Difference between revisions of "Update Manager"

Revision as of 00:40, 16 July 2012

PC-BSD 9.0 introduced a redesigned Update Manager to make it easy to update the underlying FreeBSD world or kernel, drivers, software installed via packages, ports, or PBIs, and to apply security updates. Unlike previous versions of PC-BSD, the 9.x series of PC-BSD uses the GENERIC FreeBSD kernel in order to ease kernel updating. Update Manager provides an easy to use GUI; however, the underlying mechanism is based on shell scripts. This means that advanced users don't need to run a window manager in order to use the upgrade functionality. These shell scripts use sudo so that regular user accounts can run upgrades without requiring access to the root password.

An icon located in your system tray lets you tell at a glance if any of your PBIs are out-of-date or if a system update is available. This icon has several possible states:

your system is up-to-date.

the system is currently checking for updates and patches; this happens automatically whenever you boot your system.

your operating system is out-of-date and system update(s) or patch(es) are available.

newer versions of installed PBI(s) are available; click this icon to open AppCafe® so that you can update the PBI(s).

the system was unable to check for updates, meaning you should check your Internet connection.

the system is currently updating. You should see this icon once you click the "Install selected updates" button.

the system needs to restart in order for the newly installed update to take effect. You will not be able to use Update Manager again until the system is rebooted.

If you right-click the icon, you will see the menu shown in Figure 6.3a. If updates are available for installed PBIs, AppCafe® will also open to the Installed tab so that you can view the new versions which are available.

Figure 6.3a: Right-click Menu for Update Manager

Selecting "Start the Update Manager" from the right-click menu will open Update Manager so that you can review the available update(s).

Figure 6.3b shows a screenshot of Update Manager:

Figure 6.3b: Update Manager

If any updates are available, they will be listed; if your system is fully up-to-date, there won't be any entries.

If you hover over a listed update, a pop-up menu will provide some details about the update.

To install an update, check the update(s) that you wish to install and click the "Install selected updates" button. You can watch the update's progress as seen in Figure 6.3c:

Figure 6.3c: Installing a System Update

If the update requires a reboot, you will be notified to do so after the update has been installed. If a reboot is needed, clicking the OK button at the informational message won't reboot the system. Update Manager won't automatically reboot, meaning you can continue to use your computer for other tasks while the system is being updated. Finish whatever you are doing and reboot the computer at a time that is convenient for you.

You can see which updates are available, which have been ignored, and which have been installed by looking at the contents of those subdirectories within /var/db/pc-updatemanager. Each update ends in a .upd extension. A .upd file contains information about the update, as seen in the following example:

NEED MORE RECENT EXAMPLE

more /var/db/pc-updatemanager/installed/9-STABLE-20120418/updatemanager-20120528.upd 
Name: Update Manager Bugfixes
Date: 05-28-2012
MD5: 0a29079b94b2f3f1b1e105e6f67c786a
Size: 1
Mirror: ftp://ftp.pcbsd.org/pub/
FileURL: /system-updates/noarch/updatemanager-20120528.txz
StandAlone: NO
RequiresReboot: NO
DetailsURL: http://www.pcbsd.org/content/view/75/30/