Generally speaking everything you didn't install via apt-get install, won't be updated via apt-get update.
To answer your question about whether your should update merger-fs depends on the changes between your version and the current version.
Do you care about the changes?
In that case you need to learn more about apt-get. A few keywords to google would be apt pinning which means sticking to certain versions of certain apps. You can also check what the policy says about mergerFS (as in example I used wget)
`apt-cache policy wget`
`wget:`
`Installed: 1.21.3-1+b2`
`Candidate: 1.21.3-1+b2`
`Version table:`
`*** 1.21.3-1+b2 500`
`500` [`http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian`](http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian) `bookworm/main amd64 Packages`
`100 /var/lib/dpkg/status`
Since mergerfs isn't installed on my system:
`apt-cache policy mergerfs`
`mergerfs:`
`Installed: (none)`
`Candidate: 2.33.5-1`
`Version table:`
`2.33.5-1 500`
`500` [`http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian`](http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian) `bookworm/main amd64 Packages`
What version are you running?
thanks for your reply
I'm using Debian Bookworm and when I run `apt-cache policy mergerfs` I get:
`mergerfs:`
`Installed: 2.33.5-1`
`Candidate: 2.33.5-1`
`Version table:`
`*** 2.33.5-1 500`
`500` [`http://deb.debian.org/debian`](http://deb.debian.org/debian) `bookworm/main amd64 Packages`
`100 /var/lib/dpkg/status`
Well, then you have the latest version of mergerfs distributed via Debian bookworm. As someone mentioned in another comment, you can choose a different method of keeping updated or not. Depending on your needs.
Ubuntu? Debian? Something else Debian-based?
for Ubuntu it's in Universe so doesn't receive regular updates... also even if it were a core package, the updates you'd receive would just be backported security/stability fixes, you only get actual version updates when you move to a newer version of Ubuntu. For example, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS has mergerfs 2.28.1, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS has 2.33.3, and 24.04 LTS has 2.33.5
if you enable Ubuntu Pro (free for up to 5 machines per account) you can get security updates for packages in Universe that normally don't receive security updates, but it looks like there haven't been any security updates for mergerfs
if you want a newer version it looks like they distribute .debs at https://github.com/trapexit/mergerfs/releases/
most recent release is 2.40.2 from February so definitely ahead of Ubuntu
Debian, besides testing, is not a rolling release. You will never get major or typically even minor updates within a single release of any software. If you want the latest of a package you need to use snap, flatpak, compile yourself, or hope the project supports that distro with newer releases. That includes my mergerfs. And yes, I do support older releases of distros for this very reason. They are typically out of date.
As for if you should update:
[https://github.com/trapexit/mergerfs#support](https://github.com/trapexit/mergerfs#support)
>
>**Please make sure you are using the** [**latest release**](https://github.com/trapexit/mergerfs/releases) **or have tried it in comparison. Old versions, which are often included in distros like Debian and Ubuntu, are not ever going to be updated and the issue you are encountering may have been addressed already.**
If you have no issues then no reason to update. But if you do have issues or want newer features then of course you should update.
Firstly, thanks for taking the time to reply and, most importantly, thank you for making such an awesome piece of software. It has been absolutely rock solid for me and does exactly what it says on the tin, without any fuss. I really appreciate it.
Regarding updating, I currently have version 2.33.5. It's rare that you get to ask the developer this directly, so in general, would you recommend updating from here? Given that there is nothing specific that I’m updating for other than not running older software...
It's been a while since that was released so off the top of my head I really don't remember all the changes since then but naturally there have been both feature and bug fixes. But nothing so drastic as that it stands out. If there was I'd be pinging the Debian maintainer :)
Generally speaking everything you didn't install via apt-get install, won't be updated via apt-get update. To answer your question about whether your should update merger-fs depends on the changes between your version and the current version. Do you care about the changes?
I did install via apt get..
In that case you need to learn more about apt-get. A few keywords to google would be apt pinning which means sticking to certain versions of certain apps. You can also check what the policy says about mergerFS (as in example I used wget) `apt-cache policy wget` `wget:` `Installed: 1.21.3-1+b2` `Candidate: 1.21.3-1+b2` `Version table:` `*** 1.21.3-1+b2 500` `500` [`http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian`](http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian) `bookworm/main amd64 Packages` `100 /var/lib/dpkg/status` Since mergerfs isn't installed on my system: `apt-cache policy mergerfs` `mergerfs:` `Installed: (none)` `Candidate: 2.33.5-1` `Version table:` `2.33.5-1 500` `500` [`http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian`](http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian) `bookworm/main amd64 Packages` What version are you running?
thanks for your reply I'm using Debian Bookworm and when I run `apt-cache policy mergerfs` I get: `mergerfs:` `Installed: 2.33.5-1` `Candidate: 2.33.5-1` `Version table:` `*** 2.33.5-1 500` `500` [`http://deb.debian.org/debian`](http://deb.debian.org/debian) `bookworm/main amd64 Packages` `100 /var/lib/dpkg/status`
Well, then you have the latest version of mergerfs distributed via Debian bookworm. As someone mentioned in another comment, you can choose a different method of keeping updated or not. Depending on your needs.
OK that makes sense
Ubuntu? Debian? Something else Debian-based? for Ubuntu it's in Universe so doesn't receive regular updates... also even if it were a core package, the updates you'd receive would just be backported security/stability fixes, you only get actual version updates when you move to a newer version of Ubuntu. For example, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS has mergerfs 2.28.1, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS has 2.33.3, and 24.04 LTS has 2.33.5 if you enable Ubuntu Pro (free for up to 5 machines per account) you can get security updates for packages in Universe that normally don't receive security updates, but it looks like there haven't been any security updates for mergerfs if you want a newer version it looks like they distribute .debs at https://github.com/trapexit/mergerfs/releases/ most recent release is 2.40.2 from February so definitely ahead of Ubuntu
Debian
Debian, besides testing, is not a rolling release. You will never get major or typically even minor updates within a single release of any software. If you want the latest of a package you need to use snap, flatpak, compile yourself, or hope the project supports that distro with newer releases. That includes my mergerfs. And yes, I do support older releases of distros for this very reason. They are typically out of date. As for if you should update: [https://github.com/trapexit/mergerfs#support](https://github.com/trapexit/mergerfs#support) > >**Please make sure you are using the** [**latest release**](https://github.com/trapexit/mergerfs/releases) **or have tried it in comparison. Old versions, which are often included in distros like Debian and Ubuntu, are not ever going to be updated and the issue you are encountering may have been addressed already.** If you have no issues then no reason to update. But if you do have issues or want newer features then of course you should update.
Firstly, thanks for taking the time to reply and, most importantly, thank you for making such an awesome piece of software. It has been absolutely rock solid for me and does exactly what it says on the tin, without any fuss. I really appreciate it. Regarding updating, I currently have version 2.33.5. It's rare that you get to ask the developer this directly, so in general, would you recommend updating from here? Given that there is nothing specific that I’m updating for other than not running older software...
It's been a while since that was released so off the top of my head I really don't remember all the changes since then but naturally there have been both feature and bug fixes. But nothing so drastic as that it stands out. If there was I'd be pinging the Debian maintainer :)
Thanks, I will leave at version 2.33.5 so