Updating BackTrack

Now that we have set up the basics on our BackTrack machine, we want to update the tool and make sure that it is current. The developers of BackTrack have instituted an update capability using the apt-get utility. The first thing we want to do is to update the package. This requires a working Internet connection on your host; verify this by opening a web browser window and accessing a website. Once you have verified that you are connected to the Internet, go back to the BackTrack machine and enter the apt-get update command in a terminal window.

root@bt:~# apt-get update

Once you have entered the command, you should see a display similar to the one shown in the next screenshot:

Once the update has finished, there should be a message saying that the update was successful. Once the update is complete, the next thing to do is to upgrade the distribution itself; we do that also with the apt-get command. Enter apt-get dist-upgrade in the terminal window.

root@bt:~# apt-get dist-upgrade

The output of this command should be similar to the one in the following screenshot:

The output indicates the packages that are available and will be upgraded. Once you have reviewed them, you are ready to do the upgrade; enter Y to start the upgrade. Once the upgrade has finished, you are done with the main updates and upgrades for BackTrack.