Installation of software updates are very important in every operating system.
Either it is Linux mint or Windows, updates are very necessary to keep yourself safe from malicious attackers and bugs that could break your system.
Updating software allows you to enjoy the latest features and prevents others from exploiting you based on the bugs in the previous versions.
Outdated systems become slow and unresponsive over time. The best thing about using Linux mint is that unlike windows it does not give you GBs of updates but instead the updates are usually very low in size.
This depends on what software you have installed because you can receive updates for all installed software directly from the systems update manager.
These updates also includes update to the latest linux kernal which is the core of the system. Updating the kernal can fix several bugs related to hardware problems.
Lets now proceed to installing updates on Linux mint.
To install Updates on Linux mint open Update Manager from the menu or click on the Update icon in the system tray.
Here you can all available Updates. To check the packages that will be installed. Select a software and click on Packages and to view whats changed in the new version check Changelog
You can also ignore specific updates. Select a package, right click and select “Ignore the current update for this package” if you want to skip this update. To skip all updates of this package and never update it select “Ignore all future updates for this package“.
Click on “Install Updates” to start updating the selected packages. You can also click on refresh to check if more updates are available.
Fill in your password to authenticate and click Authenticate.
Now the updates will be downloaded, this will take time depending on your internet connectivity and update size.
Once its finished updating the packages, you will receive a confirmation that your “System is up to date“.
Upgrade from Terminal
To upgrade packages from the terminal use this command.
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
This command tells Apt to first update the cache then download and install all available updates.
If you see the same message as me that says there are packages on my system that are no longer required. Then use this command to remove them.
sudo apt autoremove
Update manually
Some software can not be installed from repositories and are installed through other ways like a Deb file or Appimage and needs to be updated manually. This includes the software that you have not downloaded from the Software center or using the terminal.
To update Appimage file you need to download the latest version of it from its official website and run it.
To update a deb file that you installed manually and can not be updated from the software manager follow this guide.
Also Read: Install Wine on Linux – A complete guide
Check if an update is available, either through the software itself or visit its website to check.
Now download the latest version of the software that you want to update, from the place you downloaded the software previously.
Now open the file that you just downloaded, you can see that it is not saying that you have previously installed the same package. This is because the installed version is outdated.
Install this version will replace the older version and you will have up-to-date package.
Read how to install software in linux mint to know more about the installation instructions.
That is it for this article leave down your opinions in the comments below.