Server Updates – How Do Software Updates Work?

aptserverupdates

I would like to know how software updates work for my Ubuntu Server 10.10.

I have been recommended to use apt-get install for installing new software and apt-get update for updating software for a Ubuntu Server in production use. Because these packages are tested for Ubuntu in contrast to download source code and compile the software on the box.

But on my Ubuntu Server 10.10, I don't get the latest stable version of PostgreSQL (9) or the latest stable version of Nginx (8) using apt-get install. So how is this working, will these software be updated when I later run apt-get update or do I have to later run apt-get install again, or do I have to wait for the next release of Ubuntu to get them?

And are patches and security updates managed in the same way? Or can they be updated automatically? If there is such a setting, how do I check what my system is using?

Best Answer

Ubuntu has a policy where (usually) only small security fixes to programs will be updated in the Ubuntu repositories (that you access through apt-get).

This is to ensure maximum stability in production enivronments - this is particularly important on servers. This means you won't see version updates to software such as PostgreSQL and Nginx until Ubuntu Server 11.04 is released.

You can find out information on the Ubuntu wiki about Stable Releases Updates.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to set up PHP with Nginx, APC and PostgreSQL

Starting from Ubuntu 10.10 this is trivial with the new php5-fpm package

The following packages do everything you need

nginx - the webserver
php5-fpm - Fast-CGI php server
php-apc - The APC package for php
php5-pgsql - PostgreSQL module for PHP
postgresql - The PostgreSQL database server

All together sudo apt-get install nginx php5-fpm php-apc php5-pgsql postgresql

Also I suggest to check whether apache2 is installed. If so, delete it with an sudo apt-get remove apache2 to avoid apache and nginx competing for port 80.

Note also that xdebug standard also wants to use port 9000, just like php5-fpm. So if you use xdebug, change that port for example to 9001

And as bonus an example nginx configuration (place it in /etc/nginx/sites-available and symlink it into /etc/nginx/sites-enabled)

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name site.com;
  access_log /data/log/www/site.com/access.log;
  error_log /data/log/www/site.com/error.log;

  root /data/www_data/site.com/public;
  index index.php;

  location = /favicon.ico {
    empty_gif;
    #return 204;
  }

  location ~ \.php$ {
    include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
  }
}

Software Updates – Fix Software Updater Says No Updates Available but apt-get Shows Updates

StableReleaseUpdates will no longer appear in update-manager at the same time for all machines. Instead a subset of machines will be selected at random to receive the update first. The update will only be made available to everyone if there are no serious regressions encountered by the first set of users. There is still a testing process completed by Ubuntu developers before any users receive the update.

Source: PhasedUpdates and Brian’s Blog.

If you update via the terminal, you bypass the phased update system and will get all updates as soon as they're released. Read the comments in Brian's Blog for how to opt out of phased updates if you wish.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to set up PHP with Nginx, APC and PostgreSQL

Software Updates – Fix Software Updater Says No Updates Available but apt-get Shows Updates

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