aktualizr-lite

The default OTA client shipped with the Linux microPlatform is aktualizr-lite. This client is a build variant of the Aktualizr project. It is targeting users who wish to have the security aspects of TUF but do not want the complexity of Uptane.

../../_images/aktualizr-lite.png

There are two modes aktualizr-lite supports.

Daemon Mode (Default)

This is the default mode of aktualizr-lite in the Linux microPlatform. It is a systemd service, which is enabled by default on Community Factory images. Additionally, the daemon will only be enabled in a Personal or Enterprise factory after lmp-device-register has sucessfully registered your device. The daemon will periodically check for new updates, and apply them when found.

To disable daemon mode:

sudo systemctl disable aktualizr-lite

To enable daemon mode:

sudo systemctl enable aktualizr-lite

To restart the daemon:

sudo systemctl restart aktualizr-lite

To stop the daemon:

sudo systemctl stop aktualizr-lite

To view the daemon logs:

sudo journalctl -f -u aktualizr-lite

Manual Mode

If you have disabled daemon mode, you can use aktualizr-lite manually from the command line to fetch updates and apply them. Manual mode can be useful for debugging, testing, or demoing a device.

Note

Manual mode will require you to reboot your device to apply an update.

View Current Status

You can run sudo aktualizr-lite status to view the current status of the device.

Fetch and List Updates

This command will refresh the targets metadata from the OTA server, and present you with a list of available targets which can be applied.

sudo aktualizr-lite list

Apply Latest Update

This command will apply the latest available update to the device. This includes both OSTree and Docker app targets.

sudo aktualizr-lite update

Apply Specific Update

If you would like to update to a specific build number, you can use the following command.

sudo aktualizr-lite update --update-name <build_number>

Note

This can only be performed when the original and update targets are under the same tag. In case the update is tagged differently, it is required to switch tags before running this command.

Configuration

Configuration update methods

  • Editing /var/sota/sota.toml on a device
  • Adding or editing an existing configuration snippet e.g. /etc/sota/conf.d/z-50-fioctl-01.toml on a device
  • Running fioctl from any host fioctl devices config <device>, see Configuring Devices for more details

Parameters

The following are aktualizr-repo’s configuration parameters that can be useful to play with, the presented values are the default one.

[uptane]
# Target/Update check-in interval
polling_sec = 300

[pacman]
# A comma separated list of Compose Apps to update
compose_apps = ""

# Compose Apps root directory
compose_apps_root = "/var/sota/compose-apps"

# Prune/Delete unused docker containers and images
docker_prune = "1"

# A comma separated list of Tags to look for in Targets that should be applied to a given device
tags = "master"

# The param instructs aktualizr-lite to (re-)create App containers of a new Target just before reboot if set to "1" (default).
# If the param is set to "0" then the App containers are (re-)created just after a successful boot on a new ostree version during aklite startup.
create_containers_before_reboot = "0"

# A percentage of an available storage that can be used by Compose Apps.
# aktualizr-lite checks whether there is enough storage available before performing OTA update of Compose Apps.
# min(sizeof(AppsV_N+1) - sizeof(AppsV_N), 0)  <  <available_storage> * <storage_watermark>/100
# By default, if the configuration param is not specified, it is set to "80".
storage_watermark = "60" (set to "80" if not specified)

[logger]
# Set log level 0-5 (trace, debug, info, warning, error, fatal)
loglevel = 2

[bootloader]
# A command to invoke after an ostree repo update in order to reboot a system and apply the update
reboot_command = "/bin/true"