apt-up

A comprehensive update script for Debian-based systems, designed to streamline system maintenance. It can be run as an interactive one-shot or install itself with a config file, logging directory, etc. apt-up handles kernel firmware updates, system package upgrades, Flatpak updates, old kernel & header cleanup, and cache management. Built with flexibility and extensibility in mind, it supports colored output, interactive and non-interactive modes, custom pre/post run hooks, and detailed logging.

Features

Firmware Updates: Pulls the latest from linux-firmware via Git (default: GitLab upstream).
System Updates: Runs aptitude full-upgrade for packages.
Flatpak Support: Updates Flatpak apps if installed.
Kernel Cleanup: Removes outdated kernels, keeping the current and previous versions.
Cache Cleaning: Clears apt, apt-get, and aptitude caches.
Extensible via Hooks: Pre, post, and failure hooks in /etc/apt-up.d for customization.
Resource Control: Adjustable nice and ionice for non-interactive runs.
Logging: Optional logs to /var/log/apt-up.log.

Requirements

Debian-based system (e.g. Debian, Mint, Ubuntu, etc.)
Bash (still basically works with 'sh' though).
aptitude (required, auto-installs if missing).
Root privileges (sudo or direct root).
Optional:
- flatpak
- git (for firmware updates).
- ionice (for lower I/O priority in non-interactive mode).

Installation

Download:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cwadge/apt-up/main/apt-up -O apt-up

Or clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/cwadge/apt-up.git
cd apt-up

Make executable:

chmod +x apt-up

(Optional but recommended) Install System-Wide:

sudo mv apt-up /usr/local/sbin/apt-up

Or download + install all at once:

sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cwadge/apt-up/main/apt-up -O /usr/local/sbin/apt-up && sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/sbin/apt-up

Usage

Run interactively:

sudo apt-up

Run non-interactively (e.g., cron):

sudo apt-up --no-interactive

Options

--no-interactive     Run without user interaction
--no-firmware        Skip firmware updates
--no-update-system   Skip system package updates
--no-flatpak         Skip Flatpak updates
--no-kernel-cleanup  Skip removal of old kernels
--no-cache-clean     Skip cleaning package caches
--no-hooks           Skip running hook scripts
--interactive        Run the script in interactive mode
--update-firmware    Update system firmware
--update-system      Update system packages
--update-flatpak     Perform Flatpak updates
--kernel-cleanup     Remove old kernels and headers
--cache-clean        Clean all apt package caches
--run-hooks          Run scripts in hook directories
--install            Create configuration files and hook directories
--help               Display this help message

Configuration

Edit /etc/apt-up.conf (after optional sudo apt-up --install).

Example Run

Here’s what it looks like in action, checking for firmware & system updates, then running a custom hook script:

[INFO] Loading configuration from /etc/apt-up.conf
 ________________________________
/ Running pre-update scripts...  \
\________________________________/
[INFO] Running pre hooks
 ________________________________
/ Exporting global variables...  \
\________________________________/
[INFO] Exporting: IGNORE_CC_MISMATCH=1
[INFO] Exporting: GE_PROTON_TARGET=/home/gamer_account/.steam/steam/compatibilitytools.d
 ________________________________
/ Checking for updated files...  \
\________________________________/
Hit http://deb.xanmod.org releases InRelease
Hit https://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security InRelease
Hit https://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease
Hit https://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates InRelease
Hit https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com stable InRelease
Hit https://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports InRelease
Hit https://repo.steampowered.com/steam stable InRelease
Hit https://www.deb-multimedia.org bookworm InRelease
Hit https://www.deb-multimedia.org bookworm-backports InRelease
Hit https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/strycore/Debian_12 ./ InRelease

 ________________________________
/ Updating files if necessary... \
\________________________________/
No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B of archives. After unpacking 0 B will be used.

 ________________________________
/ Updating flatpak packages...   \
\________________________________/
Looking for updates…

Nothing to do.
 ________________________________
/ Cleaning out the apt cache...  \
\________________________________/
[INFO] Finished cleaning cache.
 ________________________________
/ Purge old kernels & headers... \
\________________________________/
[INFO] Current running kernel: 6.15.5-x64v3-xanmod1
[INFO] Latest installed kernel: 6.15.5-x64v3-xanmod1
[INFO] Current kernel is latest, keeping: 6.15.5-x64v3-xanmod1 and previous: 6.15.4-x64v3-xanmod1
[INFO] Keeping headers for kernel 6.15.4-x64v3-xanmod1: linux-headers-6.15.4-x64v3-xanmod1
[INFO] Keeping headers for kernel 6.15.5-x64v3-xanmod1: linux-headers-6.15.5-x64v3-xanmod1
[INFO] No old kernels or headers to remove.
 ________________________________
/ Updating kernel firmware...    \
\________________________________/
[INFO] Checking for firmware updates...
remote: Total 0 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
From https://gitlab.com/kernel-firmware/linux-firmware
 * branch            main       -> FETCH_HEAD
HEAD is now at 2208e9f Merge branch 'intel/fan_control_8086_e20b_8086_1100' into 'main'
[INFO] Firmware already up to date.
 ________________________________
/ Syncing buffers out to disk... \
\________________________________/
[INFO] Disk sync completed successfully.
 ________________________________
/ Running post-update scripts... \
\________________________________/
[INFO] Running post hooks
[INFO] Running hook: 50-ge-proton
Checking for GE-Proton updates...
Using overridden Steam directory: /home/gamer_account/.steam/steam/compatibilitytools.d
Latest version: GE-Proton10-8
GE-Proton10-8 already installed at /home/gamer_account/.steam/steam/compatibilitytools.d/GE-Proton10-8
No installation needed.
Cleaning up old GE-Proton versions...
No old versions to clean up.
Done!
 ________________________________
/           Finished.            \
\________________________________/

(Normally output is color-coded, if the terminal supports it.)

Hooks

If you want to extend apt-up's functionality, you can add custom scripts to:

/etc/apt-up.d/pre.d/ (before updates).
/etc/apt-up.d/post.d/ (after updates).
/etc/apt-up.d/fail.d/ (on failure).

NOTE: Scripts with 'critical' in the name (e.g. 00-critical-check.sh) halt execution if they fail.

Run sudo apt-up --install to create these directories (with a sample hook in pre.d).

License

GNU General Public License v2.0 or later (LICENSE) - contributions must remain open-source.

Contributing

You know the drill: fork, open an issue or submit a pull request.

A tool for maintaining Debian-based systems by Chris Wadge

cwadge / apt-up