Keep the Distro Up to Date

The REMnux distro can presently run on Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic) and 20.04 (Focal). REMnux will stop supporting Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic) at the end of 2021. If you're not yet using the Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal) version of the distro, migrate to it to continue benefiting from REMnux updates. Use the following command to see which version of Ubuntu you're running: lsb_release -a

Upgrading and Updating the REMnux Distro

Unless you've installed REMnux in the addon mode, the distro disabled automated Ubuntu update mechanisms for the OS. This allows you to control how and when your REMnux system attempts to initiate network connections, and avoids issues when REMnux on an isolated network.

Keep your REMnux system up to date by running the following command once in a while as a regular, non-root user, so you benefit from the latest enhancements. Be sure to first connect the system to the internet.

remnux upgrade

The remnux upgrade command is the way to get the latest REMnux software in most cases. However, even if if the command above tells you, "No upgrades available," you can still refresh your current tools. The following command will make sure that you're running the latest versions of the installed Debian packages and Python modules, without adding adding any new tools to your system:

remnux update

To sum up, the upgrade option updates all the tools and adds new ones that might have been incorporated into the REMnux distro. The update command is a subset, and updates your existing Debian packages and Python modules.

If you're running the REMnux distro in a virtual machine, consider taking a snapshot before upgrading or updating your VM, so you can revert to a good state if something goes wrong.

Issues Upgrading and Updating the REMnux Distro

If you receive an error upgrading or updating the REMnux distro when using the remnux command, first make sure that you're running the command as a regular, non-root user. Also, try rebooting your system and trying the operation again.

If you still run into problems, refresh your APT package database by issuing the following commands, then try the operation again:

sudo apt update
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt --fix-broken install

If the issue persists, diagnose the problem by reviewing the saltstack.log file under /var/cache/remnux/cli in the subdirectory that matches the REMnux state-files version you're installing. Search for the log file for result: false messages and look at the surrounding 5 lines or the 8 lines above each message to see the state file that caused the issue. (grep -i -C 5 'result: false' or grep -i -B 8 'result: false').