Run updates from crontab

Simple safe-upgrade script to be run from root's crontab -

Reasoning - I was tired of the way the updater was in Ubuntu recently, that whole pop-under thing is annoying and counter productive. So I wrote a script that safe-update's the system and doesn't need a sudo user to install the updates.

Now, I would not advise using this on a server or mission critical desktop. Who knows what could happen even with only safe-update called...

Setup is near the bottom, read this first.

What update.sh does:

$now is the current date in unix time
$check_date is the current date minus one week
(actually 6 days 23 hours 59 minutes and 45 seconds)

Fist step is:
It checks to see if this script has been run before via a if file exists in bash

if yes then:
It checks to see if current date minus one week is greater than or equal to the last update. So if this was last run over a week ago it will start.
If not it was last updated withing a week it will exit. This _should_ not happen, but is a built in 'failsafe'.

If the file does not exist:
It creates the .update_log and goes on its merry way updating.

What is doens't do:
This script does NOT reboot the machine when done, this was done on purpose for the user(s). This way when they are done for the day they and shutdown the computer will be up to date the next time it is turned on.

WARNING:
Firefox will act crazy if not restarted after updating! This may be covered in the next revision.

Setup:
1. Copy between the CUTs to /root/update.sh via vim/vi/nano/gedit etc. (Yes you need to be root)
2. chmod +x /root/update.sh
3. su root (if you sudo'd in)
4. #crontab -e
5. Setup the crontab the way you like it
5a. Here's mine 30 16 * * 2 /root/update.sh
6. :wq <-- to save the crontab

You may also want crontab to shutdown or reboot the machine after, but that is up to you.


//----------------CUT--------------------------//
#!/bin/bash
# update.sh - DTM
# Get root's paths (as root 'grep bin /root/*')
# this will give the correct shell also
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:"${PATH}"
PATH=/usr/sbin:"${PATH}"
PATH=/sbin:"${PATH}"

# Check last update time
#-----------------------
# Check if file exists get information on last modify time or just create one

# Define vars using Unix time - makes it easier
now=`date +%s`
check_date=$(($now-604785))

# See if file exists
if [ -f /root/.update_log ];
then
last_update=`cat /root/.update_log`
if [ $check_date -ge $last_update ];
then
echo $now > /root/.update_log && aptitude update && aptitude -y safe-upgrade
else
exit
fi # //END COMPARE LOGS
else
echo $now > /root/.update_log && aptitude update && aptitude -y safe-upgrade
fi # //END MAIN IF
//-------------------------CUT--------------//

Another run-in with Windows Vista

Where to begin? Well, I am moving back to New York after nine years of living no closer then 9.5 hours by car. With this move comes the oh so fun job hunting. As many of you know, unless you live under a rock, the job market flat out stinks at this point in time. I have applied for 27 jobs and have heard back from one! Anyhow, this whole resume thing and it having to be in the lovely proprietary Microsoft Word format 97% of the time, has gotten a little unruly in OpenOffice. Don't get me wrong OpenOffice is great, when it is not deleting embedded tables in doc files as it is in 3.1, I use it every day for normal document, PDF, spreadsheet application. But, the table dropping was killing me, so I said screw it and installed my copy of Windows Vista Business x32 that came with my Thinkpad.

First off the install was quick, on the 20GB partition I allowed it, but the updates took over 2 hours to download and install! Mind you I do have a 6MB pipe and they were downloaded in less than 10 minutes. Installing should not have taken over an hour and a half on a dual core T7100 1.8Ghz intel with 4GB of ram. After my wait was over sometime around midnight I installed the much needed Antivirus and went to bed, finally.

This morning I installed my Copy of Office 2007, applied service pack one and was on my way to my normal tasks. Checking email, looking at job boards, etc. I soon realized my four legged friend needed to take a little trip outside. So, I closed the lid on my Thinkpad, like I did last night, and took him for a walk. Needless to say I was distracted for a good 3 hours, I happened to be walking into the kitchen when I noticed my amber battery light was on and the little green moon was not! I panicked a little because I have my good battery(7 cell) in and not the little 4 cell that came with it, these are not cheap and I try not to run them below 25% unless it is an absolute necessity.

So now that you are up to date on the on the happenings, I suppose I can show you the picture of what the desktop looked like when I opened the lid.



Lovely heh? Less than 14 hours installed and I get my first BSOD. Someone again tell me why I don't use Microsoft products? As of right now I am only at 31% of my battery, thank you Windows Vista Experience you have made my day and busy weekend for that matter, even better.

I am off to install Ubuntu Linux on the other 60GBs of my hard drive, guess I should have just dealt with VirtualBox OSE's lack of USB support in the free version, thanks a lot Sun! I blame you too.

And by the way I did click the "Find a Solution" button, you know what I got? Nothing....

Thanks again....