[SOLVED] Install Updates Automatically?

[sac]

I'm looking at a new Linux distribution for some computer labs that I manage and Mint 11 (Katya) seems like an attractive option. Because we have a large number of users with centralized home directories (and any of those users might log in on any of more than 100 computers) it isn't a practical to let everyone have sudo access (which installing software updates requires).

I'd like to make sure that the computers, when they get booted into Linux (they're dual boot Windows 7 and Linux), get, at the very least, security updates installed without any user intervention. I've searched here and elsewhere, looked in Update Manager and Synaptic for an automatic installation option and can't find one. Am I missing something obvious or do I need to run "apt-get update ; apt-get upgrade" out of an RC script?

As I said, Mint seems like a very attractive option, but I'm not sure if I can use it without some sort of automated patch installation.

Also, is there some way to not show Update Manager for regular (non sudo privileged users)? Showing people updates that they can't install isn't very useful.

TIA

sac

[DrHu]

I'm looking at a new Linux distribution for some computer labs that I manage and Mint 11 (Katya) seems like an attractive option. Because we have a large number of users with centralized home directories (and any of those users might log in on any of more than 100 computers) it isn't a practical to let everyone have sudo access (which installing software updates requires).

OK, so maybe the following will be enough information for you?

That is not the usual way to provide updates within a computer LAB setting

• The normal method is to provide a staging machine from which updates are pulled or the same except updates are pushed onto the the remote client machines..

The obvious way is with a cron job and yes a script function and just like another OS, a user that has rights to update and therefore would need sudo access; it is also a good idea not to pull or push updates while users are interactive on their machines

• Additionally, in order to allow a user to logon to any machine with a specific user name, you either have to provide the same user ID (name) on every machine or use an LDAP directory structure
• If you have a mix of windows OS, you may already have AD (Active Directory) available and could use that as the method of connecting to an update machine
• The third method is to go to each client machine, using a media file on a CD or usb device, and connecting to a host (update machine) to pull updates; which can either be an unattented operation while logged in or you monitor it to completion
  --obviously this is the slow method, except when doing an image format of a messed up machine, in which case it is probably the best method to clean up that whole machine

An example..
http://www.cs.arizona.edu/computing/help/lnxpatch.html
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Activ ... nbindHowto

How a LAB might work, and I will presume you don't need real time security updates
First don't worry if the Linux security patches are not for remote exploits; just fix the broken machines or update them all at the same time, in off hours

[remoulder]

do I need to run "apt-get update ; apt-get upgrade" out of an RC script?

Basically yes, you will need to script it, especially if you don't want your users to have access to the update manager or have sudo rights. Mintupdate can be simply un-installed if not required or removed from startup, but without sudo rights the users will not be able to run it anyway.

[sac]

I was hoping that mintUpdate had an option like yast in OpenSUSE to install non-interactive updates automatically, but it should be simple enough to script updates as part of system initialization.

Thanks.

[xenopeek]

You can do this with the package unattended-upgrades. Install it, and see the configuration options explained here: http://linuxaria.com/article/enable-aut ... tu?lang=en