How to update your Raspberry Pi Raspbian or Tor System

From time to time it is important to update your computer to the latest and greatest system software.  On Windows or a Mac, this is typically done automatically.  In a Linux based system like Raspbian on a Raspberry Pi, you have to do it manually.  Fortunately it is easy!

Just type:

sudo apt-get update

Let's decode it:

sudo:  this means "SUper user do", which is telling Linux to upgrade your system as the system administrator

apt-get:  APT = Advanced Package Tool get package

update:  updates the list of available packages and their versions, but it does not install or upgrade any packages.

Once that has run, which may take a few minutes, you then want to upgrade the packages.  Warning, this can take a long time.  Upgrade the packages by typing:

sudo apt-get upgrade

This installs newer versions of the packages you have. After updating the lists, the package manager knows about available updates for the software you have installed. This is why you first want to update.