Almost exactly one year ago, I wrote an editorial pushing readers to download Fedora Silverblue 40 instead of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. Both were being released in April 2024, but Fedora Silverblue has a newer atomic architecture, which makes the operating system more resilient and provides you with tools to roll back updates safely if needed.
In this guide, I will show you how to upgrade Fedora Silverblue 41 to the newly released Fedora Silverblue 42 using the command line, including the command to roll back if needed. Before everyone says this is proof that Linux is too difficult, you also have the option of upgrading via the Updates tab in GNOME Software.
Upgrading via the Terminal
To get started upgrading via the Terminal, you'll want to see if version 42 is available by running this command:
ostree remote refs fedora
In the output, you should see:
fedora:fedora/42/x86_64/silverblue
At this point, assuming your system is running well, you will want to pin it to the GRUB menu so you can easily boot into your current version should you run into problems with version 42. Use the following command to pin it to GRUB:
sudo ostree admin pin 0
Later, if you want to unpin it, just type:
sudo ostree admin pin --unpin 2
Now it's time to rebase to version 42. Assuming you saw version 42 in the output earlier, you can upgrade with the following command:
rpm-ostree rebase fedora:fedora/42/x86_64/silverblue
Rolling back
When that has been completed, you can reboot your system and start using Fedora Silverblue 42. At this juncture, most people should have no problems and can continue using the brand new Fedora Silverblue 42.
However, if you do run into a problem, you can roll back your system. Just reboot the machine and keep tapping Escape to bring up the GRUB menu and choose to boot into Fedora Silverblue 41, which you pinned earlier.
When that has booted up, crack open the Terminal and type:
rpm-ostree rollback
This will get rid of Fedora Silverblue 42, and you'll always boot into version 41. You can continue to use Fedora Silverblue 41 until one month after the release of version 43.
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