Stephen Garton wrote: > Afternoon All, > > I look after my mother in laws's ubuntu box - currently running hardy. > She only has a 512 broadband connection, and a full upgrade needs to > download ~1.8GB of packages. > > I have ssh access to the machine, when it is turned on. What I would > like to do is log on when I know the machine is online, and start > downloading the packages ready for installing at a later date. When I > have downloaded all the packages, I can give her a call and say 'don't > turn it off until I call back' and run the update. > > Doing it this way would mean that it wouldn't matter if she shut the > machine down while the packages were downloading, as when I next > logged in they would start again from where they left off (similar to > the way it works if you hit Ctrl+C whilst packages are downloading > using sudo aptitude dist-upgrade) > > Could I & Should I do the update this way, or should I wait until she > goes on holiday in january, and leave the computer turned on and do it > in one fell swoop? > > TIA > > Steve Garton > http://www.sheepeatingtaz.co.uk >
Try apt-get update -d The -d switch means that it just downloads updates but doesn't install them. That way you can say download a few updates and then if she turns the PC off you can just start it again. I'm sure there's a more elegant way of doing it but this is how I'd do it if I was in a hurry. Rob -- [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
