Updating system using terminal

[Thwompin]

On Kubuntu 22.04 what terminal commands do I need to fully update my system, in case I don't want to use Discover? I don't mean updating Kubuntu from one version to another, just general updates.

[Beerislife]

sudo pkcon refresh && sudo pkcon update

One command to do it...

[Thwompin]

sudo pkcon refresh && sudo pkcon update

One command to do it...

Is this the same as running
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
?

Does pkcon ignore phased updates?
Ahh so many different methods I see online, it's confusing.

[claydoh]

Pkcon is the commandline version of what Discover is using, and is running apt update and apt full-upgrade, or whatever command is appropriate for the distro.
Pkcon is a handy command, as it can be used on any distro that uses Packagekit (Plasma Discover and Gnome Software), which means you can use this if you forget the commands for each packaging system, if you boot or use multiple distro types.

Phased updates are random, or rather....phased... to users slowly and is random, so sometimes pkcon does and sometimes doesn't see them. Discover usually doesn't show phased stuff, which is appropriate, really. Pkcon can choke on them, in my experience.

Just use apt, which is more informative, which is useful if something goes wrong
If you suspect a 'held' package being phased, simply run apt policy package_name and you can see how much it is being phased.
If you are simply impatient, and want to install any "held" packages that actually are being phased, and aren't being held for other issues, simply use apt to manually install them.

[jglen490]

Pkcon is the commandline version of what Discover is using, and is running apt update and apt full-upgrade, or whatever command is appropriate for the distro.
Pkcon is a handy command, as it can be used on any distro that uses Packagekit (Plasma Discover and Gnome Software), which means you can use this if you forget the commands for each packaging system, if you boot or use multiple distro types.

Phased updates are random, or rather....phased... to users slowly and is random, so sometimes pkcon does and sometimes doesn't see them. Discover usually doesn't show phased stuff, which is appropriate, really. Pkcon can choke on them, in my experience.

Just use apt, which is more informative, which is useful if something goes wrong
If you suspect a 'held' package being phased, simply run apt policy package_name and you can see how much it is being phased.
If you are simply impatient, and want to install any "held" packages that actually are being phased, and aren't being held for other issues, simply use apt to manually install them.

When I get a notice in the tray from Discover, I'll go to my open konsole session and enter the sudo apt update and sudo apt full-upgrade commands. Always. Whether immediately, or within a short time. It's simple, clean, informative, and certain.

[GreyGeek]

^^^^^ This!

[claydoh]

Discover also updates snaps/flatpaks and KDE addons, which pkcon and apt do not touch.

I use whatever is handy. While I normally update manually with apt, if the notification pops up, I use that.
Basically, it updates my flatpak for Cameractrls and my KDE addons, many of which I have forgotten about, are ugly, and i wanted to get rid of anyway

[Thwompin]

Thanks all. I think I will set an alias for
flatpak update ; sudo snap refresh ; sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
If there's something else I should put in there please let me know.

[JeffRedd]

If there's something else I should put in there please let me know.

uCareSystem Core – A Basic Maintenance Tool For Ubuntu And Its Derivatives

How about ucaresystem-core? It works great for me. Here is an interesting article about it.

[oshunluvr]

Discover also updates snaps/flatpaks and KDE addons, which pkcon and apt do not touch.

I use whatever is handy. While I normally update manually with apt, if the notification pops up, I use that.
Basically, it updates my flatpak for Cameractrls and my KDE addons, many of which I have forgotten about, are ugly, and i wanted to get rid of anyway

A recent discovery for me is the Discover updates things like Icon themes but apt does not. Is this what you consider as an "add-on" ?

[claydoh]

Is this what you consider as an "add-on" ?

Yup.
The whole "Plasma Addons" section in this application is from the KDE Store.
Mebbe I should have used the term to match what Discover uses?
Plasma themes, icons, widgets, kwin scripts, SDDM themes, or anything else installed using "Get New" tools, or the KDE Store directly are update-able via Discover.

[TinyTim]

"Pkcon is the commandline version of what Discover is using" -Discover updated my kernel once upon a time on a full-upgrade. It not only bricked the nividia proprietary driver, but also bricked all the previous kernels. What is the best way to recover from that? Remove kernel? Reinstall, use Timeshift backup? or other?

[claydoh]

"Pkcon is the commandline version of what Discover is using" -Discover updated my kernel once upon a time on a full-upgrade. It not only bricked the nividia proprietary driver, but also bricked all the previous kernels. What is the best way to recover from that? Remove kernel? Reinstall, use Timeshift backup? or other?

Roll back seems the easy, obvious choice, and then investigate if other have had the same problems before updating again?

I don't know what "bricked the kernels" means, to be honest. Nvidia drivers seem to hate some people, I think

In any case, in the end, the system's native tools (apt and dpkg here) are still being used to do the installations etc, no matter which other tool is being used.

[TinyTim]

Pkcon is the commandline version of what Discover is using, and is running apt update and apt full-upgrade, or whatever command is appropriate for the distro.
Pkcon is a handy command, as it can be used on any distro that uses Packagekit (Plasma Discover and Gnome Software), which means you can use this if you forget the commands for each packaging system, if you boot or use multiple distro types.

Phased updates are random, or rather....phased... to users slowly and is random, so sometimes pkcon does and sometimes doesn't see them. Discover usually doesn't show phased stuff, which is appropriate, really. Pkcon can choke on them, in my experience.

Just use apt, which is more informative, which is useful if something goes wrong
If you suspect a 'held' package being phased, simply run apt policy package_name and you can see how much it is being phased.
If you are simply impatient, and want to install any "held" packages that actually are being phased, and aren't being held for other issues, simply use apt to manually install them.

I updated using Discover once and it wanted to add a new kernel (Nvidia)... *full upgrade* 470 (52) to a (53) (56) (without Nvidia proprietary) if I remember correct.

I tried to find a option to stop that type of upgrade and could not find one. I used Muon from then forward, which did give me a option to block that upgrade.

One day I was feeling bold and wondered what if I allowed Discover to do this upgrade would I still be able to use the Nvidia proprietary driver?, It did not. A Nvidia proprietary was not available for that version and the Neaveu driver left me with one resolution choice, and no option to install the Nvidia proprietary driver. (Discover did warn me that it could be a problem, once early on)

My question is do you know a way to stop Discover from making such upgrades? (knowledge is limited on how this kernel/GPU driver are compiled/integrated) I did have a backup, but I reinstalled the Ubuntu Studio 22.04 (low latency) system, and started using the terminal for upgrades.

Thank you for teaching us about this.