05 Configuration

5. Configuration

5.1 Procedure: how to open the settings

1. Click the arrow in the system tray.
2. Click the bs-updater icon with the right button of the mouse.
3. Click "Configure bs-updater".

The settings have two pages: "General" and "Update sources".

5.2 The page "General"

Setting	Type	Default	Function
Check for updates every	1 to 24 hours	6 hours	The interval between two scheduled checks.
When updates are available	on or off	on	Sends a notification when the total is more than zero.
When a manual check finds no updates	on or off	on	Sends a notification when a manual check gives a total of zero.

A scheduled check never sends the second notification. Only a check that the user starts can show the up-to-date state.

5.3 The page "Update sources"

The page has one checkbox for each tool entry. Clear a checkbox to leave the packages of that source alone. bs-updater then does not count them and does not install them.

Group	Checkbox	Default
Repository packages, Arch	pacman	cleared
Repository packages, Arch	paru	selected
AUR packages	paru	selected
RPM packages, Fedora	dnf	cleared
RPM packages, Fedora	nobara-sync	cleared
Debian packages, Debian and Ubuntu	apt	cleared
Flatpak applications and runtimes	flatpak	selected
AppImages	Gear Lever	selected
KDE Plasma 6 plasmoids	plasmoid-updater	cleared
KDE Plasma 6 plasmoids	Restart Plasma after plasmoid updates	cleared

The page shows a warning in three conditions:

• Two selected tools update the same kind of package. The warning names the two tools and the kind of package.
• The user selects no tool. bs-updater then does not check and does not update.
• The user selects plasmoid-updater, but the page cannot find it. The warning tells how to install it, and it has a button that opens the releases page.

The warning does not stop the user. bs-update applies the conflict rule of chapter 3 if the condition stays.

5.4 The configuration file

The widget writes the selection to this file:

~/.config/bs-updater/tools.conf

The widget writes the file at its start and after each change of a checkbox. bs-update reads the file at each run. A run from the widget, a run from the notification and a run from a terminal use the same tools.

The file has one line for each tool entry:

# Written by the bs-updater widget. Change it in the widget settings.
pacman=off
paru-repo=on
paru-aur=on
dnf=off
nobara-sync=off
apt=off
flatpak=on
gearlever=on
plasmoid-updater=off
restart-plasma=off

5.5 The syntax of the configuration file

Rule	Effect
An empty line	The command ignores it.
A line that starts with #	The command ignores it.
name=on, name=true, name=1, name=yes	The command enables the tool.
Any other value	The command disables the tool.
An unknown name	The command shows a warning and ignores the name.

A file that enables no tool is a correct file. bs-updater then does nothing and reports it. This is different from an absent file: without the file, bs-update uses the default selection of chapter 3.

5.6 Manual configuration

You can use bs-update without the widget. Write the file yourself in that condition. Make the directory first:

mkdir -p ~/.config/bs-updater

Then write the file with the lines of section 5.4.

CAUTION: The widget writes this file again at each change of a setting. Your manual changes are then lost. Use the settings page if you have the widget.

5.7 How to examine the current selection

bs-update --list-tools

The output shows each tool, its state, its name and its package domain:

pacman       off pacman: repository packages
paru-repo    on  paru (repository packages): repository packages
paru-aur     on  paru (AUR packages): AUR packages
dnf          off DNF: RPM packages
nobara-sync  off nobara-sync: RPM packages
apt          off APT: Debian packages
flatpak      on  Flatpak: Flatpak applications and runtimes
gearlever    on  Gear Lever: AppImages
plasmoid-updater off plasmoid-updater: KDE Plasma 6 plasmoids

5.8 A temporary selection

The --tools option replaces the selection for one run. The option accepts a list with commas or with spaces.

bs-update --tools flatpak,gearlever
bs-update --tools "apt flatpak" -l

The option does not change the configuration file.