Question

2

APT update automation via Bash script

rated 0 times [ 2] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 2632 / 2 Years ago, thu, november 3, 2022, 7:13:25

I am relatively new to Linux in general, still learning :)

I want to write a bash script for automation of apt update and apt upgrade. I have the idea of sending the apt update command, then watching the lines for specific words.

E.g, after apt update was done, it says:

 Reading state information... Done

 89 packages can be upgraded.

So in this case I want to look for can be upgraded. If those words are in the output the script shall execute apt upgrade -y.

Any help is highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

edgehogight

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 272

Total Questions: 113

Total Answers: 99

Location: Northern Mariana Islands

Member since Sun, Jul 19, 2020

4 Years ago

answered 2 Years ago fectlyole · Accepted Answer

There is this tool /usr/lib/update-notifier/apt-check giving simple output.

The --human-readable flag gives more information.

In short, /usr/lib/update-notifier/apt-check --human-readable gives two numbers :

<n1> packages can be updated.

<n2> updates are security updates.

/usr/lib/update-notifier/apt-check with no option has this output layout:

<n1>;<n1>

So it is possible to extract the first number and if it is greater than 0, say that some update is available.

Extract the first number, number of available updates:

/usr/lib/update-notifier/apt-check |& cut -d";" -f 1

Use it in a script:

#!/bin/bash

if [ $(/usr/lib/update-notifier/apt-check |& cut -d";" -f 1) -gt 0 ]; then

    # Some commands

    sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade

fi