Updates in reForis⚓︎

How Turris OS updates work⚓︎

One of the most important features of Turris devices are automatic system updates. Thanks to this function your router’s software stays up to date and offers better protection against attacks from the Internet. It is highly recommended to have this feature turned on. If you decide to disable it, be warned that this might weaken the security of your router and network in case flaws in the software are found.

If automatic updates are enabled they are downloaded and installed as soon as possible. Each device checks for updates every two hours (with random delays to spread the load of the update servers). These updates may be delayed and/or manually approved.

Some updates require restarts. These restarts are delayed (three days by default) and planned to a specific time of day (3:30 AM by default). The device can be rebooted manually too of course.

Configuration in reForis⚓︎

Updates are configured at Package Management → Update Settings. If you want to disable automatic updates you can uncheck the given checkbox. But doing this is strongly discouraged because you can miss security patches for vulnerabilities – some of them may be exploited remotely.

The default state is that updates are installed as soon as possible. This is usually the best approach but there are situations where you may prefer delayed updates. For example, your device is not exposed to the Internet and provides multiple internal services which must not be affected by eventual bugs in updates.

This can be achieved by switching the radion button to Delayed updates and setting a suitable delay (the default is one hour). The maximum delay is 168 hours (one week).

Even more control can be obtained by switching to Update approval needed. This setting will require that each update will have to be explicitly manually approved. It can be utilized e.g. in the above situation if you want to minimize eventual downtime (in case that something goes wrong you could revert the update immediately).

Automatic restarts can’t be disabled at all but can be delayed (and are always delayed respectively). The maximum delay is 10 days.

When done, press the Save button to save and apply your changes.

Manual updates⚓︎

If you have disabled automatic updates or if you want to install updates before they will be installed automatically you can utilize manual installation. Visit Package Management → Updates and then simply press Check and install updates.

Your device will check for new updates. Eventually found updates will be installed immediately.