--- a/fsleyes/main.py
+++ b/fsleyes/main.py
@@ -249,7 +249,8 @@
         # Check for updates. Ignore point
         # releases, otherwise users might
         # get swamped with update notifications.
-        if not namespace[0].skipupdatecheck:
+        # Debian: needs to be done manually via menu
+        if False:
             import fsleyes.actions.updatecheck as updatecheck
             wx.CallAfter(updatecheck.UpdateCheckAction(),
                          showUpToDateMessage=False,
--- a/fsleyes/parseargs.py
+++ b/fsleyes/parseargs.py
@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@
                        'verbose',
                        'version',
                        'skipfslcheck',
-                       'skipupdatecheck',
+                       #'skipupdatecheck',
                        'noisy',
                        'glversion',
                        'scene',
@@ -648,7 +648,7 @@
     'Main.verbose'          : ('v',      'verbose',          False),
     'Main.version'          : ('V',      'version',          False),
     'Main.skipfslcheck'     : ('S',      'skipfslcheck',     False),
-    'Main.skipupdatecheck'  : ('U',      'skipupdatecheck',  False),
+    #'Main.skipupdatecheck'  : ('U',      'skipupdatecheck',  False),
     'Main.noisy'            : ('n',      'noisy',            False),
     'Main.glversion'        : ('gl',     'glversion',        True),
     'Main.scene'            : ('s',      'scene',            True),
@@ -822,7 +822,7 @@
     'Main.verbose'         : 'Verbose output (can be used up to 3 times)',
     'Main.version'         : 'Print the current version and exit',
     'Main.skipfslcheck'    : 'Skip $FSLDIR check/warning',
-    'Main.skipupdatecheck' : 'Do not check for FSLeyes updates on startup',
+    #'Main.skipupdatecheck' : 'Do not check for FSLeyes updates on startup',
     'Main.noisy'           : 'Make the specified module noisy',
     'Main.glversion'       : 'Desired (major, minor) OpenGL version',
     'Main.scene'           : 'Scene to show',
@@ -1457,9 +1457,9 @@
     mainParser.add_argument(*mainArgs['skipfslcheck'],
                             action='store_true',
                             help=mainHelp['skipfslcheck'])
-    mainParser.add_argument(*mainArgs['skipupdatecheck'],
-                            action='store_true',
-                            help=mainHelp['skipupdatecheck'])
+    #mainParser.add_argument(*mainArgs['skipupdatecheck'],
+    #                        action='store_true',
+    #                        help=mainHelp['skipupdatecheck'])
 
     # Debug messages are stripped from frozen
     # versions of FSLeyes, so there's no point
