Update Packages

Upgradable Packages

To view the packages that you are able to upgrade, select the "Upgradable Packages" view from the selector to the left of the search bar. This will bring up a list of the packages where Portage's recommended version differs from the currently installed version. Note that if you have not selected "Upgradeonly" in the "Settings" menu, this may also include packages that will be downgraded to a lower version if they are selected.  Downgrade recommended packages are in red print while upgradeable packages are in blue print


Upon completion of the upgradeables list search it will display four (4) categories of packages.  They are Sets, Dependencies, World and System.  If you have defined and package "Sets" in /etc/portage/sets/  then there will be an expander arrow next to its name.  Expanding it will list all package set names.  Also the number of packages detected as being upgradeable for each package listing is listed next to its category name.  Currently, packages are listed in only one category.  That category is chosen by the following order:

  1. System.  The package is a system package.
  2. Sets.  The package is listed in a /etc/portage/sets/ file.  The order for selection is currently alphabetical.  Sets are currently supported in porthole for portage versions that do not have built-in sets support.  Built-in sets support is part of portage-2.2 and later versions.  Any sets packages will be handled like any other package by portage for any emerge operations.  The "sets" support is only handled by porthole itself.  Pkgcore and Paludis have built-in "sets" support, but this version of porthole cannot be configured to use those package managers for installs.
  3. World.  The package was not chosen for inclusion in any of the previous categories nad is listed in the "world" file.  Note that not all world file packages will be listed.  Packages that fit in any of the previuos categories have been filtered out already and are listed in those categories.
  4. Dependencies.  Any upgradeable package that did not fit any of the previuos categories are listed here.  Any upgrade selections here will have the --oneshot option added to their command to prevent them from being added to your world file.

By default, none of the packages listed will be selected for you. If you wish to select all or none of the available packages, right-click somewhere in the package list and choose "Select All" or "De-Select All".  Individual package selection is done by clicking on each pacgage and clicking on the checkbox to select or de-select that package for update.

When you are happy with the selection of packages to upgrade, clicking the "Upgrade" button in the toolbar will add the selected packages to the Terminal Window's emerge queue, with appropriate emerge options.  The packages sent are only the packages selected in the packages listing being viewed.  It will not add packages from any of the other categories.

"Upgradeable Packages" image


Advanced Upgrades

If you just want to upgrade everything on your system, it is sometimes best to run a custom command instead. Some possibilities are:

    Custom commands can be entered in the "Run Custom Command" dialog which is activated by the "Actions" menu option.  Further information about running custom commands can be found here.


Notes: