Automate safe system upodates with a single script (for APT + systemd systems)

THE PROBLEM Keeping a Linux system fully updated usually means doing several things by hand: Update APT package lists Upgrade installed packages Remove unused dependencies and cached files Update Flatpak apps (if you use Flatpak) Update firmware via fwupd (if available) Decide whether to reboot or shut down None of that is hard, but it is repetitive and easy to skip steps, especially firmware updates. This script turns that whole workflow into a single, safe command. REQUIREMENTS This script assumes: Package manager Uses APT Example: Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint and similar Init system Uses systemd (for systemctl reboot/poweroff) Shell bash (script uses “#!/usr/bin/env bash” and “set -euo pipefail”) You can run it with: bash script.sh Privileges Your user has sudo rights Optional components Flatpak (optional) If not installed, Flatpak steps are skipped fwupd (fwupdmgr, optional) If not installed, firmware steps a...
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Auto-Rotation on KDE Plasma ( Wayland ) – Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet Gen 3

CONTEXT

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Debian 13 (Trixie) + KDE Plasma 5.27 on Wayland.  

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet Gen 3 (QHD 3000×2000, i7-8550U).  

iio-sensor-proxy detects the accelerometer but doesn’t publish orientation on DBus.  

Solution: use raw accelerometer values and rotate via kscreen-doctor (KDE’s Wayland tool).



REQUIREMENTS

-------------

sudo apt install kscreen  

Accelerometer visible at /sys/bus/iio/devices/iio:device*/in_accel_x_raw



FINAL SCRIPT — ~/.local/bin/autorotate-wayland.sh

-------------------------------------------------

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Auto-rotate for KDE Plasma (Wayland) – ThinkPad X1 Tablet Gen 3

# Reads raw accelerometer data and rotates screen via kscreen-doctor.

# Touch/pen mapping handled automatically by Wayland.

# Create ~/.config/autorotate.lock to disable rotation temporarily.


OUTPUT_ID="output.1"                                 # from `kscreen-doctor -o`

IIO_DIR="/sys/bus/iio/devices/iio:device3"           # adjust if sensor index differs

INTERVAL=1                                           # seconds

STABILITY_COUNT=3                                    # debounce samples

THRESHOLD=2000                                       # tilt threshold

Z_DOMINANCE=3500                                     # ignore if flat on table


set -euo pipefail

command -v kscreen-doctor >/dev/null || { echo "kscreen missing"; exit 1; }


apply_rotation(){ kscreen-doctor "${OUTPUT_ID}.rotation.$1" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true; }

read_axis(){ cat "$IIO_DIR/in_accel_${1}_raw" 2>/dev/null || echo ""; }


decide_orientation(){

  local x=$1 y=$2 z=$3 ax=${x#-} ay=${y#-} az=${z#-}

  (( az>Z_DOMINANCE && az>ax && az>ay )) && { echo hold; return; }

  (( ax<THRESHOLD && ay<THRESHOLD )) && { echo hold; return; }

  if (( ax>ay )); then

    (( x>0 )) && echo left || echo right          # corrected X-axis mapping

  else

    (( y<0 )) && echo normal || echo inverted     # corrected Y-axis mapping

  fi

}


last_vote=""; vote_count=0; current_applied=""

while :; do

  [[ -f "$HOME/.config/autorotate.lock" ]] && { sleep $INTERVAL; continue; }

  [[ "${XDG_SESSION_TYPE:-}" != "wayland" ]] && { sleep $INTERVAL; continue; }


  X=$(read_axis x); Y=$(read_axis y); Z=$(read_axis z)

  [[ -z $X || -z $Y || -z $Z ]] && { sleep $INTERVAL; continue; }


  vote=$(decide_orientation "$X" "$Y" "$Z")

  [[ $vote == hold ]] && { ((vote_count>0)) && ((vote_count--)); sleep $INTERVAL; continue; }


  if [[ $vote == $last_vote ]]; then ((vote_count++)); else last_vote=$vote; vote_count=1; fi

  if (( vote_count>=STABILITY_COUNT )) && [[ $vote != $current_applied ]]; then

    apply_rotation "$vote"; current_applied=$vote; vote_count=$STABILITY_COUNT

  fi

  sleep $INTERVAL

done



MAKE EXECUTABLE

----------------

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/autorotate-wayland.sh



MANUAL TEST

------------

bash ~/.local/bin/autorotate-wayland.sh  

watch -n1 'kscreen-doctor -o | grep Rotation'  

# Stop with Ctrl + C



AUTOSTART

----------

System Settings → Startup & Shutdown → Autostart → Add Login Script…  

Choose ~/.local/bin/autorotate-wayland.sh  


Rotation lock commands:  

touch ~/.config/autorotate.lock   # freeze orientation  

rm ~/.config/autorotate.lock     # resume auto-rotation



BEHAVIOUR

----------

• Polls accelerometer every 1 s  

• Ignores noise when flat (Z dominant)  

• Applies rotation after 3 consistent readings  

• Runs silently in background – stop with pkill -f autorotate-wayland.sh



PORTABILITY NOTES

-----------------

Works on any device that:  

  1. Runs KDE Plasma on Wayland  

  2. Has a readable accelerometer under /sys/bus/iio/devices/iio:device*/in_accel_*_raw  

  3. Supports rotation via kscreen-doctor  


Adjust as needed:  

  • IIO_DIR → correct device index  

  • OUTPUT_ID → run kscreen-doctor -o to find yours  

  • Axis sign logic → flip x/y tests in decide_orientation() if portrait/landscape are reversed  


Confirmed working on:  

  • Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet Gen 3  

  • X12 Detachable  

  • X1 Yoga Gen 4-6  

  • Other 2-in-1s (Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, HP Spectre x360) with minor axis tweaks  


Not applicable to:  

  • GNOME (uses Mutter’s DBus interface)  

  • X11 sessions (require xrandr/xinput version)



SUMMARY

--------

Lightweight, self-contained auto-rotation daemon for KDE Plasma on Wayland.  

No iio-sensor-proxy, no root privileges, no X11 dependencies.  

Polls raw accelerometer data → stabilises → rotates via kscreen-doctor.  

Safe to autostart, easy to lock, adaptable to any Wayland-based tablet.

 

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