Updating instantOS

To update the whole instantOS system, open a terminal and run:

ins update

This updates system packages and the other instantOS-managed components described below. To update only packages from the official repositories and the AUR, run yay instead. Both commands may ask for your root password and confirmation before installing package updates.

Just like with any other Linux distro, you can continue using your computer while installing updates. Updates to some instantOS components will however require a restart to become visible.

INFO

"You don't need to restart Linux after an update" does not apply to desktops. You can use your computer without restarting, but things will get buggy or break. This is not an instantOS specific issue, that is just how graphical desktops work, if Vulkan does not work, then you might have forgotten to restart after an update.

ins update

The legacy instantupdate package has been replaced by the update command built into instantCLI. Run ins update in a terminal to update the entire system, including pacman packages, config files and anything else which is found to be outdated. Most of the work here is being done by topgrade as a universal updater, with some instantOS specific additions. If topgrade is not installed yet, ins update installs it first.

In the current instantCLI implementation, ins update also:

• updates managed dotfiles
• syncs game saves
• checks for updates to the ins binary itself

Related commands:

# Update only the CLI binary
ins self-update

# Re-apply non-persistent desktop settings after login
ins settings apply

See ins CLI for the broader command reference.