genup

Tool to update the Portage(5) tree, all installed packages, and kernel, under Gentoo Linux.

Description

genup is a utility intended to simplify the process of keeping your Gentoo system up to date. When invoked, it automatically performs the following steps, in order:

• updates Portage tree (and active overlays), and syncs eix(1) (using emaint sync / eix-sync)
• removes any prior emerge(1) resume history (using emaint --fix cleanresume)
• ensures Portage(5) itself is up-to-date (using emerge --oneshot --update portage)
• ensures genup itself is up-to-date (restarting if not) (using emerge --oneshot --update genup)
• updates all packages in the @world set (first using emtee(1), if the matching USE flag is set, and then using emerge --deep --with-bdeps=y --changed-use --update @world)
• removes unreferenced packages (using emerge --depclean)
• rebuilds any external modules (such as those for VirtualBox) (using emerge @module-rebuild --exclude '*-bin')
• rebuilds any packages depending on stale libraries (using emerge @preserved-rebuild)
• updates any old perl(1) modules (using perl-cleaner --all)
• resolves clashing config file changes (in interactive mode) (using dispatch-conf)
• upgrades the kernel if possible (to staging, in /boot) (using buildkernel --stage-only)
• removes unreferenced packages (again) (using emerge --depclean)
• fixes missing shared library dependencies (using revdep-rebuild)
• rebuilds any packages depending on stale libraries (again) (using emerge @preserved-rebuild)
• removes any unused source tarballs (if desired) (using eclean --deep distfiles)
• deploys new kernel from staging (if desired and available) (using buildkernel --copy-from-staging)
• updates environment settings (as a precautionary measure) (using env-update)
• updates eix package metadata (using eix-sync -0)
• runs any custom updaters in /etc/genup/updaters.d

The genup utility can be invoked in non-interative (default) or interactive mode (see the --ask option in the manpage). Non-interactive mode is suitable for use in a scripted invocation, for example as part of a nightly cron(8) job.

Installation

genup is best installed (on Gentoo) via its ebuild, available as part of the sakaki-tools overlay. Full instructions are provided as part of the Sakaki's EFI Install Guide tutorial, on the Gentoo wiki.