We log search terms to improve our documentation. For more information, read our Privacy Policy.
  1. cPanel & WHM Documentation
  2. cPanel Knowledge Base
  3. cPanel Product
  4. The cPanel & WHM Update Configuration File - cpupdate.conf
spamassassin rpms updates whmadvanced

The cPanel & WHM Update Configuration File - cpupdate.conf

Last modified: 2026 August 5

Overview

The /etc/cpupdate.conf file on your server determines how cPanel & WHM updates the following system components:

  • cPanel & WHM itself.
  • Installed packages (Package Manager files).
  • Apache SpamAssassin™ rules.

How to edit the configuration file

Each line of the /etc/cpupdate.conf file determines how cPanel & WHM updates the specified system component. You can edit this file with your preferred text editor.

File format

The /etc/cpupdate.conf file’s format is similar to the following example:

1
2
3
4
5
6

CPANEL=release
RPMUP=daily
SARULESUP=daily
SECURITY_UPDATES=hourly
STAGING_DIR=/usr/local/cpanel
UPDATES=daily
Notes:
  • Each KEY=value pair is on a separate line.
  • A single equals sign (=) separates the uppercase KEY and lowercase value.
  • The file must not contain spaces.
  • In the example above, /usr/local/cpanel is the default staging directory for the /etc/cpupdate.conf file.

Configuration values

Note:

If a valid setting has a missing, blank, or invalid value, the system updates the setting to its default value and writes it to the file.

The following keys and values determine how to update specified components of the system:

CPANEL

This setting determines the server’s release tier or product version. The CPANEL setting appears in WHM’s Update Preferences interface (WHM » Home » Server Configuration » Update Preferences) as the Release Tier setting.

You can specify either of the following value types:

  • A release tier name (edge, current, release, stable, or lts), to ensure that your server always uses the appropriate version for that tier. release is the default value.
    Note:

    If this setting does not have a value, the system updates it to release.

  • A cPanel & WHM version number, to specify an exact version (for example, 118, 11.118, or 118.123.45).

For example:

CPANEL=release

For the latest information on cPanel & WHM version numbers and tiers, see the Latest cPanel & WHM Builds (All Architectures) table in the cPanel Downloads page.

RPMUP

This setting determines how to update the operating system’s packages. The /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/update-packages script uses this value.

You can specify one of the following values:

  • daily — Update packages daily. This is the default value.
  • manual — Update packages manually (for example, via the command line).
  • never — Prevent both automatic and manual updates to packages.

For example:

RPMUP=daily
SARULESUP

This setting determines how to update Apache SpamAssassin™ rules. The /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/sa-update_wrapper script uses this value.

You can specify one of the following values:

  • daily — Update rules daily. This is the default value.
  • manual — Update rules manually (for example, via the command line).
  • never — Prevent both automatic and manual updates to rules.

For example:

SARULESUP=daily
SECURITY_UPDATES

This setting determines whether the system automatically applies critical security updates. The /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/upcp script uses this value.

You can specify one of the following values:

  • hourly — Apply any available security updates every hour via a cron job. This is the default value.
  • never — Do not apply security updates hourly. Your server will receive these updates during the nightly cPanel & WHM update process.

For example:

SECURITY_UPDATES=hourly
Important:
  • We recommend that you use the default value to ensure your server will receive security updates as soon as we release them.
  • If this setting does not have either the hourly or never values, it remains in the file, but the server ignores it. For example, some older versions of cPanel & WHM may have set a different value, which the system ignores when the server upgrades.
STAGING_DIR

This setting determines the location of the staging directory for the update files. The default staging directory value is /usr/local/cpanel.

The STAGING_DIR setting appears in WHM’s Update Preferences interface (WHM » Home » Server Configuration » Update Preferences) as the Staging Directory setting.

You can specify any valid path. In this example, /valid/path stands for the valid path that you wish to use.

STAGING_DIR=/valid/path
UPDATES

This setting determines how to update cPanel & WHM when updates become available. The /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/upcp script uses this value.

You can specify one of the following values:

  • daily — Update cPanel & WHM daily. This is the default value.
  • manual — Update cPanel & WHM manually (for example, via the command line).
  • never — Do not update cPanel & WHM. We do not recommend that you set this value.

For example:

UPDATES=daily

Additional Documentation