Updating the Host

The web console tells you when a newer host is out. The Host page has an Updates card showing the version you run, the channel you follow (stable or canary), how this host was installed, and — once a newer release exists — the exact command that updates it. The "update available" state also fires an update.available event on the host event stream, and a successful update fires update.applied (with from and to) once the host is back up — so hooks and scripts can react to both.

Your channel comes from the repository this host installs from — see Release Channels for what each track means and how to move a host between them. The Updates card never switches channels for you.

The check is a small signed manifest the host fetches from the Punktfunk release feed and verifies against keys built into the host itself — a tampered or replayed feed is rejected, and the console will tell you when a check failed rather than silently showing stale facts.

Updating, per install method

The console shows the right one of these automatically; for reference:

winget carries stable releases only. A Windows host on the canary channel updates by running the canary installer again — …/generic/punktfunk-host-windows/canary/punktfunk-host-setup.exe, see Release Channels.

rpm-ostree layer: rpm-ostree upgrade is not enough

rpm-ostree upgrade upgrades the base image and only re-resolves layered packages when the base actually changes — so on a base that sits still (a pinned tag, a paused rebase) it keeps reporting "No updates available" while newer Punktfunk RPMs are sitting in the repo. Force rpm-ostree to re-resolve just the Punktfunk layer, removing and re-adding the same names in one transaction:

sudo rpm-ostree refresh-md --force
sudo rpm-ostree update \
  --uninstall punktfunk --uninstall punktfunk-web \
  --install   punktfunk --install   punktfunk-web
systemctl reboot

Name only the packages you actually layered — rpm-ostree status lists them. The new version is staged; it activates on the next boot.

Two things to know. The re-resolve picks the highest version across every enabled /etc/yum.repos.d/punktfunk*.repo, so if the canary repo is enabled alongside the stable one, canary wins and the box quietly tracks canary — enable exactly the channel you want (see Release Channels). And if this box runs the Bazzite sysext, the sysext shadows any layered copy: update with sudo punktfunk-sysext update instead.

Restart after a Linux package update

Restart the host to pick up the new binary:

systemctl --user restart punktfunk-host

If the update also brought a new punktfunk-web (the console itself — it ships as a separate package and a separate user service), restart that too, and do it first; the page blinks and reconnects:

systemctl --user restart punktfunk-web
systemctl --user restart punktfunk-host

A pacman -Syu upgrades every installed Punktfunk package, so it always needs both. The apt and dnf commands above name one package, so they usually don't — to move the console and the host together, name both: sudo apt install --only-upgrade punktfunk-host punktfunk-web (apt) or sudo dnf upgrade punktfunk punktfunk-web (dnf). If you enabled the plugin/script runner, it is a third unit: systemctl --user restart punktfunk-scripting.

(The Windows installer restarts the service itself; punktfunk-sysext update prints the same restart hint when it's needed.)

One-click updating (Windows)

On a Windows host the card shows an Update now button instead of a command. It asks for the console password again (a saved login alone can't restart your host), then the host downloads the installer, verifies it against the signed release manifest and its code signature, and runs it silently — the service restarts at the end and the page reconnects by itself. If a stream is live you'll be warned first: updating drops it.

Every attempt leaves a result in the card (and an installer log under C:\ProgramData\punktfunk\logs\update-<version>.log) — including across the restart, so a failed update is never silent.

If the newly installed host crash-loops, the service puts the previous installer back on its own (the last two are kept) and says so in the card — you end up on the version you started from, not on a dead host. That rollback writes C:\ProgramData\punktfunk\logs\update-rollback-from-<version>.log.

One-click updating (Linux — opt-in)

The apt, dnf, Bazzite-sysext, and rpm-ostree installs can one-click update too, via a small root helper the packages ship (pf-update + a punktfunk-update.service oneshot). It's off until you opt in, because a web button that ends in root deserves an explicit decision:

sudo usermod -aG punktfunk-update $USER    # takes effect within a minute — no re-login needed

The console re-checks group membership every minute, so the Update now button replaces the opt-in hint on its own — there's no need to log out and back in.

That group membership is the entire grant — a polkit rule lets its members start exactly that one service, whose only job is "run this system's normal package update for the Punktfunk packages, then prove the new binary runs". The button never chooses versions or URLs; your package manager's own signed repositories stay the source of truth. The card shows the opt-in command until you've done this, and the manual command always keeps working.

Notes per method: on rpm-ostree the update is staged and the card will say so — reboot to finish (the console never reboots your machine). On Arch/pacman the button additionally requires PACMAN_FULL_SYSUPGRADE=1 in /etc/punktfunk/update.conf, because the only safe pacman update is a full pacman -Syu — partial upgrades are how Arch boxes break, and we won't run one. After a successful update the host restarts itself and the page reconnects.

The Steam Deck on-device build gets the button too, with no opt-in (it's your own user's install, no root involved): it runs the same update.sh rebuild the docs describe, which compiles on the Deck — expect it to take a while; the card keeps showing progress and the log lands in ~/.config/punktfunk/logs/update-steamos.log.

Updating a client

This page is about the host. Clients update on their own tracks — flatpak update on Linux, your normal apt upgrade / dnf upgrade for the packaged Linux client, a newer .dmg dragged over the old app on macOS, TestFlight on iPhone/iPad/Apple TV, Google Play on Android, and the Decky panel's own Update button on a Steam Deck. The per-platform table is in Install a Client → Keeping a client up to date. A host and a client don't have to be on the same version, but keeping them close is the least surprising.

Turning the check off

The check contacts git.unom.io (the Punktfunk forge) and nothing else, and sends nothing but a normal download request. If you'd rather the host never checks, add this line to the host's host.env:

PUNKTFUNK_UPDATE_CHECK=0

host.env lives at ~/.config/punktfunk/host.env on Linux and %ProgramData%\punktfunk\host.env on Windows — see Configuration. Then restart the host: systemctl --user restart punktfunk-host on Linux, or restart the Punktfunk host service on Windows. The card then shows checks as disabled; everything else keeps working.

PUNKTFUNK_UPDATE_APPLY=0 in the same file removes the Update now button on any host, Windows or Linux; the card shows the manual command instead.

If the card says the feed is stale

"Feed hasn't changed in over 45 days" means checks succeed but nothing new arrives. Usually that just means no release happened for a while; if the releases page shows something newer than the card does, something between this host and the feed is pinning old data — worth a look at proxies or DNS on the way to git.unom.io. That comparison only works on a stable host: the releases page is stable-only, so a canary host being "behind" it means nothing.

Next

• Something went wrong during or after an update? Troubleshooting.
• Want to remove Punktfunk instead, or find out what an uninstall leaves behind? Uninstalling.