Rclone is not self-updating… Why?

Help and Support
1

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

@asdffdsa suggested that I self-update rclone. This isn’t working, even with sudo. Command output says that /usr/bin/rclone is not writable, but that is patently false.

Run the command 'rclone version' and share the full output of the command.

rclone v1.70.2
- os/version: debian 12.11 (64 bit)
- os/kernel: 6.12.33-production+truenas (x86_64)
- os/type: linux
- os/arch: amd64
- go/version: go1.23.5
- go/linking: dynamic
- go/tags: none

Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)

N/A

The command you were trying to run (eg rclone copy /tmp remote:tmp)

sudo rclone selfupdate

Please run 'rclone config redacted' and share the full output. If you get command not found, please make sure to update rclone.

N/A

A log from the command that you were trying to run with the -vv flag

2026/05/05 18:46:09 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.70.2" starting with parameters ["rclone" "-vv" "selfupdate"]
2026/05/05 18:46:09 CRITICAL: Error: /usr/bin/rclone: file is not writable, run self-update as root
2

can you post something to show that?

3 
root@qnaptruenas[/usr/bin]# ls -la | grep rclone       
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root    87830480 Apr 13 15:26 rclone

root@qnaptruenas[/usr/bin]# chgrp wheel rclone         
chgrp: changing group of 'rclone': Read-only file system

It must have something to do with TrueNAS’s specific architecture. TrueNAS is a Debian derivative.

I’ll ask in the TrueNAS forum about what is going on and will report back.

4

TrueNAS is a storage appliance and users are not supposed to make changes to it. There are some tricks in place to prevent it from happening:) But it is different subject. Simply do not change anything from cmd.

If you need rclone version different from one than provided by TN then install it in your home folder. Do not use root home - it is also part of TN.

5

Over at the TrueNAS Community Forum I was told:

Consider the TrueNAS system “firmware.” The only way to update any part of it is via a TrueNAS update.