Back in the day it was nice, apt get update && apt get upgrade and you were done.

But today every tool/service has it’s own way to being installed and updated:

  • docker:latest
  • docker:v1.2.3
  • custom script
  • git checkout v1.2.3
  • same but with custom migration commands afterwards
  • custom commands change from release to release
  • expect to do update as a specific user
  • update nginx config
  • update own default config and service has dependencies on the config changes
  • expect new versions of tools
  • etc.

I selfhost around 20 services like PieFed, Mastodon, PeerTube, Paperless-ngx, Immich, open-webui, Grafana, etc. And all of them have some dependencies which need to be updated too.

And nowadays you can’t really keep running on an older version especially when it’s internet facing.

So anyway, what are your strategies how to keep sanity while keeping all your self hosted services up to date?

  • Eldaroth@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    4 hours ago

    I run most of my services in containers with Podman Quadlets. One of them is Forgejo on which I have repos for all my quadlet (systemd) files and use renovate to update the image tags. Renovate creates PRs and can also show you release notes for the image it wants you to update to.

    I currently check the PRs manually as well as pulling the latest git commits on my server. But this could also be further automated to one’s liking.