Updating Kira
Kira is a rolling release, and staying current is always something you choose to do, never something that happens to you in the background. flux update only ever checks and reports. The actual updates run as separate, explicit commands.
Checking what's available
flux updateThis does two things: it syncs the local recipe repository with the remote one, and it checks whether a newer flux, kira-base, or kernel release exists. If any of them are out of date, it prints a notice telling you which command to run. It never runs an update on its own.
Updating packages
Ordinary packages update the same way they install:
flux install <package>Reinstalling an already-installed package with a newer recipe pulls the newer version. There is no separate "upgrade" command for individual packages.
Updating flux itself
flux self-updateRebuilds flux from the latest release tag and atomically replaces the running binary, keeping a backup of the previous one. flux is a single, self-contained binary, so this is a fast, low-risk operation.
Updating the core system
flux base-updatekira-base, musl, BusyBox, runit, and eudev, cannot rebuild itself from source on an installed system the way flux can, since that would need a cross-compilation toolchain and the kernel source tree, neither of which belongs on an ordinary install. Instead, flux base-update downloads a signed, prebuilt release from the binary cache and applies it according to a manifest that classifies every core file as one of three kinds:
- Live: safe to replace immediately, nothing has it loaded as a continuously running process.
- Restart: replaced immediately, then the owning service is restarted.
- Boot: replaced on disk now, but only takes effect after the next reboot, because it is already running and in memory (runit itself, for example).
flux base-update tells you at the end whether a reboot is required.
Updating the kernel
flux kernel-updateDownloads and verifies the latest signed Shinigami kernel tarball, extracts it, and regenerates the GRUB configuration. Like base-update, this always requires a reboot to take effect, since the running kernel cannot be replaced live.
A sensible update routine
flux updateRead what it tells you, then run whichever of flux self-update, flux base-update, or flux kernel-update it suggests, followed by installing any package updates you want with flux install. None of these steps are required to happen together or on any particular schedule, update as often or as rarely as you like.
Where to go next
- Command Reference, for the full list of flux commands.
- System Overview, for how the core system and flux-managed packages fit together.