So, I finally installed Watchtower to auto update my containers. I was a little hesitant because just letting apps auto update kind of makes me a little nervous. Even Windows updates give me bouts of trepidation. Everything went well, there was a little hiccup with Netdata but resolved in less than 5 minutes.

My question is that there are four remaining containers that haven’t been updated: Speedtest Tracker, Portainer, Doppler Task, and Dockge.

2025-04-19T06:00:46.510622594Z INFO[38092] Session done                                  Failed=0 Scanned=48 Updated=0 notify=no
2025-04-19T08:00:46.040690535Z INFO[45292] Session done                                  Failed=0 Scanned=48 Updated=0 notify=no
2025-04-19T10:00:45.952863778Z INFO[52492] Session done                                  Failed=0 Scanned=48 Updated=0 notify=no
2025-04-19T12:00:47.755915129Z INFO[59694] Session done                                  Failed=0 Scanned=48 Updated=0 notify=no
2025-04-19T14:00:50.046498408Z INFO[66896] Session done                                  Failed=0 Scanned=48 Updated=0 notify=no

Is this indicative of an issue? Do I just need to update these four manually or will Watchtower eventually update them?

Additionally, has anyone ever had any problems with auto updating? It does make me a bit nervous, however I think I will get used to relying on Watchtower.

  • ZeldaFreak@lemmy.worldEnglish
    52·
    2 days ago

    Auto updates can cause problems. Some recommend it, some tell you to not do it. My standpoint is, when a container can’t work with auto updates, they suck. Sure there are containers who require some additional attention after an update, like gitea with some config changes but I use it in an environment where it can be offline of some time.

    If a container uses Postgresql, you can’t auto update. So far I didn’t found a well maintained container, that can do this. You also should keep an eye on your containers. As I mentioned, Gitea had some config changes, breaking the default theme (nothing major). They even screwed up their tags and I had 3 times an RC in a tag where no RC should get published. With Jellyfin I was on a tag that didn’t got any updates anymore and I needed to use a different one.

    • irmadlad@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      If a container uses Postgresql, you can’t auto update.

      That’s interesting. I certainly will keep that in mind.

      • ZeldaFreak@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        20 hours ago

        To be more specific: Postgresql requires manual steps with major versions. Tutorials I found require you to dump the database in the old version first, then update and then import. You could use a tagged version of postgresql and just auto update there but the main container might require a newer version. I saw containers who try this but none looked production ready.

  • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
    4·
    2 days ago

    How do you know they haven’t been updated? Is there an update available?

    • irmadlad@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      These are the Watchtower logs so far. https://pastes.io/watchtower

      I didn’t see anything remarkable other than the error for Netdata but I got that fixed:

      NFO[30906] Found new netdata/netdata:latest image (6376ffeda44a) 
INFO[30940] Stopping /NETDATA (a18a3e3409f3) with SIGTERM 
INFO[30942] Creating /NETDATA                            
ERRO[30942] Error response from daemon: the container-wide MAC address must match the endpoint-specific MAC address for the main network, or be left empty
      • just_another_person@lemmy.worldEnglish
        71·
        2 days ago

        You’re being rate limited by Docker Hub. Give it some time and they’ll all get updated. Maybe tweak your settings so not everything is attempting an update at the same time.

        • irmadlad@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          3·
          2 days ago

          Thought I had answered you this morning, but apparently not. I did see the rate limit entry, but I thought that rate limits are like 100 pulls every 6 hours and I certainly haven’t exceeded 100. I just checked tho, and all but two have updated, so as you say, it’ll eventually get around to it. Thank you for the input.