apt (in either Debian or any RPM distro) is not a thing that should probably be put in a cron job. All too often it requires some level of user interaction to configure packages, or in Debian's case, can leave some packages un-updated because of new file dependencies that are missing. For example, if gaim requires a new widget library (libfoo) package that is not installed, it will be held back during update time until you either 'apt-get install gaim', which will treat it like a newly installed package, and get all dependencies, or else install libfoo (although apt doesn't tell you why it's holding the package back, or what is missing), and 'apt-get upgrade' again.
I manually upgrade my Debian server with apt on a weekly basis. The only think I'll cron is the email to remind me to do it, or 'apt-get update' and a dry run of 'apt-get upgrade' to tell me what all has an updated to be installed. Regards, Ben Pitzer --------------------------------------------- "Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Ben Franklin-- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > On Tuesday 16 September 2003 01:56 pm, David R.Matusiak wrote: >> i know up2date is the tool to apply patches to a single (Red Hat) >> machine, but can this functionality be extended to tens or hundreds >> of machines? > > I use apt4rpm (apt-get for rpm) + local "updates" server (that > mirrors official update servers for RedHat, daily rsync) + a cron job > on > the Linux > boxes that launch a script (see below). > > apt4rpm: > http://apt-rpm.tuxfamily.org/ > > scripts: > - -------- /usr/local/sbin/cronupdate.sh ---------- #~/bin/sh > # for Red Hat, apt-get enabled > # by Sinner from the Prairy , 2002 > # [EMAIL PROTECTED] / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > apt-get update > /usr/local/sbin/auto-update.sh > /root/auto-update.log > cat /root/auto-update.log | mailto -s "Manual-update for `hostname` > at `date`" [EMAIL PROTECTED] > - ------------------------------ > - -------- /usr/local/sbin/autoupdate.sh ---------- #!/bin/sh > # by Sinner from the Prairy , 2002 > # [EMAIL PROTECTED] / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > # This script is called by crond. > > > echo ================================================================= > echo Updates for `hostname` starting at `date` > echo > ================================================================= > echo > > apt-get -y upgrade > > echo > echo ================================================================= > echo Updates for `hostname` finished at `date` > echo ================================================================= > > - ------------------------------ > - -------------- crontab -l -------------- > > # auto update system > 55 23 * * * /usr/local/sbin/cronupdate.sh > - ------------------------------ > > > Enjoy! > - -- > Visit my website! http://www.ibiblio.org/sinner/ > Running on Mandrake Linux 9.0 - Kernel 2.4.19smp Linux User # 89976 > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) > > iD8DBQE/Z10MSGQa4/zQ9e8RAg/MAJ95rcf0tkHnpDwcTAALchyIFKM7pwCgigJc > rMqujouFe43Q9RohUyfeySE= =0sdp > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > > -- > TriLUG mailing list : > http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug TriLUG Organizational > FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/ > TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/ > TriLUG PGP Keyring : http://trilug.org/~chrish/trilug.asc -- TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug TriLUG Organizational FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/ TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/ TriLUG PGP Keyring : http://trilug.org/~chrish/trilug.asc
