youtube changed the protection measures again…
Ie. whenever they want.

It's a rolling release distro, there's no tact by definition.

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Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 13,447

Re: When to run sudo pacman -Syu ?

Moving to System Administration

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mpan

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Registered: 2012-08-01

Posts: 1,382

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Re: When to run sudo pacman -Syu ?

I run `pacman -Syu` when I feel like it. On average once a day. Though on a VPS it may be twice a week.

When fresh packages are available depends on your mirror’s schedule. Since it’s beyond Arch’s control or knowledge, the administrators may change it at any time, and you may need to change the mirror: I find little sense in planning to match their rhytm.

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MAYBL8

Member

Registered: 2022-01-14

Posts: 309

Re: When to run sudo pacman -Syu ?

This is just me and I wouldn't say everyone should do it my way but I use "arch-update" from the AUR. I have it set to check for updates it first starts and every 10 min. It will show me what updates are available to install by just highlighting over the icon in the taskbar. If there are too many I can just run it and see the list before I decide to update.
What you should do is understand what each update will do to your system before you actually update. Most are probably harmless.
Some like video driver updates and major packages should be updated with caution.
Also "arch-update" handles .pacnew files letting you choose what to do with them.
Thanks

Whoracle

Member

Registered: 2010-11-02

Posts: 106

Re: When to run sudo pacman -Syu ?

I upgrade my desktop every night when shutting down and dealing with the (rare) fallout the next morning.

On my servers it's once a week, mainly weekends
My notebook every few months before I need to take it on a trip.

kermit63

Member

Registered: 2018-07-04

Posts: 323

Re: When to run sudo pacman -Syu ?

I have a conky script that alerts me when updates are available. Most of the time, I'll update whenever there are updates available. This happens almost 2-3 times a day.

Starting about 2 years ago, I sometimes postpone updating if there are kernel updates. This was due to some bugs introduced to the kernel that wrecks havoc on bluetooth and wifi devices. In this case, I'll backup my root partition using partclone from a live ISO before booting back and updating. This allows me to restore to a working system if there are anomalies in the kernel update. Fortunately, the kernel devs seem to have worked out the kinks already for the past 6-8 months.

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ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

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Re: When to run sudo pacman -Syu ?

Whenever I think about it.  A couple times a week.    A better question is how often to I run pacman with -Qm -Qe and or -Qdt to evaluate what I have installed and why.

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jebez

Member

Registered: 2025-01-15

Posts: 81

Re: When to run sudo pacman -Syu ?

My answer:
When I start my PC, once a day.

schard

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From: Hannover

Registered: 2016-05-06

Posts: 2,207

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Re: When to run sudo pacman -Syu ?

On my GUI machines (mostly laptops these days), I use the Arch Linux Update indicator to get notified of available updates.
I install those asap (unless there's 30+ system-level updates rolling in at 11 p.m. when I just wanted to shut down the laptop).
If there's some kernel or system(d) layer updates involved, I also update my server.
Additionally I update my server if there's some security-critical updates for the few programs I host on it.

So it varies between one or two times per day and once week or so.

Since I don't use locally installed packages (I host packages from the AUR in an own repo), I also run these commands after each upgrade (use at your own risk and read the man page first!):

# pacdiff
# pacman -Rncs $(pacman -Qmq; pacman -Qdtq)

in order to get rid of old ballast.

Last edited by schard (2025-02-17 13:48:01)

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mountaintrek

Member

Registered: 2024-02-01

Posts: 49

Re: When to run sudo pacman -Syu ?

When are the packages likely updated?

About only the core repo?

Checkout the arch wiki page:

• System maintenance.

Some additional points:

• Run checkupdates to "print a list of pending updates" (pkg: pacman-contrib).  Notice the -c options.

• Always check the archlinux homepage before an update. It not only shows the latest important news, but also a list of recent updated packages.

• After an update, also run pacman -Fy to update the package file databases (repo.files). This allows you to search for files within packages using pacman -F.

• Check out the arch RSS Feeds. I use RSS Guard (pkg: rssguard) to read feeds.  Notice there is a feed per repo or all repos. There is also a news feed.

• Always do a man on commands (i.e., man checkupdates) for additional information. Arch also has the man pages online, https://man.archlinux.org/man/extra/pac … dates.8.en.

Last edited by mountaintrek (2025-02-17 22:06:14)