• Zeth0s@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    His dad just needs to put a password when asked. It’s a 6-years-old kid task updating on most Linux distro.

    • itsraining@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      9 months ago

      That would be true if:

      1. A GUI software center is used (or if the said dad is comfortable with an interactive console application)
      2. The said dad actually realizes the importance behind updates. From my experience, many people don’t.

      So, unless both of above are true, the dad will never (want to) update his system because “it works as is”, sticking to old versions of software, never receiving bugfixes and neglecting security.

      • Zeth0s@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        Most distro nowadays come with a gui to update. A pop up window appears asking if you want to update/upgrade. You can press “yes” and the password of the sudoer or admin user is asked. It has been like this for over a decade. For popular distros as Ubuntu or fedora over 15 years

        Is it different for your distro?

        • itsraining@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          9 months ago

          Yes, probably because I stick with Arch and Slackware plus a lightweight environment. The only time I saw such a GUI was when I tried out Elementary just for fun.

          What I consider a problem is that the user can simply dismiss or disregard the updates notification indefinitely. I know many non-tech-savvy people who do not understand the importance of updates, so they would be inclined to do exactly that. That is why unattended upgrades are probably a better option in such cases.

          • Zeth0s@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            9 months ago

            The process is so simple that there is no reason to not do it. My wife is non-tech person, I installed ubuntu on her laptop and she’s very happy because it’s faster than windows. I have never updated it for her. She does it. Only thing I have done is the upgrade to a new ubuntu release

      • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
        cake
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        9 months ago

        You’re a wise (wo)man. That is exactly the case. I’ve shown him how to do it in the GUI but he doesn’t care to because, like you said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

        • itsraining@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          9 months ago

          Thank you for answering. I can relate to manually updating my parents’ systems once in a while but at this point I’m seriously considering unattended upgrades (updating over SSH is also a good idea).

          • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
            cake
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            9 months ago

            NP, I don’t consider it a big issue, I kick it off whenever I’m there and it takes about 10 minutes.