How to Enable or Disable Automatic Updates on Ubuntu Linux

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to enable automatic updates in Ubuntu.

Setting up a Ubuntu server to update automatically sounds good. The question is, how does one accomplish it?

To keep your data and server secure, it’s recommended that you routinely update your servers. Ubuntu is no different. You leave your servers open to hackers and intruders without installing security patches or software updates.

If you don’t install these updates, your system may be vulnerable to hackers and intruders. Manually updating your Ubuntu server can be time-consuming and tedious.

Therefore, enabling automatic updates ensures that your system stays up-to-date with the latest security patches and software updates without you having to worry about it.

Install the Ubuntu Auto Upgrade Package

You must install its upgrade/update package to configure Ubuntu to update automatically. To do that, run the commands below.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unattended-upgrades

Configure Ubuntu to automatically update

After installing the package above, please navigate to the file below and open it with your favorite editor.

sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades

Then, look for the lines below and adjust them according to your needs

// Automatically upgrade packages from these (origin:archive) pairs
Unattended-Upgrade::Allowed-Origins {
       "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-security";
     "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-updates";
    "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-proposed";
     "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-backports";
};

If you wish to block other packages from updating automatically, configure the section below:

// List of packages to not update (regexp are supported)
Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist {
 "vim";
 "libc6";
// "libc6-dev";
// "libc6-i686";
};

You can configure other parameters, like automatically rebooting the server after installing. Remove the double slashes // on each line to enable a particular setting.

Save the file when you’re done.

Finally, please navigate to the file below and open it with your favorite editor.

sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10periodic

Then, edit the lines as shown below.

APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1";
APT::Periodic::Download-Upgradeable-Packages "1";
APT::Periodic::AutocleanInterval "7";
APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "1";

Save the file, and you’re done.

This is how you configure Ubuntu to install updates automatically

Enjoy!