Distrobox Container Auto-Upgrade

Keep your Distrobox containers automatically updated on any Linux system that uses Systemd.

Features

1. 🟢 Automatic updates for all Distrobox containers
2. 🟢 Flexible scheduling weekly or daily
3. 🟢 No sudo needed run as normal user

Prerequisites

• systemd the host system must have systemd by default
• Podman or Docker on the host system (Linux)
• Distrobox with container installed (see how to install)

Notice

This script works regardless of whether Distrobox is installed in the user folder or the root folder. However, container managers like DistroShelf or BoxBuddy only recognize Distrobox installed in the root folder.

Automatic Installation

The script will automatically create files in ~/.config/systemd/user/ and configure automatic updates according to your choice!

How to Use

1. Download the script:

cd ~/Downloads
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/diogopessoa/distrobox-container-auto-upgrade/main/distrobox-container-auto-upgrade.sh

2. Make the script executable:

chmod +x distrobox-container-auto-upgrade.sh

3. Run the script:

./distrobox-container-auto-upgrade.sh

4. Follow the interactive menu

Select the update type:
1. Weekly Update (Mnday 10:00)
2. Daily Update (60s after boot)

Enter your choice (1 or 2): 

✅ Done!

Manual Installation

1. Create the Systemd service file

First, locate your Distrobox executable path:

which distrobox-upgrade || find / -name "distrobox-upgrade" 2>/dev/null

Create the service file:

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
nano ~/.config/systemd/user/distrobox-upgrade.service

Paste this content (adjust the path if needed):

[Unit]
Description=Update all Distrobox containers
After=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/distrobox-upgrade --all
# Optional: Desktop notification (requires GUI)
ExecStartPost=/usr/bin/notify-send "📦️ Distrobox" "Containers updated successfully!"

2. Configure the timer

Option A: Weekly updates

nano ~/.config/systemd/user/distrobox-upgrade.timer

[Unit]
Description=Update Distrobox containers (weekly, Monday 10h)

[Timer]
# Execute every Monday at 10h
OnCalendar=Mon 10:00:00
# Tolerance for execution
AccuracySec=1h
# Run if missed last window
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Option B: Daily updates (after each boot)

nano ~/.config/systemd/user/distrobox-upgrade.timer

[Unit]
Description=Update Distrobox containers (60s after boot)

[Timer]
# Runs 60 seconds after each system boot
OnBootSec=60s
# Execution window
AccuracySec=1h
# Run if missed last window
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

3. Enable the service

# Reload user services
systemctl --user daemon-reload

# Enable and start the timer
systemctl --user enable --now distrobox-upgrade.timer

# Verify the schedule
systemctl --user list-timers --all

Expected output:

NEXT                        LEFT          LAST                        PASSED       UNIT                         ACTIVATES
Mon 2025-08-22 10:00:00 -03 6 days       Mon 2025-08-11 10:00:00 -03 1h 12min ago distrobox-upgrade.timer      distrobox-upgrade.service

Testing

Manual execution

systemctl --user start distrobox-upgrade.service

License

MIT

Credits

• Distrobox
• systemd