One of the nice things about Pi-Star is that it is regularly updated to add new features, options, and fixes, as well as adding host file updates that have been pulled from upstream sources

How to update Pi-Star

There are three ways to update Pi-Star: one automatic and two manuals:

Automatic updates during the night:

This type of update runs every night as long as your access point is turned on and connected to the Internet. Use standard Raspbian tools to update radio binaries (MMDVMHost and DStarRepeater), gateways (DMRGateway, ircDDBGateway, etc.), host files, and control panel.

Updates started manually:

You may want to start an update manually if you have heard that a solution was released or if updated host files are available and you do not want to wait for the automatic update overnight, or if you want to update the operation of Raspbian system. You must also perform an update before running an update.

Through the Pi-Star control panel:

You can run an update at any time by clicking Update in the Administrator view (or in the Expert Editor). This guy updates radio binaries, gateways, host files, and the dash, but not the Raspbian operating system.

In the Refresh view, you will see the process running. Let it run until it’s done.

Through the SSH command line interface (CLI):

You can also run an update at any time through a Secure Shell application (SSHOpen in new tab regular) such as TermiusOpen in a new regular tab or PuTTYOpen in a new regular tab.

This is the most robust way to run an update, as it updates radio binaries, gateways, host files, and the dash, as well as updates to the Raspbian operating system, including the ability to handle the steps of Raspbian operating system updates that require manual entry.

Use an SSH app on Pi-Star and log in.

Run the update (the update process automatically switches Pi-Star to read and write mode, so there is no need to manually change):

sudo pistar-update

Important! If the process stops and asks if a modified file should be replaced, your answer should always be the default, which is to leave only the modified file.

Allow the update process to run until you see:

Full updates, sleeping for a few seconds before making the disk read-only
Finished

After a manual update, it’s a good idea to open the Settings page and click Apply Changes.