Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
In the previous articles in this series we have ascertained that our computer hardware is compatible with Linux, have conducted an initial exploration of the applications that come bundled with Linux Mint 22, and have installed Mint in dual-boot mode alongside Windows on the computer’s hard drive. Now, having booted the computer into Mint from the grub boot menu, our first tasks are to enable the built-in software firewall and to bring the system software and the installed applications up-to-date. Linux Mint comes preinstalled with a firewall, the Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW), but for some reason the developers have chosen not to enable the firewall automatically. This is easily rectified using a one-time operation that activates the firewall and maintains its availability through successive reboots.
Open the main menu, and navigate to Preferences > Firewall Configuration. Enter your Linux password in the pop-up dialogue box. The Firewall control panel now opens. Slide the Status toggle to the right (or simply click on the toggle) to activate the firewall. The grey shield icon will change to display green, white and red stripes, and the drop-down menus for both ‘Incoming: Deny’ and ‘Outgoing: Allow’ items will be activated (below). The latter two rules will be sufficient for most users so, unless you wish to establish specific rules, simply close the firewall window. An icon on the right end of the panel, in the form of a shield, indicates when software updates are available. The icon is small, probably grey, and somewhat inconspicuous. When software updates are available, the icon will stand out by virtue of an orange dot being displayed over the shield (below)
Clicking on this icon opens the Update Manager. The welcome screen recommends setting up system snapshots and applying all updates. System snapshots will back up certain system files and folders but will not back up personal data files. For my purposes, I don’t use these snapshots and instead make regular, full-disk, backup images, along with frequent backups of my dedicated data drive. So, to keep things simple, at least initially, we will take note of the advice regarding system snapshots but not take any action in this regard. Pressing the OK button brings up a second screen where a coloured band asks “Do you want to switch to a local mirror?” The default download location is a Linux Mint server and is perfectly adequate for obtaining updates so that using a local mirror is not required. So, once again, we will maintain the status quo and press the No button. Note that both of these choices can be subsequently changed using Preferences and Snapshots in Update Manager’s Edit menu.
The main window will be populated automatically with a list of updates available for both the Linux system itself and installed applications. By default, all of the available updates are checked for installation. Note that this marks a major difference in the ways in which updates are handled by Windows and Linux. In general, Windows Update will install all updates as and when they become available. In Linux, we are notified that updates are available but have the option to install all the updates, any number of updates, or no updates according to our preference. The other thing to note is that, because actually activating the update process is a manual operation, the updates can be installed when most convenient for the user. Updates are presented in three categories: security patches (shield icon), kernel updates (lightning bolt icon), and software updates (up-arrow icon). Security patches will fix known system vulnerabilities, while kernel and software updates generally provide new features and apply bug fixes. Note that the original recommendation for Update Manager was to apply all of the available updates. For those of us who do not possess detailed knowledge of the inner workings of Linux, this is sound advice and should be followed. So, my practice, and what I recommend to others, is to simply load the Update Manager and press the Install Updates button whenever updates are made available.
Applying available updates is normally straightforward. A pop-up dialogue box requires the user’s password to be entered to authorize the changes. The updates are then downloaded with a progress bar, the download rate, and estimated time to completion, all being displayed in a window labelled Downloading Package Files. A ‘Show individual files’ link allows the details of the files being downloaded to be displayed. A similar window shows the progress on the installation of the updates. Finally, the message ‘Your system is up-to-date’ is displayed. Occasionally, and especially if updates are being made to the kernel, a secondary window will indicate ‘This upgrade will trigger additional changes with a list of packages that are to be installed’. This software is required to fulfill dependencies in the main updates and, once again, all changes should be accepted by pressing the OK button.
Updates to Linux are normally available on a frequent basis; however, the number of individual updates is usually small and installation is very rapid. For example, a recent update on my system consisted of 2 packages, with 3 MB of data to be downloaded and installed, and required 17 seconds for the update process to complete. Furthermore, rebooting is not usually required when updates have been installed. However, this will be necessary occasionally, especially when the kernel has been updated. The good news is that the system will only reboot once (as opposed to what can occur with that other operating system!). Now that our system is fully up-to-date, we can focus on customizing the desktop and installing additional applications to make our Linux system function in the way that suits our specific purposes. So, these will be our next tasks.