Clear Linux Software Updater

Warning

swupd is unmaintained. Intel discontinued Clear Linux OS in July 2025 and the swupd-client repository is archived read-only, so swupd no longer receives updates.

ID

swupd

Link

Repository

Upstream stars

⭐ 121

Last commit

2025-08-07

Platforms

🐧 Linux (Clear Linux OS only)

Operations

installed · search · install · upgrade_all · remove · cleanup

purl types

pkg:swupd/

CLI name

swupd

Issues and PRs

📦 manager: swupd

Source

swupd.toml

Clear Linux’s software updater manages bundles (collections of files), not individually-versioned packages: bundles carry no version of their own and follow the single whole-system OS version.

--quiet is swupd’s blessed machine channel: data flows through its print() helper while decorations (headers, “-” prefixes, “Total:” footers) flow through info(), which --quiet drops. Every query below relies on it.

Two operations are deliberately not declared:

• outdated: swupd check-update reports a single whole-OS version delta through its exit code (0 when an update exists), not a per-bundle listing.

• upgrade of a single bundle: bundles cannot be upgraded individually, only the whole OS via swupd update, declared as upgrade_all.

What mpm adds to swupd

Through mpm, swupd gains --exact and --extended search, to narrow to exact names or match descriptions.

Bigger still, mpm reaches across every manager at once: mpm installed and mpm outdated cover swupd alongside every other manager you run in one table, mpm upgrade --all updates them together, and mpm sbom exports the whole machine as one bill of materials.

Every mpm command also gains --dry-run and --plan previews, cross-scheme version comparison and purl identifiers. See manager augmentations for how each one is built.

Your swupd commands, in mpm

You already know swupd: each operation maps one-to-one onto mpm, in an interface shared by every manager.

To…	With swupd	With mpm
List what’s installed	swupd bundle-list --quiet	mpm --swupd installed
Search for a package	swupd bundle-list --all --quiet	mpm --swupd search bundle-list
Install a package	swupd bundle-add --assume=yes <package_id>	mpm install pkg:swupd/<package_id>
Upgrade everything	swupd update --assume=yes	mpm --swupd upgrade --all
Remove a package	swupd bundle-remove --assume=yes <package_id>	mpm remove pkg:swupd/<package_id>
Clear caches	swupd clean	mpm --swupd cleanup --cache

Prefix any command above with --dry-run to simulate the underlying manager calls without touching the system: the safe way to watch what mpm would do before trusting it.

Operations

Operation	Supported	Notes
installed	✅
outdated
orphans
search	✅	Exact and extended search backfilled by mpm.
install	✅
upgrade
upgrade_all	✅
remove	✅
sync
cleanup	✅
doctor

Configuration

• Ignore swupd on the mpm CLI by passing the --no-swupd option.

• Ignore it for every run in your configuration:

  [mpm]
  swupd = false
  

• Raise the timeout of all swupd calls:

  [mpm.overrides.swupd]
  timeout = 900
  

• Run mpm config-template swupd to print all overridable settings for your configuration file:

  [mpm.overrides.swupd]
  cli_names = [
      "swupd",
  ]
  cli_search_path = []
  dry_run = false
  ignore_auto_updates = true
  plan = false
  post_args = []
  pre_args = []
  pre_cmds = []
  stop_on_error = false
  unmaintained = true
  version_cli_options = [
      "--version",
  ]
  version_regexes = [
      "swupd (?P<version>\\S+)",
  ]
  

Recipes

A few jobs you would otherwise script around swupd, one mpm command each:

• Snapshot and clone a machine: mpm --swupd dump swupd.toml, then mpm restore swupd.toml on the next one.

• Export a compliance SBOM: mpm --swupd sbom (CycloneDX by default, --spdx for SPDX).

Privilege escalation

System-wide manager: mpm wraps its privileged operations in sudo out of the box. Instead of letting the tool prompt mid-run, mpm primes the credential cache up-front, with a single branded password prompt at most. Turn escalation off for rootless setups with --no-sudo or the per-manager sudo override.

Its privileged operations are cleanup, install, remove, upgrade_all.

See privilege escalation for the full policy.

Cooldown

State of Clear Linux Software Updater’s release-age gating, from the cooldown support table:

• Status: ➖ N/A (Clear Linux discontinued July 2025)

• Reference: Clear Linux OS

A cooldown only pays off where a compromised release can be withdrawn while the clock runs, and can only be emulated where the registry dates its releases. From the retraction table:

• Registry: No registry of their own

• Retraction: ➖ Not applicable: these managers either delegate to whichever manager they front (pkcon, topgrade) or wrap a retired project or a discontinued platform

With --cooldown set, mpm skips this manager’s install and upgrade operations rather than run them unguarded (fail-closed); --cooldown best-effort opts back in.

Reference traces

A collection of raw native outputs captured from the manager’s own CLI and recorded in the bundled definition. If you know Clear Linux Software Updater well and a transcript below looks wrong, or a newer release changed its output format, report it.

$ swupd bundle-list --quiet
editors
os-core
os-core-update

$ swupd bundle-list --all --quiet
curl
editors
os-core

Version check

The version is probed by running:

$ swupd --version
swupd 7.0.0

and extracted with:

r"swupd (?P<version>\S+)"

Upstream project

Metrics	clearlinux/swupd-client
Activity
Popularity
Metadata

Changelog

• 7.2.0 (2026-07-09)

  • Add Clear Linux’s swupd with installed, search, install, upgrade --all, remove and cleanup support, operating on bundles; a bundled configuration-defined manager.