Blog

Home » Blog » Linux

How to keep your Ubuntu Linux system up to date

Copyright © TechPad.co.uk

Ubuntu makes it really easy to keep your system secure and up to date. Here's our guide to keeping your software and computer fully patched and current.

One of the really clever things about Ubuntu (and many other Linux distributions) is that it's really easy to keep both the system and all of the software bang up to date.

If you're familiar with Windows, you've probably used Windows Update, which is Microsoft's method of providing patches, security fixes and new fixes for the operating system.

Ubuntu's Update Manager works in a similar way, by warning you of available updates and allowing them to be downloaded directly to your machine. However, it takes things one step further in that it also updates your software when new versions become available. 

The end result is a computer that's always got the latest applications on it, and always has the current bug fixes and security patches applied.

Not only that, but you can even update your entire machine to the next version of the Ubuntu operating system when that's released. It's seriously useful and really rather clever. 

How to update your system

On the 'panel' of your Gnome desktop (normally the bar at the top, unless you've moved it, as we did on our Asus Eee PC) you'll see a distinctive red arrow icon appear when Ubuntu has detected that software updates are available for your computer. To install these, simply click the arrow. 

The Update Manager program will list all of the available software packages. While you can flick through these and install the ones you want, there's little need to do so, and it's best to simply leave all of them selected and click the Install Updates button to start the download process. 

As this is an action that affects the whole system, you'll need to have an administrator account and you'll need to enter the password to continue. Once you've correctly entered this, the Update Manager will check the software repositories defined on your computer and fetch all of the updates. 

These 'package files' can take quite a while to download, depending on the size and number of updates available, and the speed of your connection. Simply leave your machine to download what it needs and once they've been download the Update Manager will automatically install them. 

After the Update Manager is done, you'll notice that the red arrow icon has changed to a grey one indicating that your machine has been updated.

 

If there's been a significant update, such as a kernel update (that is, the 'heart' of the operating system) you'll see a blue restart icon. Click this and the machine will reboot the new kernel and you'll have the freshly updated machine waiting for you a couple of minutes later. 

While Linux is generally very secure, this only applies if you keep your machine up to date. However, as you've seen here, running the Update Manager is really such a doddle that there's really no excuse for clicking it every time you see the Update Manager red icon arrow appear.

Published: TechPad.co.uk Sunday 20 July 2008, 8:50 pm
Views: 17,355 times
Filed under: Ubuntu Linux basics

Login to leave your comments