Securing the system by keeping it up-to-date

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This section explains:

Why it is important to keep your system up-to-date

This section briefly explains the importance of updating your system on a regular basis.

All software contains bugs. Often, these bugs can result in a vulnerability that can expose your system to malicious users. Packages that have not been updated are a common cause of computer intrusions. Implement a plan for installing security patches in a timely manner to quickly eliminate discovered vulnerabilities, so they cannot be exploited.

Manual updating using GUI

This section describes how to manually download and install new updates by using GUI.

Procedure

  1. Hover the cursor over the upper-left corner of the screen and type "Software" and select the Software application to open it.

  2. Click the Updates button.

  3. After the updates are downloaded click the Restart & Update button.

Updating by using the Software application

Manual updating using CLI

This section describes how to manually download and install new updates by using the DNF package manager.

Procedure

Use the following commands as the root user or under the sudo utility.

  • Upgrade the system:

    # dnf upgrade

    Confirm to download the available packages.

Additional Resources

  • The dnf(8) manual page

Setting automatic updates

This section describes how to use the DNF Automatic application to automatically:

  • Download and install any new updates

  • Only download the updates

  • Get notified about the updates

Procedure

Use the following commands as the root user or under the sudo utility.

  1. Install the dnf-automatic package:

    # dnf install dnf-automatic

  2. Edit the /etc/dnf/automatic.conf configuration file as needed. See the DNF Automatic documentation for details.

  3. Enable and start the systemd timer:

    # systemctl enable timer
# systemctl start timer

    Replace timer with one of following ones depending on what action you want to do:

    • dnf-automatic-install.timer to download and install packages

    • dnf-automatic-download.timer to only download packages

    • dnf-automatic-notifyonly.timer to only get a notification using configured emitters in the /etc/dnf/automatic.dnf file.

    For example:

    # systemctl enable dnf-automatic-install.timer
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/basic.target.wants/dnf-automatic-download.timer → /usr/lib/systemd/system/dnf-automatic-download.timer.
# systemctl start dnf-automatic-install.timer

  4. Ensure that the timer has been successfully enabled and started:

    # systemctl status timer

    Replace timer with the timer from the previous step, for example:

    # systemctl status dnf-automatic-install.timer
● dnf-automatic-download.timer - dnf-automatic-download timer
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/dnf-automatic-download.timer; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (waiting) since Thu 2017-12-14 11:33:14 CET; 7s ago

Dec 14 11:33:14 mazlik systemd[1]: Started dnf-automatic-download timer.

Additional Resources

Additional Resources

  • The DNF chapter in the Fedora System Administrator’s Guide