Keep the System Up to Date

There are two methods of keeping a KDE Linux system up to date: graphical, and using command-line tools.

Graphical

Updates are done through the Discover software center app. Discover handles both system updates as well as updates for Flatpak-based apps and add-on content.

Discover will notify you when updates are available; just click the notification to launch Discover and see what’s available. On Discover’s Updates page, click Update All when you’re ready to update.

Updates to apps take effect the next time the updated apps are launched, while system updates take effect the next time the machine is restarted.

Command-line

Alternatively, you can update software using command-line tools in a terminal.

Check for Flatpak updates and interactively decide to install them or not using flatpak update.

Check for system updates using updatectl check, and install the latest one with updatectl update. Restart the system to apply the update.

If greater verbosity is needed, or updatectl is not working, use run0 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysupdate update instead. In these cases, record the output and enter it into a bug report at https://invent.kde.org/kde-linux/kde-linux/-/issues/new.

Retaining older versions of the base system

When you update the system, older versions of the KDE Linux base system (but not of the installed apps) are automatically kept, so that in the event of a problem you can roll back to an older version.

To save space, performing a system update will remove older versions as needed — but never the currently-running version. If you perform an update when the currently-running version is the oldest one, the second-oldest version will be removed instead.

Article contributed by under the CC-BY-4.0 license.