Linux Mint Devs Unveil New Notification System for Updates

Linux Mint Updates

The Linux Mint devs announced today the conclusion to the issue with users not updating their systems or running older version of Linux Mint through the implementation of a new notification system for updates.

A couple of months ago, the Linux Mint devs discovered that many Linux Mint users don’t regularly update their installations, leaving them vulnerable to attacks, and others run older Linux Mint versions that reached end of life and are no longer receiving updates

Due to this discovery, the Linux Mint team decided to improve the Update Manager utility, which lets you easily install updates on your Linux Mint system, to notify users who don’t apply updates regularly more often.

After receiving some negative feedback from users who didn’t understand the changes that they wanted to implement in Update Manager to make users update their systems on a regular basis, the Linux Mint devs decided to implement a new notification system for updates through a pop-up dialog (just like Ubuntu).

“Although it shows the same information as the tray icon, the notification is more noticeable and creates an opportunity for the user which can either be easily taken or easily dismissed,” said Linux Mint leader Clement Lefebvre.

The new updates notification system will act as a “gentle and welcome reminder” that you have system updates that need to be applied to keep your Linux Mint installation secure. If dismissed, the notification dialog will come back in two (2) days to notify you of updates again. If you decide to apply the updates, the notification won’t be displayed at all for a long while.

Of course, the Linux Mint devs also made the new notification system for updates configurable, so you’ll be able to set when the notification dialog will be displayed or to be displayed only for security and kernel updates. If you don’t condigure it, it will be displayed automatically if a certain update was available for more than 7 days or if it’s older than 15 days, explain the Linux Mint devs.

Furthermore, you’ll be able to set a so-called “grace period” up to 90 days so that the new notification system will no longer display reminder if you’ve applied updates on your computer in the last 30 days. And, of course, you can disable the update notifications completely by disabling automatic checks or the Update Manager itself.

“We hope the default settings will work well for most people and these notifications will be a useful positive experience. The configuration made available is very flexible and should be able to please everybody,” added Clement Lefebvre.

Image credits: Linux Mint

Last updated 3 years ago

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