Why the command "sudo apt upgrade" does not upgrade all concerned softwares?

[spider_Leo]

Hi everybody,

I'm not a professional (MX) Linux user and I wanted to understand the "sudo apt upgrade" command.
I thought this terminal command will install the last version of the available (installed) programms.
But it seems this only occurs for dedicated software.

How to set this behaviour to AUTOMATICALLY upgrade the version of further applications.

For example the software Blender can be install using the Package Manager, but currently, it's still the version 3.4.1 although the version 3.6 TLS is already released (since June 27th, 2023).

Can someone explain me why the versions are not up-to-date
And how to configure it to occur automatically and not manually?

Thanks

[Charlie Brown]

Blender is coming directly from Debian repos and 3.6.2 is available for Sid. 3.4.1 is available for Bookworm (which current MX is based on) ...

Shortly: Upgrade will upgrade only those available in current repos (your enabled sources)...

[timkb4cq]

Unlike Windows, linux distributions like MX Linux install programs from our repositories, not from each individual software provider.
In particular MX Linux is based on the Debian Stable repository. To have a stable system suitable for infrastructure Debian Stable updates packages for serious bugs and vulnerabilities - not just because a new version in released. We at MX have a number of updated packages on that stable base, but we will never have the latest of every program.
If you want the latest/greatest packages right away, MX is not the distro for you. Arch or Manjaro will have more updates sooner. And a system that needs more care. We care more about stability, reliability, and ease of use.

[asqwerth]

On a slightly off-tangent note,

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sudo apt upgrade

will only upgrade all the packages in enabled repos THAT DO NOT REQUIRE additional packages to be installed/removed as a result of upgrading said packages. So it will leave un-upgraded in your system, packages whose upgrade will require other packages to be installed (from the enabled repos) or removed in order for the package upgrade to go through.

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sudo apt full-upgrade

will upgrade all the packages in enabled repos, including any that will pull in additional packages or remove some package.

It would be helpful for you to read:

https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian

so that you don't start enabling incompatible repos to try to get newer package versions than is possible on a Debian Stable system.

[Dennis-TW]

don't start enabling incompatible repos to try to get newer package versions than is possible on a Debian Stable system.

Adding to that, we should mention that the use of Flatpak packages does offer the possibility of using newer package versions with a fairly low (?) risk of breaking things.

And circling back to the topic itself

For example the software Blender can be install using the Package Manager, but currently, it's still the version 3.4.1 although the version 3.6 TLS is already released (since June 27th, 2023).

Blender 3.6.5 is available from the Flatpak tab in MXPI.

[asqwerth]

good point, @Dennis-TW

You're right that there is a low risk of breaking things with flatpaks.

At worst, the flatpak app that was installed simply won't work.

[Stevo]

Speaking of Blender, the Sid version has still not migrated to Debian Testing, which usually indicates it has at least one issue preventing that.

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blender (3.6.2+dfsg-2) unstable; urgency=medium

  * debian/: drop OpenCOLLADA support (Closes: #1051327)

 -- Matteo F. Vescovi <mfv@debian.org>  Wed, 06 Sep 2023 20:26:29 +0200