How To Install mender-client on Debian 11

In this tutorial we learn how to install mender-client on Debian 11. mender-client is Mender over-the-air software updater client.

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install mender-client on Debian 11.

What is mender-client

mender-client is:

Mender: over-the-air updater for embedded Linux devices

Mender is an open source over-the-air (OTA) software updater for embedded Linux devices. Mender comprises a client running at the embedded device, as well as a server that manages deployments across many devices.

Embedded product teams often end up creating homegrown updaters at the last minute due to the need to fix bugs in field-deployed devices. However, the most important requirement for an embedded update process is robustness, for example loss of power at any time should not brick a device. This creates a challenge given the time constraints to develop and maintain a homegrown updater.

Mender aims to address this challenge with a robust and easy to use updater for embedded Linux devices, which is open source and available to anyone.

Robustness is ensured with atomic image-based deployments using a dual A/B rootfs partition layout. This makes it always possible to roll back to a working state, even when losing power at any time during the update process.

Ease of use is addressed with an intuitive UI, comprehensive documentation (https://docs.mender.io/), a meta layer for the Yocto Project (https://github.com/mendersoftware/meta-mender) for easy integration into existing environments, and high quality software (see the test coverage badge).

This repository contains the Mender client updater, which can be run in standalone mode (manually triggered through its command line interface) or managed mode (connected to the Mender server).

Mender not only provides the client-side updater, but also the backend and UI for managing deployments as open source. The Mender server is designed as a microservices architecture and comprises several repositories.

To start using Mender, we recommend that you begin with the Getting started section in the Mender documentation (https://docs.mender.io/).

In order to support rollback, the Mender client depends on integration with U-Boot and the partition layout. It is therefore most easily built as part of your Yocto Project image by using the meta layer for the Yocto Project (https://github.com/mendersoftware/meta-mender).

There are three methods to install mender-client on Debian 11. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install mender-client Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install mender-client using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install mender-client

Install mender-client Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install mender-client using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install mender-client

Install mender-client Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Debian. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install mender-client using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install mender-client

How To Uninstall mender-client on Debian 11

To uninstall only the mender-client package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove mender-client

Uninstall mender-client And Its Dependencies

To uninstall mender-client and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 11, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove mender-client

Remove mender-client Configurations and Data

To remove mender-client configuration and data from Debian 11 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge mender-client

Remove mender-client configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove mender-client configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge mender-client

Dependencies

mender-client have the following dependencies:

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install mender-client package on Debian 11 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.