When using remote lists like this or this it's a hassle to manually check for changes and update - this script will do that for you!
User-created entries will not be touched and those removed from the remote list will be disabled instead.
If you're not using remote lists like the ones mentioned above then this script will be useless to you - Pi-hole already updates the lists weekly automatically.
- Pi-hole v5+ installed (fresh install preferred)
- php-cli >=7.0 and a few extensions (
sudo apt-get install php-cli php-sqlite3 php-intl php-curl
) - systemd is optional but recommended
Docker users - look below.
This command will install this script to /usr/local/sbin
:
wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jacklul/pihole-updatelists/master/install.sh | sudo bash
Alternatively you can clone this repo and sudo bash install.sh
.
If systemd is available this script will also add service and timer unit files to the system, otherwise a crontab entry in /etc/cron.d/pihole-updatelists
will be created.
If for some reasons the install script does not copy service and timer files while your distro has systemd scheduler available you can force the installation by passing systemd
as a parameter to the install script - modifying the install command above with sudo bash /dev/stdin systemd
instead.
Note that in most cases you will be able to execute this script globally as pihole-updatelists
command but some will require you to add /usr/local/sbin
to $PATH
or execute it via /usr/local/sbin/pihole-updatelists
.
This script does nothing by default (except running pihole updateGravity
), you have to configure it.
You can quickly update the script with sudo pihole-updatelists --update
which checks for script difference and re-runs the install script when needed.
If you don't plan on updating adlists or want to keep Pi-hole's gravity update schedule you should skip this section and set UPDATE_GRAVITY=false
in the configuration file.
You should disable entry with pihole updateGravity
command in /etc/cron.d/pihole
as this script already runs it:
sudo nano /etc/cron.d/pihole
Put a #
before this line (numbers might be different):
#49 4 * * 7 root PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/bin/" pihole updateGravity >/var/log/pihole_updateGravity.log || cat /var/log/pihole_updateGravity.log
Alternatively, the following sed
command will disable the same entry:
sudo sed -e '/pihole updateGravity/ s/^#*/#/' -i /etc/cron.d/pihole
You might have to do this after each Pi-hole update.
If you already imported any of the remote lists manually you should migrate their entries to allow the script to disable them in case they are removed from the remote list.
If you used pihole5-list-tool to import adlists and whitelist you can use these commands to do this quickly:
sudo sqlite3 /etc/pihole/gravity.db "UPDATE adlist SET comment = 'Managed by pihole-updatelists' WHERE comment LIKE '%Firebog |%' OR comment LIKE '%[ph5lt]'"
sudo sqlite3 /etc/pihole/gravity.db "UPDATE domainlist SET comment = 'Managed by pihole-updatelists' WHERE comment LIKE '%AndeepND |%' OR comment LIKE '%[ph5lt]'"
(code up to date as of pihole5-list-tool 0.6.0)
Alternatively, some manual work is required - pick one:
- Manually modify comment field of all imported domains/adlists to match the one this script uses (see
COMMENT
variable in Configuration section) (recommended but might be a lot of work) - Manually delete all imported domains/adlists from the web interface (might be a lot of work)
- Wipe all adlists and domains (not recommended but fast - use this if you want to start fresh)
- backup your lists and custom entries (write them down somewhere, do not use the Teleporter)
- run the following commands:
sudo sqlite3 /etc/pihole/gravity.db "DELETE FROM adlist" sudo sqlite3 /etc/pihole/gravity.db "DELETE FROM adlist_by_group" sudo sqlite3 /etc/pihole/gravity.db "DELETE FROM domainlist" sudo sqlite3 /etc/pihole/gravity.db "DELETE FROM domainlist_by_group"
- keep reading and configure the script then run
sudo pihole-updatelists
to finish up - (only when
UPDATE_GRAVITY=false
) runpihole updateGravity
Follow the official instructions and add a volume for /etc/pihole-updatelists/
directory.
If you need to pull a specific version of Pi-hole image you have no other choice but to use custom Dockerfile.
Use jacklul/pihole:latest
image instead of pihole/pihole:latest
.
If you don't want to use my image you can write custom Dockerfile
:
FROM pihole/pihole:latest
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -Vy php-cli php-sqlite3 php-intl php-curl
RUN wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jacklul/pihole-updatelists/master/install.sh | bash /dev/stdin docker
Then build your image locally and use that image in your docker-composer.yml
or launch command line.
You will have to update your local image manually each time update is released.
Your docker-compose.yml
file should look similar to this:
version: "3"
services:
pihole:
container_name: pihole
image: jacklul/pihole:latest
ports:
- "53:53/tcp"
- "53:53/udp"
- "67:67/udp"
- "80:80/tcp"
environment:
TZ: 'America/Chicago'
volumes:
- './etc-pihole/:/etc/pihole/'
- './etc-dnsmasq.d/:/etc/dnsmasq.d/'
- './etc-pihole-updatelists/:/etc/pihole-updatelists/'
cap_add:
- NET_ADMIN
restart: unless-stopped
(for more up to date docker-compose.yml
see pi-hole/docker-pi-hole)
If you already have existing gravity.db
you should also check out Migrating lists and domains section, keep in mind that you will have to adjust paths in the commands mentioned there.
Default configuration file is /etc/pihole-updatelists.conf
.
sudo nano /etc/pihole-updatelists.conf
Variable | Default | Description |
---|---|---|
ADLISTS_URL | " " | Remote list URL containing list of adlists to import URLs to single adlists are supported but it might be better if you add them manually |
WHITELIST_URL | " " | Remote list URL containing exact domains to whitelist |
REGEX_WHITELIST_URL | " " | Remote list URL containing regex rules for whitelisting |
BLACKLIST_URL | " " | Remote list URL containing exact domains to blacklist This is specifically for handcrafted lists only, do not use regular blocklists here! |
REGEX_BLACKLIST_URL | " " | Remote list URL containing regex rules for blacklisting |
COMMENT | "Managed by pihole-updatelists" | Comment string used to know which entries were created by the script You can still add your own comments to individual entries as long you keep this string intact |
GROUP_ID | 0 | Assign additional group to all inserted entries, to assign only the specified group (do not add to the default) make the number negative 0 is the default group, you can view ID of the group in Pi-hole's web interface by hovering mouse cursor over group name field on the 'Group management' page Multiple groups are not supported |
PERSISTENT_GROUP | false | Makes sure entries have the specified group assigned on each script run This does not prevent you from assigning more groups through the web interface but can remove entries from the default group if GROUP_ID is a negative number Do not enable this when you're running multiple different configurations |
REQUIRE_COMMENT | true | Prevent touching entries not created by this script by comparing comment field When false any user-created entry will be disabled, only those created by the script will be active |
UPDATE_GRAVITY | true | Update gravity after lists are updated? (runs pihole updateGravity ) When false invokes lists reload instead Set to null to do nothing |
VERBOSE | false | Show more information while the script is running |
DEBUG | false | Show debug messages for troubleshooting purposes If you're having issues - this might help tracking it down |
DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT | 60 | Maximum time in seconds one list download can take before giving up You should increase this when downloads fail because of timeout |
IGNORE_DOWNLOAD_FAILURE | false | Ignore download failures when using multiple lists This will cause entries from the lists that failed to download to be disabled |
GRAVITY_DB | "/etc/pihole/gravity.db" | Path to gravity.db in case you need to change it |
LOCK_FILE | "/var/lock/pihole-updatelists.lock" | Process lockfile to prevent multiple instances of the script from running You shouldn't change it - unless /var/lock is unavailable |
LOG_FILE | " " | Log console output to file In most cases you don't have to set this as you can view full log in the system journal Put - before path to overwrite file instead of appending to it |
GIT_BRANCH | "master" | Branch to pull remote checksum and update from |
String values should be put between " "
, otherwise weird things might happen.
You can also give paths to the local files instead of URLs, for example setting WHITELIST_URL
to /home/pi/whitelist.txt
will fetch this file from filesystem.
You can specify alternative config file by passing the path to the script through config
parameter: pihole-updatelists --config=/home/pi/pihole-updatelists2.conf
- this combined with different COMMENT
string can allow multiple script configurations for the same Pi-hole instance.
A more advanced way is to use sections in the configuration file:
(bottom of the file)
[GroupA_adlists]
WHITELIST_URL="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/you/adlists/master/my_whitelist1.txt"
GROUP_ID=-1
COMMENT="pihole-updatelists - whitelist1"
[GroupB_adlists]
WHITELIST_URL="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/you/adlists/master/my_whitelist2.txt"
GROUP_ID=-2
COMMENT="pihole-updatelists - whitelist2"
Configurations where one of the lists contains entries from the other are not officially supported but may work:
; When one of the lists contains entries from the other
; it's best to have it defined after the other one
; Group with ID=1 will use 'tick' list of adlists
[GroupA_adlists]
ADLISTS_URL="https://v.firebog.net/hosts/lists.php?type=tick"
GROUP_ID=-1
COMMENT="pihole-updatelists - firebog (tick)"
; Group with ID=2 will use 'nocross' list of adlists
[GroupB_adlists]
ADLISTS_URL="https://v.firebog.net/hosts/lists.php?type=nocross"
GROUP_ID=-2
COMMENT="pihole-updatelists - firebog (nocross)"
You will want to have a different COMMENT
value in each section, they have to be unique and one must not match the other!
Main configuration (the one without section header) is processed first, then the sections in the order of their appearance.
IMPORTANT: You can only use selected variables in sections:
ADLISTS_URL, WHITELIST_URL, REGEX_WHITELIST_URL, BLACKLIST_URL, REGEX_BLACKLIST_URL, COMMENT, GROUP_ID, PERSISTENT_GROUP, IGNORE_DOWNLOAD_FAILURE
You can pass multiple URLs to the list variables by separating them with whitespace (space or new line):
ADLISTS_URL="https://v.firebog.net/hosts/lists.php?type=tick https://raw.githubusercontent.com/you/adlists/master/my_adlists.txt"
If one of the lists fails to download nothing will be affected for that list type.
List | URL/Variable value | Description |
---|---|---|
Adlist (ADLISTS_URL) |
https://v.firebog.net/hosts/lists.php?type=tick | https://firebog.net - safe lists only |
Whitelist (WHITELIST_URL) |
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anudeepND/whitelist/master/domains/whitelist.txt | https://github.com/anudeepND/whitelist - commonly whitelisted |
Regex blacklist (REGEX_BLACKLIST_URL) |
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mmotti/pihole-regex/master/regex.list | https://github.com/mmotti/pihole-regex - basic regex rules |
Please note that mmotti/pihole-regex list can sometimes block domains that should not be blocked - any false positives should be reported to the repository to be included in the whitelist (in that case you might consider adding that list to the WHITELIST_URL
too).
These can be used when executing pihole-updatelists
.
Option | Description |
---|---|
--help, -h |
Show help message, which is simply this list |
--no-gravity, -n |
Force gravity update to be skipped |
--no-reload, -b |
Force lists reload to be skipped Only if gravity update is disabled either by configuration ( UPDATE_GRAVITY=false ) or --no-gravity parameter |
--verbose, -v |
Turn on verbose mode |
--debug, -d |
Turn on debug mode |
--config=<file> |
Load alternative configuration file |
--git-branch=<branch> |
Select git branch to pull remote checksum and update from Can only be used with --update and --version |
--update |
Update the script using selected git branch |
--rollback |
Rollback script version to previous |
--force |
Force update without checking for newest version |
--yes, -y |
Automatically reply YES to all questions |
--version |
Show script checksum (and also if update is available) |
By default, the script runs at random time (between 03:00 and 04:00) on Saturday, to change it you'll have to override timer unit file:
sudo systemctl edit pihole-updatelists.timer
[Timer]
RandomizedDelaySec=5m
OnCalendar=
OnCalendar=Sat *-*-* 00:00:00
If systemd is not available you just modify the crontab entry in /etc/cron.d/pihole-updatelists
:
14 6 * * 6 root /usr/local/sbin/pihole-updatelists
Override service unit file:
sudo systemctl edit pihole-updatelists.service
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStartPre=echo "before"
ExecStartPost=echo "after"
If systemd is not available you just modify the crontab entry in /etc/cron.d/pihole-updatelists
:
30 3 * * 6 root /home/pi/before.sh && /usr/local/sbin/pihole-updatelists && /home/pi/after.sh
You can use ;
instead of &&
if you don't want the execution to stop on previous command failure.
sudo sqlite3 /etc/pihole/gravity.db "UPDATE adlist SET comment = 'NEWCOMMENT' WHERE comment LIKE '%Managed by pihole-updatelists%'"
sudo sqlite3 /etc/pihole/gravity.db "UPDATE domainlist SET comment = 'NEWCOMMENT' WHERE comment LIKE '%Managed by pihole-updatelists%'"
Replace NEWCOMMENT
with your new desired comment value. This assumes Managed by pihole-updatelists
is the old comment value, replace it with your old custom value when needed.
If you wish to add custom comments to entries you can use the following file syntax:
example-domain.com # your comment
Which will cause example-domain.com
to have comment
set to your comment | Managed by pihole-updatelists
.
You can also add your comments directly through the Pi-hole's web interface by either appending or prepending the comment field for entries.
wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jacklul/pihole-updatelists/master/install.sh | sudo bash /dev/stdin uninstall
or remove files manually:
sudo rm -vf /usr/local/sbin/pihole-updatelists /etc/bash_completion.d/pihole-updatelists /etc/systemd/system/pihole-updatelists.service /etc/systemd/system/pihole-updatelists.timer /etc/cron.d/pihole-updatelists