# Is there a simple Julia upgrade command?
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-simple-julia-upgrade-command/45691
**Category:** General Usage
**Created:** [August 27, 2020, 8:23am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-simple-julia-upgrade-command/45691 "2020-08-27T08:23:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@DNF](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/DNF)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-simple-julia-upgrade-command/45691/41 "2020-08-28T16:16:05Z")
I was responding to this, and the various follow-ups:
> [@PetrKryslUCSD](#):
>
> I don’t know why. I use Julia on Linux all the time, I simply unzip the tar file and that’s it.
This quote was, I belive, in reference to “how to upgrade Julia and packages”. When I said that surely this couldn’t be all there was to it, and how to upgrade packages and everything, you brought up the git clone business. As far as I can tell now, that referred to something completely different, not related to upgrading packages.
> [@PetrKryslUCSD](#):
>
> And what symlinks are you talking about?
You must upgrade symlinks to be able to start Julia from the terminal with `$ julia`, and have a fixed path in your various editors etc.
---
### Author:  [@Henrique\_Becker](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Henrique_Becker)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-simple-julia-upgrade-command/45691/42 "2020-08-28T17:27:29Z")
> [@DNF](#):
>
> You must upgrade symlinks to be able to start Julia from the terminal with `$ julia` , and have a fixed path in your various editors etc.
This assumes the editors used have the knowledge of julia, and that you will not have a dedicated terminal always open that you just hit backspace and start julia again when needed.
---
### Author:  [@DNF](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/DNF)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-simple-julia-upgrade-command/45691/43 "2020-08-28T18:51:57Z")
No, it doesn’t assume anything. _If_ you want to start Julia with the `julia` command. _If_ you use an editor that needs a path.
But I think it is safe to assume most users do this.
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### Author:  [@anon37204545](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/anon37204545)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-simple-julia-upgrade-command/45691/44 "2020-08-28T19:16:09Z")
Is there any technical barrier to writing a Julia updater in the form of a package?
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### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-simple-julia-upgrade-command/45691/45 "2020-08-28T20:03:20Z")
That is my “portable Julia”. Run any Julia version, in its own private sandbox. 😉
All paths set up automatically, editor preconfigured.
---
### Author:  [@mthelm85](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mthelm85)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2020, 12:43am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-simple-julia-upgrade-command/45691/46 "2020-08-29T00:43:03Z")
> However I think the best thing to do is to develop packages _outside_ of the .julia folder.
+1 on this. Just have to remember to pass in the correct path if you use PkgTemplates, for example. I too am a Windows user and have had to obliterate my .julia folder on several occasions. Each time it fixed the problem that led me to do it and didn’t cause new ones 😄
---
### Author:  [@Lilith](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Lilith)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-simple-julia-upgrade-command/45691/47 "2021-11-26T17:29:28Z")
> [@anon37204545](#):
>
> Is there any technical barrier to writing a Julia updater in the form of a package?
Not if you already have julia on your system!
> **[GitHub - LilithHafner/UpdateJulia.jl: Simple cross platform Julia installer](https://github.com/LilithHafner/UpdateJulia.jl)**
>
> Simple cross platform Julia installer. Contribute to LilithHafner/UpdateJulia.jl development by creating an account on GitHub.
does just that. To answer the OP’s question,
```julia
]add UpdateJulia
using UpdateJulia
update_julia()
```
---
### Author:  [@StefanKarpinski](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/StefanKarpinski)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2021, 5:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-simple-julia-upgrade-command/45691/48 "2021-11-26T17:38:29Z")
There’s a `JULIA_PKG_DEVDIR` environment variable that you can set to where you want to develop packages with the Pkg `dev` command. I have that always set to my `~/dev` directory.
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