5

I am on a metered internet service and want to control when automatic updates are done. Most postings (e.g. How do I turn off automatic updates COMPLETELY and FOR REAL?) suggest either:

cdonham@Axon:~$ cat /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades
APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "0";
APT::Periodic::Download-Upgradeable-Packages "0";
APT::Periodic::AutocleanInterval "0";
APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "0";

or

enter image description here

I am still getting notices that new software is available. Note that it is not installing the software, it is just notifying me every morning that I have new software to install. So it is clearly still checking repositories for new packages. See:

enter image description here

Other relevant data:

  • I have tried installing the updates it wants to do, but the next morning, there are more updates it wants to install.
  • I have tried rebooting the computer to make sure all relevant services are referring to the updated files.
  • I have DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS"

UPDATE:

My question is:

  1. It is clearly still checking repositories (and I don't know what else). I am trying to limit bandwidth because I am on a metered internet service (rural). How do I make it stop? (I thought "Automatically check for Updates --> Never" would mean don't check the repository for updates).
  2. Since I am not installing updates regularly, there are always updates to install. How do I make it stop prompting me to install updates?

Do I really have to resort to "apt remove" as the post references?
(seems awfully extreme to have to remove the packages)

Christopher Donham
  • 151

2 Answers2

4

Two additional ways to disable unattended/automatic updates/upgrades:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure unattended-upgrades

Then when prompted to automatically download and install stable updates - select “No”

Or

sudo apt remove unattended-upgrades

The 2nd method worked for me on 22.04

Optionwiz
  • 147
-1

Back in the olden days, when dial-up connection over phone lines was how we accessed internet, I would just disconnect when I wasn't using it. I think if I were on a metered connection that's what I would do now. Not only would that guarantee no automatic checking for updates, it would guarantee no unwanted Internet traffic at all. Is that something you can do?

MDeBusk
  • 1,386