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Hi, all

The more I learn, the less I know :-)

I've seen several people on this list recommending that we run 'apt-get
update' and 'apt-get upgrade' on a regular basis. What are your thoughts
on setting up a cron job to do it automatically, say once a month or
once a week?

- --
Jim Hyslop
Dreampossible: Better software. Simply. http://www.dreampossible.ca
Consulting * Mentoring * Training in
C/C++ * OOD * SW Development & Practices * Version Management
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Jim Hyslop wrote:
> I've seen several people on this list recommending that we run 'apt-get
> update' and 'apt-get upgrade' on a regular basis. What are your thoughts
> on setting up a cron job to do it automatically, say once a month or
> once a week?
>
You might be "safe" to do that on a stable system, but if you're running
stable, it's likely on a server, and I would not risk a server's health
with such a "risky" automation.

If you're running testing or sid, it's even more risky, as often such a
process may introduce removals of large chunks of your system if you're
not paying attention.

In short, there's too much that can go wrong if you don't pay attention,
so I personally would not go the route of automation. Others may disagree.

> Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
>
Every couple of years we tinker with using encryption on our email at
the university campus where I work; we'd love to get everyone using
encryption. But it's just too complex for the average PhD.

Bummer.

--
Kent


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On Mon, Mar 26, 2007 at 11:27:41PM -0400, Jim Hyslop wrote:
> Hi, all
>
> The more I learn, the less I know :-)
>
> I've seen several people on this list recommending that we run 'apt-get
> update' and 'apt-get upgrade' on a regular basis. What are your thoughts
> on setting up a cron job to do it automatically, say once a month or
> once a week?
>
cron-apt

I have it set to download, but not install, new packages. It emails me
with a summary whenever new packages are downloaded. I then review the
updates and decide whether or not to install them.

Regards,

-Roberto

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Roberto C. Sánchez
http://people.connexer.com/~roberto
http://www.connexer.com

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Kent West wrote:
[...]
> In short, there's too much that can go wrong if you don't pay attention,
> so I personally would not go the route of automation. Others may disagree.
I was wondering if there would be any issues like that. Can you
elaborate a little on the kinds of things that might go wrong? I must
admit that when I do run apt-get update/upgrade, I don't always look
over things thoroughly.

The machine, by the way, is mostly for experimental use, so I can learn
about the GNU/Linux world (having spent most of my computer days on...
that other OS).

> Every couple of years we tinker with using encryption on our email at
> the university campus where I work; we'd love to get everyone using
> encryption. But it's just too complex for the average PhD.
LOL

- --
Jim Hyslop
Dreampossible: Better software. Simply. http://www.dreampossible.ca
Consulting * Mentoring * Training in
C/C++ * OOD * SW Development & Practices * Version Management
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Roberto C. Sánchez wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 26, 2007 at 11:27:41PM -0400, Jim Hyslop wrote:
>>[automating apt-get]
>
> cron-apt

Oh, cool. See? I know even less now! Isn't that wonderful? :-)

- --
Jim Hyslop
Dreampossible: Better software. Simply. http://www.dreampossible.ca
Consulting * Mentoring * Training in
C/C++ * OOD * SW Development & Practices * Version Management
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Kent West wrote:
> Jim Hyslop wrote:
>> Kent West wrote:
>> [...]
>>
>>> In short, there's too much that can go wrong if you don't pay
>>> attention,
>>> so I personally would not go the route of automation. Others may
>>> disagree.
>>>
>> I was wondering if there would be any issues like that. Can you
>> elaborate a little on the kinds of things that might go wrong?

I've also had situations where a partition filled up during an upgrade;
now I tend to check free space first before doing an upgrade, because
the alternative is more painful.

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Kent


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Jim Hyslop wrote:
> Kent West wrote:
> [...]
>
>> In short, there's too much that can go wrong if you don't pay attention,
>> so I personally would not go the route of automation. Others may disagree.
>>
> I was wondering if there would be any issues like that. Can you
> elaborate a little on the kinds of things that might go wrong? I must
> admit that when I do run apt-get update/upgrade, I don't always look
> over things thoroughly.


Fer 'xample:

I just pulled an old box out of mothballs (having just had a mobo die on
me in my regular box), and ran "aptitude update" on it. Here's the results:

> Get:1 http://http.us.debian.org unstable Release.gpg [189B]
> Get:2 http://http.us.debian.org stable Release.gpg
> [378B]
> Get:3 http://http.us.debian.org testing Release.gpg
> [189B]
> Hit http://http.us.debian.org unstable
> Release
> Hit http://http.us.debian.org stable
> Release
> Get:4 http://security.debian.org stable/updates Release.gpg [189B]
> Hit http://http.us.debian.org testing Release
> Get:5 http://http.us.debian.org unstable Release [79.6kB]
> Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates Release
> Err http://security.debian.org stable/updates Release
>
> Get:6 http://security.debian.org stable/updates Release [18.1kB]
> Ign http://security.debian.org stable/updates Release
> Get:7 http://http.us.debian.org stable Release [34.6kB]
> Ign http://http.us.debian.org unstable
> Release
> Get:8 http://http.us.debian.org testing Release
> [74.4kB]
> Ign http://security.debian.org stable/updates/main
> Packages
> Ign http://http.us.debian.org stable
> Release
> Ign http://security.debian.org stable/updates/contrib Packages
> Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates/main Packages
> Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates/contrib Packages
> Hit http://http.us.debian.org unstable/main Packages
> Hit http://http.us.debian.org unstable/contrib Packages
> Ign http://http.us.debian.org testing Release
> Ign http://http.us.debian.org stable/main Packages
> Ign http://http.us.debian.org stable/contrib Packages
> Hit http://http.us.debian.org testing/main Packages
> Hit http://http.us.debian.org testing/contrib Packages
> Hit http://http.us.debian.org stable/main Packages
> Hit http://http.us.debian.org stable/contrib Packages
> Fetched 208kB in 2s (93.1kB/s)
> Reading package lists... Done
> W: GPG error: http://security.debian.org stable/updates Release: The
> following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is
> not available: NO_PUBKEY A70DAF536070D3A1
> W: GPG error: http://http.us.debian.org unstable Release: The
> following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is
> not available: NO_PUBKEY A70DAF536070D3A1
> W: GPG error: http://http.us.debian.org stable Release: The following
> signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not
> available: NO_PUBKEY A70DAF536070D3A1 NO_PUBKEY B5D0C804ADB11277
> W: GPG error: http://http.us.debian.org testing Release: The following
> signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not
> available: NO_PUBKEY A70DAF536070D3A1
> W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
Granted, this particular problem would not hurt me in this case had the
process been automated and continued, but the potential is there.

I've also had times when I wasn't paying attention and wound up removing
all of KDE or other large subsets of functionality. I've since learned
to pay a bit more attention.

--
Kent


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On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 22:32:54 -0500
Kent West <westk@acu.edu> wrote:

> Jim Hyslop wrote:
> > I've seen several people on this list recommending that we run 'apt-get
> > update' and 'apt-get upgrade' on a regular basis. What are your thoughts
> > on setting up a cron job to do it automatically, say once a month or
> > once a week?
> >
> You might be "safe" to do that on a stable system, but if you're running
> stable, it's likely on a server, and I would not risk a server's health
> with such a "risky" automation.
>
> If you're running testing or sid, it's even more risky, as often such a
> process may introduce removals of large chunks of your system if you're
> not paying attention.
>
> In short, there's too much that can go wrong if you don't pay attention,
> so I personally would not go the route of automation. Others may disagree.

Use cron-apt; by default it only updates the package list and downloads
the packages without installing anything.

Celejar


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