diff --git a/docs/build.rst b/docs/build.rst
index 7bab4f011..1d080af0e 100644
--- a/docs/build.rst
+++ b/docs/build.rst
@@ -174,29 +174,3 @@ servers into which they ssh, without needing to install all of |kitty|.
 
 This applies to creating packages for |kitty| for macOS package managers such as
 Homebrew or MacPorts as well.
-
-
-Changing defaults for packages
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-|kitty| has its defaults chosen to be suitable for a standalone distributable.
-If you are packaging it a few of these might need to be changed.
-
-update-checking
-   |kitty| has its own update check mechanism, if you would like to turn
-   it off for your package, use::
-
-       ./setup.py linux-package --update-check-interval=0
-
-shell-integration
-   |kitty| by default injects its :ref:`shell_integration` code into the user's
-   shell using environment variables. For a package, it might make more sense
-   to distribute the shell integration scripts into the system-wide shell
-   vendor locations. The shell integration files are found in the
-   :file:`shell-integration` directory. Copy them to the system wide shell
-   vendor locations for each shell, and use::
-
-       ./setup.py linux-package --shell-integration=enabled\ no-rc
-
-   This will prevent kitty from modifying the user's shell environment to load
-   the integration scripts.
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index d678463e4..e22ec6707 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@ Detailed list of changes
 
 - :ac:`select_tab`: Use stable numbers when selecting the tab (:iss:`4792`)
 
+- Only check for updates in the official binary builds. Distro packages or source builds will no longer check for updates, regardless of the
+  value of :opt:`update_check_interval`.
+
 
 0.24.4 [2022-03-03]
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/kitty/boss.py b/kitty/boss.py
index 5ecd22bae..2b1d549bb 100644
--- a/kitty/boss.py
+++ b/kitty/boss.py
@@ -773,7 +773,7 @@ class Boss:
             else:
                 self.startup_first_child(first_os_window_id)
 
-        if get_options().update_check_interval > 0 and not hasattr(self, 'update_check_started'):
+        if get_options().update_check_interval > 0 and not hasattr(self, 'update_check_started') and getattr(sys, 'frozen', False):
             from .update_check import run_update_check
             run_update_check(get_options().update_check_interval * 60 * 60)
             self.update_check_started = True
diff --git a/kitty/options/definition.py b/kitty/options/definition.py
index 5bf4b2fb4..309dd200d 100644
--- a/kitty/options/definition.py
+++ b/kitty/options/definition.py
@@ -2710,8 +2710,9 @@ opt('update_check_interval', '24',
     long_text='''
 Periodically check if an update to kitty is available. If an update is found a
 system notification is displayed informing you of the available update. The
-default is to check every 24 hrs, set to zero to disable. Changing this option
-by reloading the config is not supported.
+default is to check every 24 hrs, set to zero to disable. Update checking is
+only done by the official binary builds. Distro packages or source builds do not
+do update checking. Changing this option by reloading the config is not supported.
 '''
     )