🟡 Medium   ⏱ 5–30 min  Last verified: 20 May 2026
Affected versions: Oracle Linux 10

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents
  1. Symptom & Impact
  2. Environment & Reproduction
  3. Root Cause Analysis
  4. Quick Triage
  5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
  6. Solution – Primary Fix
  7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
  8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
  9. Rollback Plan
  10. Prevention & Hardening
  11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
  12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Expected patch automation does not occur, increasing security exposure windows.

Environment & Reproduction

dnf-automatic timer active but configured for download-only behavior.

systemctl status dnf-automatic.timer
dnf-automatic --help

Root Cause Analysis

apply_updates is disabled or timer executes wrong service unit profile.

Quick Triage

Inspect automatic.conf and timer targets.

grep -E 'apply_updates|download_updates' /etc/dnf/automatic.conf
systemctl list-timers | grep dnf

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Check timer execution logs and transaction history.

journalctl -u dnf-automatic.service -n 120
dnf history list
Illustrative mockup for oracle-linux-10 — dnf_automatic_diag
dnf-automatic timer runs without applying updates — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Primary Fix

Enable apply_updates and ensure correct timer is enabled.

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sudo sed -i 's/^apply_updates.*/apply_updates = yes/' /etc/dnf/automatic.conf
sudo systemctl enable --now dnf-automatic.timer
Illustrative mockup for oracle-linux-10 — dnf_automatic_fix
Automatic apply_updates configured — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Run staged patching via orchestration if automatic direct install is not allowed.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Subsequent timer runs perform package upgrades successfully.

systemctl start dnf-automatic.service
dnf history info last

Rollback Plan

Switch back to download-only mode if business policy requires manual approval.

Prevention & Hardening

Alert on stale patch levels and failed automatic transactions.

Related to reboot-required workflows and package lock policies.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for oracle-linux-10.

View all oracle-linux-10 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

dnf-automatic service profiles and enterprise patch management practices.

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