Joe <3 cron!

[Joe]

Yup. I'm not sure it if's just debian/ubuntu, or it's for all of Linux (I assume the latter), but it's a scheduling daemon. Right now, here's root's crontabs.

30 22 * * * echo "Starting dist-upgrade: $(date)" >> /tmp/update.log && /usr/bin/apt-get update -y && /usr/bin/apt-get dist-upgrade -y

From the Ubuntu Wiki Page about cron, it says that the first five spaces (here: "30 22 * * *") specify, in order, the *minute*, *hour*, *day of month*, *month* and *day of week*.

So I have these tasks scheduled to occur at 10:30 (2230 military time) each night:
Make a note about system upgrade in /tmp/update.log
Get list of latest updates (apt-get update -y)
Download + install them (apt-get dist-upgrade -y)

[Newby]

That's ridiculous. That's gonna be such a bandwidth whore.

Good idea though, if you can afford the bandwidth/CPU speed you'll be eating 10:30 each night downloading and installing shit.

[rabbit]

If your distro gets minor updates every now and then, once a week is best.  Otherwise I'd personally set it to once a month or quarter.

[iago]

Any distro CAN run cron, and every distro that I'm familiar with does. 

On darkside, I have a nightly crontab to back up key databases and files. 

[Joe]

That's ridiculous. That's gonna be such a bandwidth whore.

Good idea though, if you can afford the bandwidth/CPU speed you'll be eating 10:30 each night downloading and installing shit.

I can EASILY afford the CPU speed (2.8GHz runs Linux like nobody's business), and afford the bandwidth (nobody will be awake until 6:30 the next morning). And the only time I'll be downloading is if an update comes out. Apt-get update will check hit/miss on the repository lists, and if theres a miss THEN it downloads the list, and apt-get dist-upgrade will only download if everything isn't current.

If your distro gets minor updates every now and then, once a week is best.  Otherwise I'd personally set it to once a month or quarter.

It's pretty much configured for when I switch to dapper drake (development version), so I don't get piled up on. But yeah, this is a bit overkill.

[Newby]

I should do something similar to this with FreeBSD && portupgrade.

[Joe]

Btw, this idea is copywrite 2006 Joe. (kidding, but still.. royalty please).

[Sidoh]

On darkside, I have a nightly crontab to back up key databases and files. 

Hehe, I do the same on deepthought.  Crontabs are so more straightforward and flexible than Windows' "Scheduled Tasks."

[Ergot]

I use cron to stop my computer from flying ahead 1 minute every week >:\

[Joe]

Why the hell would it do that? =p

EDIT -
My computer is sync'd with USAC on startup. Not that I need to restart very often.

[Sidoh]

I use cron to stop my computer from flying ahead 1 minute every week >:\

I have a crontab to do that as well.

Why the hell would it do that? =p

EDIT -
My computer is sync'd with USAC on startup. Not that I need to restart very often.

* Sidoh shrugs.

His CPU is in relative motion, I'd say.

[iago]

I use cron to stop my computer from flying ahead 1 minute every week >:\

Speaking of that, what's the command to update to a NTS server?  Darkside tends to lose time, so it would help to update it nightly.

[Ergot]

# ntpdate pool.ntp.org

[Joe]

Hehe @ darkside being to slow to even keep track of time.

[Sidoh]

Hehe @ darkside being to slow to even keep track of time.

It happens.  It's because his CPU is in relative motion.  Duh.

[iago]

Hehe @ darkside being to slow to even keep track of time.

The time isn't kept track of by the CPU, it's an independent component in the BIOS.  And it's a really old computer, so it's got a crappy BIOS. 

[Sidoh]

The time isn't kept track of by the CPU, it's an independent component in the BIOS.  And it's a really old computer, so it's got a crappy BIOS. 

Obviously, I was testing Joe.  I meant that your BIOS is in relative motion.

... >_>

I seriously kind of knew that (though I've never really worded it), since it's obvious that time is kept when the computer has no power.

[Blaze]

I always wondered why the forums time was always late 10-20 minutes every time I checked.   

I think auto-updating is a neat idea, for a server/testbox like BATSERVER which is currently Resting In Peices.

[iago]

The time isn't kept track of by the CPU, it's an independent component in the BIOS.  And it's a really old computer, so it's got a crappy BIOS. 

Obviously, I was testing Joe.  I meant that your BIOS is in relative motion.

... >_>

I seriously kind of knew that (though I've never really worded it), since it's obvious that time is kept when the computer has no power.

I wasn't listening to you, but yeah, if the bios is moving then the whole computer is.  Maybe I should stop it from vibrating to fix the clock?

[iago]

All right, darkside's time should be fixed nightly now. 

The script is super simple:

Code: [Select]

#!/bin/sh

DATE="/bin/date"
NTPDATE="/usr/sbin/ntpdate"
NTPSERVER="pool.ntp.org"

$DATE
$NTPDATE "$NTPSERVER"
$DATE
Notice that I like to store program names in variables.  Most people don't do that, but I find it helpful in case a program moves.