Linux Updater

Check and install system updates from the bar on any major Linux distribution. One click runs the whole upgrade in the background: polkit asks for your password, the panel shows a live log tail and a progress bar, finished runs land on a history strip — with rollback where the distribution supports it. The right package-manager backend is picked automatically from /etc/os-release.

Features

• Background updates. The run is spawned detached (it survives a shell restart), fully non-interactive, logged to a file the panel tails live with a progress bar; the bar widget shows a percentage. On success: notification and an automatic re-check. A failed run keeps its log on screen and offers an interactive Retry in terminal fallback.
• Update history with rollback. Every finished run becomes a segment on the history strip (hover for date and size, click for the package list). On Arch, single packages or whole runs roll back from the package cache — dependencies from the same run travel along, and pacman refuses anything that would break other packages. On Fedora a whole run is undone with dnf history undo. A second click confirms every rollback.
• Ignore management. Every package row has an ignore button; ignored packages live in an expandable section with restore buttons. The system's own mechanisms (IgnorePkg, apt-mark hold) are detected and shown with a tag explaining where they are managed. The plugin list is honored during updates (--ignore/--exclude/hold/lock per backend).
• One polkit password per run. pkexec normally re-authenticates every package-manager call; the panel offers to install a narrow keep-authorization rule (one confirmed click) so a single password covers the whole run.
• Self-fixing setup. When something the plugin relies on is missing or off (the polkit rule, apt's list-refresh timers), the panel says so and offers a one-click, one-confirmation fix. Nothing is ever changed silently.
• Extras. Download-size estimate and Arch news (pacman backend), AUR via paru/yay, Flatpak on every backend, reboot recommendation with the best available method per distribution, desktop notifications, launcher quick actions (/up), full log in a terminal pager.

Plugin

Field	Value
ID	umedbazarov/linux-updater
Entries	Bar widget: widget; panel: panel; service: service; launcher: launcher
Launcher Prefix	/up

Backends and capabilities

	pacman (Arch, Manjaro, …)	dnf (Fedora)	apt (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, …)	zypper (openSUSE)	xbps (Void)	PackageKit (fallback)
Check without root	✓	✓	✓ (via apt timers)	✓ (via autorefresh)	✓	✓
Background update	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Old→new versions in the list	✓	✓	✓	✓	new only	new only
Download size estimate	✓	—	—	—	—	—
Rollback	per package / per run, from the package cache	whole run, dnf history undo	—	— (use snapper)	—	—
System ignore shown	IgnorePkg	—	apt-mark hold	—	—	—
Plugin ignore honored on update	--ignore	--exclude	hold for the run	lock for the run	hold for the run	display only
Distribution news	Arch news feed	—	—	—	—	—
AUR layer	✓ (paru/yay)	—	—	—	—	—
Reboot detection	kernel modules	needs-restarting	/var/run/reboot-required	zypper needs-rebooting	kernel modules	kernel modules

Flatpak checking and updating works on every backend. NixOS is not supported by design (see nix-monitor instead); Gentoo has no backend yet — the backend interface in backends/ is open for contributions.

Requirements

• The distribution's own package manager, on PATH: pacman + pacman-contrib (Arch family), dnf (Fedora), apt-get (Debian family), zypper (openSUSE), xbps-install (Void), or pkcon (PackageKit) as the generic fallback. Only the one matching your distribution is needed; the panel says what is missing.
• pkexec (polkit) with an authentication agent — Noctalia's built-in agent works out of the box. Not needed for the PackageKit backend, which uses its own polkit policies.
• sh, awk, sed, tail, test, uname — base tools on any install.
• Optional: paru/yay (AUR, Arch family), flatpak, xdg-open, sudo + a terminal emulator for the Retry in terminal fallback.

Usage

Add the widget bar widget from Noctalia's widget picker. Left click opens the panel, right click checks for updates now. You can also open the panel directly:

noctalia msg panel-toggle umedbazarov/linux-updater:panel

The panel lists pending packages by source (system manager, AUR, Flatpak). Each package row has an ignore button, a copy button and an open button. Update starts the background run: pkexec raises the polkit dialog, everything else is non-interactive; the package list gives way to a live log tail with a progress bar, the bar widget shows a percentage, and the run survives a shell restart. When it ends you get a notification and an automatic re-check; a failed run keeps its log on screen and offers Retry in terminal.

The strip at the bottom is the update history: one segment per run, hover for the date, click for the run's package list. Where the backend supports rollback (see the matrix), packages or whole runs can be rolled back from there — a second click confirms, and the package manager refuses any transaction that would break dependencies.

If the system needs a one-time setup step (polkit keep-authorization rule so one password covers a run; apt timers for fresh package lists), the panel says so and offers to fix it with one confirmed click. Nothing is ever changed silently.

Type /up in the launcher for quick actions or /up <text> to fuzzy-search pending packages.

Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
backend	select	auto	Package-manager backend; auto-detected from /etc/os-release.
aur_helper	select	auto	AUR helper (Arch family only): auto/yay/paru/custom/off.
aur_check_cmd	string	(empty)	Custom AUR check command when aur_helper is custom.
flatpak_enabled	bool	true	Also check and update Flatpak.
ignore_packages	string_list	(empty)	Packages excluded from the count and skipped on update (see matrix for the mechanism per backend).
auto_check_hours	int	0	Check automatically every N hours; 0 never.
notify_on_updates	bool	true	Desktop notification when updates are found.
show_download_size	bool	true	Show the download estimate where the backend supports it.
check_arch_news	bool	true	Arch news feed (pacman backend only).
check_reboot_needed	bool	true	Flag when a reboot is recommended.
rollback_auto_ignore	bool	false	After a rollback, add the rolled-back packages to the plugin ignore list.
hide_setup_hints	bool	false	Hide the one-time setup suggestions.
hide_polkit_hint	bool	false	Hide the polkit keep-authorization rule suggestion.
log_lines	int	14	Log lines shown during a run (6–30).
terminal	string	(empty)	Terminal for the fallback; empty uses Noctalia's detection.
update_cmd	string	(empty)	Full override for the background update command.

IPC

noctalia msg plugin umedbazarov/linux-updater:service all check
noctalia msg plugin umedbazarov/linux-updater:service all update
noctalia msg plugin umedbazarov/linux-updater:service all update_terminal
noctalia msg plugin umedbazarov/linux-updater:service all dismiss
noctalia msg plugin umedbazarov/linux-updater:service all ignore:NAME
noctalia msg plugin umedbazarov/linux-updater:service all unignore:NAME

Notes

• Commands spawned. Per backend, listed in backends/*.luau (each file documents its own commands): the distribution's check command unprivileged; the update through pkexec <manager> (or PackageKit's own polkit path), detached, logged to <data>/update.log and followed with tail; flatpak list/remote-ls/update; pactree/rpm/apt-mark/ zypper locks/xbps-pkgdb where the matrix says so.
• Privileges. Escalation only through polkit, only for package-manager binaries; the optional keep-authorization rules (shipped in polkit/, installable from the panel with one confirmed click) are scoped to those binaries for active local sessions. pacman.conf, apt or zypper configuration files are never edited.
• Files written. Only in the plugin data directory: update.log, runs.json (history), ignore.json, news_state.json, run_meta.json, a staged polkit rule and its install marker — plus /etc/polkit-1/rules.d/49-linux-updater-<pm>.rules when you explicitly click the install button.
• Network. Whatever the corresponding manual check/upgrade would contact, plus the Arch news feed (pacman backend, every 6 h).

Testing status

Honest coverage, so expectations are set right:

• Arch (pacman backend): fully exercised on a real system — background updates including AUR builds, per-package rollback and roll-forward from the cache, ignore management, the polkit rule install, history, resume after a shell restart.
• dnf / apt / zypper / xbps / PackageKit: command layers verified in containers on real package managers — including the full upgrade → dnf history undo cycle on Fedora and apt's hold semantics — and every parser runs against recorded real-output fixtures in CI-able tests.
• Not yet verified by anyone: live polkit dialogs and the full UI on non-Arch distributions (containers cannot reproduce a polkit session), the dnf4 output branch (fixtures cover dnf5), Debian-specific deviations from Ubuntu. Treat non-Arch backends as beta — the capability matrix above is enforced in code, so the worst case is a missing feature, not a broken system.

I would be genuinely glad to see this tested on other package managers and distributions — Fedora, Ubuntu/Debian/Mint, openSUSE, Void, anything with PackageKit. Feedback and bug reports on GitHub are very welcome: please open an issue in community-plugins with [linux-updater] in the title, and mention your distribution and the backend the panel shows.

Credits

Grown out of arch-updater (yuuto, MIT), generalized to a backend architecture.

License

MIT.