How to enable auto updates in Pi24

Modified on Thu, 2 Feb, 2023 at 9:28 AM

Auto updates should always be enabled so that you receive the latest updates and improvements that we release.

To make sure you have auto updates enabled, SSH into your Pi and run the following commands.

sudo sed -i 's/^#//' /etc/cron.d/fr24feed_updater

sudo sed -Ei 's/^#\s*(.+repo.feed.flightradar24.com.+)/\1/g' /etc/apt/sources.list

sudo bash -c "echo 'deb http://repo.feed.flightradar24.com flightradar24 raspberrypi-stable' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"

Here is a more detailed explanation of where it could be disabled or not working for you. If you are interested in finding out, read on, otherwise, auto-updates should already be enabled by running the above commands.

Either the update script has been disabled or the flightradar24 repo has. Use the following two commands to check which one it is.

cat /etc/cron.d/fr24feed_updater
cat /etc/apt/sources.list

The first command should return something like this (the numbers, in the beginning, might be different for you and that is OK)

45 10 * * * root /usr/lib/fr24/fr24feed_updater.sh >> /var/log/fr24feed_update.log 2>&1

The second

deb http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/ buster main contrib non-free rpi
# Uncomment line below then 'apt-get update' to enable 'apt-get source'
#deb-src http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/ buster main contrib non-free rpi
deb http://repo.feed.flightradar24.com flightradar24 raspberrypi-stable

This means everything is OK and you don’t need to do anything.

But if you see a # sign at the beginning of the first output or at the beginning of the flightradar24 repo in the second, it means you have auto updates disabled and you need to remove the #.

#45 10 * * * root /usr/lib/fr24/fr24feed_updater.sh >> /var/log/fr24feed_update.log 2>&1

deb http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/ buster main contrib non-free rpi
# Uncomment line below then 'apt-get update' to enable 'apt-get source'
#deb-src http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/ buster main contrib non-free rpi
#deb http://repo.feed.flightradar24.com flightradar24 raspberrypi-stable

To remove the # run the following 2 commands.

sudo sed -i 's/^#//' /etc/cron.d/fr24feed_updater

sudo sed -Ei 's/^#\s*(.+repo.feed.flightradar24.com.+)/\1/g' /etc/apt/sources.list

If you don’t see "deb http://repo.flightradar24.com…" you need to add FR24 repository. Use this command

sudo bash -c "echo 'deb http://repo.feed.flightradar24.com flightradar24 raspberrypi-stable' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"