Ubuntu shows updates / security updates on shell logins

[Richard W.M. Jones]

On Wed, Nov 04, 2009 at 11:57:29AM -0500, Seth Vidal wrote:
> On Wed, 4 Nov 2009, Richard W.M. Jones wrote:
>> Newly installed Ubuntu 9.10, when you log in over ssh you may see:
>>
>>  34 packages can be updated.
>>  10 updates are security updates.
>>
>> I think this is a nice feature, because many administrators will log
>> in to servers remotely over ssh and never see the graphical
>> indications from packagekit et al.
>
> Administrators should not be relying on logging into a machine to know  
> what is in need of updates. We have multiple mechanisms to notify admins  
> about boxes needing updates. Adding it to the MOTD seems like an odd  
> choice.

Perhaps in the perfect world of Big Enterprise Installs, but I can
assure in the real world that sysadmins do log in at ad hoc intervals
to check if anything needs updating.

In any case, what is the downside to displaying this?  Your logging/
email mechanisms might have gone wrong, and this would be an
indication that scheduled updates didn't happen.

> Look at yum-cron and how it is can send emails or other events when  
> updates need to be applied.

I'll take a look.

Rich.

-- 
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