Stop Updating Your Linux Computer Within The GUI

Hey Derek,
I think it's an ArcoLinux issue. I have all the problems too (DM crashing during update, bootloader etc...). Now since the last update Firefox, Thunar, LibreOffice, Thunderbird etc... need several minutes to open up. It's so frustrating.

Hey DT, I don't run windows but keep getting UEFI Firmware Updating Notices from Windows in POP_OS. What's up with that? I run Linux, how do I stop windows UEFI Firmware Updates Pushes. I almost by accident ran that windows UEFI update automatic out of a dumb knee jerk reaction. I'm going to stop being lazy & stop updating from the GUI, never did while I used slackware then I got into all this new automatic linux routines🤣 made me lazy & stupid🤣🤣

This happened to me today my screen went black during an update, thankfully i was able to recover my system through tty. Not going to update anymore in GUI mode.

lol, you went the hard way with the tty! just use something like screen or byobu to run those critical commands so you can deattach the sesión

I don't understand the problem. Having a crash duren updating the kernel always leaves just a mess. De GWM should detect the problems when booting again an either, show a message that something is wrong or correct the problem (= update again). Or isn´t it as easy as that????

Can anyone tell me if I do not update ever what happens? ever bcs my computer is very bad...old ,,when I keep updating its slows and crashes...and yes one of my laptop never booted after I updated ubuntu..since I have zero knowledge of computer...i dnt know what to do.

no

Very seldom we have loss of power in the Netherlands.

Awesome video.🙂
What are you using to run the vms?

i usally update from terminal but gonna start doing it the way you stated thanks

Hey DT, not had any upgrade issues here lately, but i live in the same "general" area of the country and ive had some power loss issues in the middle of a 3D print. like 30+hrs in. so i feel your pain. on your question tho, im about 50/50 how i update. if im busy doing something i will GUI update, but if im not really doing anything I will sudo apt update && apt upgrade -yy in guake. just cause i have my workspace all geeked out and blinged up with all the transparency and whatnot.

you don't need to do that, you just need to use screen or tmux so that even if your gui eats it your screen just detaches and keeps on going until you attach it again somewhere else.

I've been using Gentoo Linux for over 8 years and have never had this problem.

Sometimes Ubuntu seems to break python and you can no longer do updates and upgrades.

Upgrading from a terminal inside an window manager has been stable for me since years (debian sid, arch, fedora). why don't you just install the lts kernel, so if an upgrade fails, you can still boot that? Power outages (or sd card errors on singleboard computers) are a pain, especially on arch, but cause issues on tty/ssh aswell.

Regarding TTY2 or TTY1 being the graphical environment:
If I recall correctly, TTY2 being the graphical environment is not an Ubuntu thing, but a GDM thing.

WOW! Ya know, way back when... when I was just tinkering with Linux, dual booting it with Windows, I was taught to use CTRL+ALT+F5 and then update my system. But since switching to Linux full time, coming up on 6 years now, I have never done my updates that way... EVER! I think I'm going to start doing the updates that way now. I just need to get into the habit now of dropping to a TTY before doing so. I just did an update so I don't need to do it now. Hopefully, I'll remember that in a couple of days when I do the next update again. Time to reboot since I just got a kernel update. Peace everyone!!!

Stop pushing radical opinions and let people do what they prefer :)

the last time and also first time i had my arch system not booting after update, was when arch had the broken grub bug, but schroot and reconfiguring grub, up again within 5 minutes.

i never use pamac yaourt or trizen etc, i use only the old trusty command line

I personally use offline updates. Sure it's a bit of pain to reboot if I want an update but it's the safest way I can think of doing it (and people behind Fedora avree)

So, no, I could not just go back to my graphical environment the way you showed it. This is typical of Linux advice, you glossed over the most important detail.

Easier, more efficient and convenient to use tmux or screen every time you open a terminal.

And if you run a local X display server and log into a server you are upgrading, use ssh instead.

I had gnome session (waylanys) a crash on a upgrade (on multiple devices same update) so i had to find out the last packages that get updated and reinstalled them all to be sure:
rpm -qa --last | head -n 50 can be helpful for those using rpm packages

TTy updating will not help you with power outages.

U must go back to Arch Linux ;-)))

power fails are the exact reason i have a UPS installed on all my machines.

DT maybe its time to try nix.

This is a bad advice. GUI updates are not bad by definition, what you're describing is a poor implementation. In deepin for example not only the actual update is separated and detached from UI, but before every update, there's a backup made, so you can restore your system if something goes wrong. Not to mention that some OSes execute their own commands and GUI is a preferred and most reliable way for normal users.

Thank you for being a linux user. I have gone back and forth on Windows and Macs. Buy sell over and over. Something easier, cheaper, windows and linux. I've used fedora, ubuntu, linux mint, zorin and more. Linux I can alternate the look by myself.

I've NEVER had this happen. I've been using Linux since the 90's. Updates never take that long, not like Windoze, so I let everything update before I play with anything. I also have UPS and keep my laptops charged. If l am working on something, I do my updates beforehand or after I'm finished with it. That's one of the many wonderful things about Linux. You choose when, if ever, you update.

I use Void so there is no GUI to update with.

Advice: Auto btrfs snap or auto ZFS snap. Rollbacks are super simple.

Also, Debian-based systems and redhat-based systems handle updates much better in terms of doing updates in the proper order.

If your graphic environmental is crashing that frequently, or you’re not certain you can update without it crashing, then you’re just using the wrong desktop or window manager. But moreover, if this is still an issue in 2023, then Linux on the desktop itself is still an abysmal failure!

I see your point, dt. I personally haven't had this issue during my Red Hat days or since last year, but that doesn't mean that it will never happen to me either. I typically like to update at least once a week, so I'll have to add a step in my repetition. Thanks for the video!

Hey DT. If you don't already have one, I'd highly recommend getting one of those UPS battery backups for your PC. Should give you about 15-20 minutes to finish updates if your power goes out during a critical moment. Mine was like $300 and saved my butt during a BIOS update not too long ago...

just use a UPS. not only does it not shut off your system and the update continues normally. but you also dont risk damaging your hardware!

Why not '& disown'?

I use archlinux with cinnamon. I had some issues with the nvidia driver dkms update, but the downgrade solved my problems right away. I always update from my terminal, not tty.

We have had this problem on work twice with Windows 10. Not yet with Linux pc's/laptops. I use Linux since Knoppix and Ubuntu 10. I used also OS2/Warp instead of Windows.

BTRFS could help here. In addition to making recovery easier, all filesystem writes are atomic. No files will be partially written. Of course, a package upgrade that requires multiple filesystem interactions will not necessarily be safe, but at least there would not be compounded errors from both the filesystem and the upgrade.

!+!

i never had any issues on DE crashing during the update, maybe because Xfce - my DE of choice - is extremely stable and i found it most reliable during my one-year journey with Linux

is gui not running in the background like this?

I do not think dwm ever crashed for me. I will keep trusting it. Since I am on arch, I do not need to use grub. But failed systemd might break the boot process too.

That's the reason Fedora has offline updates.