Enable automatic updates in Fedora and Debian

linux-autoupdate.md

• Debian
• Fedora ≥ 41

~debian-autoupdate.md

1. Install plugin

   sudo apt install unattended-upgrades

2. Edit package behavior

   Create a new configuration override file and set its contents to the following, changing values to your liking.

   sudo $EDITOR /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/51unattended-upgrades-local

   Unattended-Upgrade::Origins-Pattern {
       "origin=*";
   };
   
   Unattended-Upgrade::Automatic-Reboot "false";
   

   This will upgrade all packages, regardless of which repository they come from. It won't reboot after installing upgrades.

See Debian Reference § 2.7.3: Automatic download and upgrade of packages, /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades and /usr/share/doc/unattended-upgrades/README.md.gz for documentation, defaults, and examples.

~fedora-autoupdate.md

1. Install plugin

   sudo dnf install dnf5-plugin-automatic

2. Edit plugin behavior

   sudo cp /usr/share/dnf5/dnf5-plugins/automatic.conf /etc/dnf/automatic.conf
   sudo $EDITOR /etc/dnf/automatic.conf

   commands.apply_updates can be set to yes to actually install the updates instead of only downloading them
3. Edit timer

   sudo systemctl edit dnf5-automatic.timer

   For example, to make DNF install updates at exactly 1:05 AM every day, you can set the file contents to

   [Timer]
   # Empty string disables the default 6-7 AM update
   OnCalendar=
   OnCalendar=*-*-* 1:05
   RandomizedDelaySec=0

   more systemd timer examples
4. Enable timer

   sudo systemctl enable --now dnf5-automatic.timer

5. Verify timer status

   systemctl status dnf5-automatic.timer
   systemctl list-timers --all dnf5-automatic

Don't edit in /usr/lib/systemd/system/. Changes there might be overwritten by system updates in the future. Only change units in /etc/systemd/system/ or use systemctl edit dnf5-automatic.timer for partial overwrites or change everything in the unit file with edit --full .

Thanks @lightonflux, that issue did affect my system. I applied an override and updated the instructions. My goodness systemd is a hellhole.

I just updated the Fedora Autoupdates docs which i found extremely confusing before - give them a whirl and see if it works for you now https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/autoupdates/. I think you have a few steps in the Fedora version that're unnecessary (simpler to just create your own file vs. editing the timers and copying?). I based this off some suggestions I got on a completely unrelated thread on Reddit (of all places haha).

Your debian instructions are super useful - thank you!

Thank you @nikodunk. Yes, some of the steps I have are optional and only necessary if you want to fine-tune certain aspects of the updates. Otherwise, please correct me if I've missed your point.

• Editing the timer allows you to optionally customize when the updates happen, otherwise they run at 6-7AM each day. In my case, my computer broadcasts video of a birdfeeder when the sun is shining, so the CPU is very loaded with video encoding. I want to run updates at night when there is less of an impact to frame rates and fan noise, rather than at 6-7AM when the sun is sometimes up. This is, of course, personal preference based on each user's needs.
• Copying the plugin config is not strictly necessary, you could always start with an empty file. However, I found copying more helpful because it shows you all possible properties without having to dig around on disk to find the original file each time, as well as the default values of all properties and their documentation comments. You could always trim that file down if you don't need those lines, though.

Overall I found this particular section of the Fedora documentation lacking because it was never updated for the new dnf5-automatic plugin that was introduced with DNF5 in Fedora 41, which is configured differently enough from the older DNF4 variant dnf-automatic that the documentation covers. I have used both plugins, and had to re-learn how to configure the new one based on looking at the configuration and timer files on disk.

Interesting! Yes if you need it to reboot at a specific time, and prefer to have your files pre-populated with configs then that totally makes sense. I prefer an empty config file and to build up.

I'm pretty sure the config format didn't change between dnf5-automatic and dnf-automatic, though? Can't find any reference to them changing online. Edit: wait I see what you mean! The config format hasn't changed, but the pre-configured automatic timers have been removed from dnf5-automatic plugin!! https://dnf5.readthedocs.io/en/latest/changes_from_dnf4.7.html#changes-to-individual-commands. I'll update the Fedora docs to reflect this.