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 for those who wish to have the security aspects of TUF, but without the complexity of Uptane.

There are two modes aktualizr-lite supports.

Daemon Mode (Default)

This is the default mode of aktualizr-lite in the Linux microPlatform. The daemon will only be enabled in a Factory after lmp-device-register has successfully registered your device. The daemon periodically checks for new updates, and applies 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

Disabling daemon mode is not recommended nor supported, but running aktualizr-lite manually can be useful for debugging, testing, or demoing a device.

Note

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

Note

If aktualizr-lite default daemon mode does not fit your needs, the alternative is to create a Custom Update Agents.

View Current Status

To view the current status of the device:

sudo aktualizr-lite status

Fetch and List Updates

This will refresh the Targets metadata from the OTA server, and present you with a list of available Targets:

sudo aktualizr-lite list

Apply Latest Update

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

sudo aktualizr-lite update

Apply Specific Update

To update to a specific build number:

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.

Warning

Downgrading to a older Target is neither recommended or supported by our team; doing so may lead to unverified corner cases. Only choose to do so mindfully. For any update, always test before rolling out to production devices.

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 devices config <device> from a host. See Configuring Devices for more details.

Parameters

The following are aktualizr-repo’s configuration parameters that can be useful to modify. 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"