1AUTER(1)                         User Commands                        AUTER(1)
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NAME

6       auter - Automatic Update Transaction Execution by Rackspace
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SYNOPSIS

9       auter   [--enable|--disable|--status]   [--prep]  [--apply]  [--reboot]
10       [--postreboot] [--config=<configfile>] [OPTIONS]
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DESCRIPTION

13       Automatic Update Transaction Execution by Rackspace. A  wrapper  around
14       cron  and yum/dnf/apt to manage system updates with the ability to con‐
15       figure automatic reboots and custom scripts.
16
17   Actions:
18       --enable
19              Enable auter
20
21       --disable
22              Disable auter. Also deletes unused pidfile if it exists
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24       --status
25              Show whether enabled or disabled
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27       --prep Pre-download updates before applying
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29       --apply
30              Apply updates, and reboot if AUTOREBOOT=yes
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32       --reboot
33              Reboot system including pre/post reboot scripts
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35       --postreboot
36              Run post reboot script
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OPTIONS

39       --config=FILE Specify the full path to an auter config  file.  Defaults
40              to /etc/auter/auter.conf
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42       --stdout
43              Always log to STDOUT, regardless of not having a tty
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45       --maxdelay
46              Override MAXDELAY from the command line
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48       --skip-all-scripts
49
50              Skip   the   executions   of  all  custom  scripts  (Default  in
51              /etc/auter/*.d/)
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53       --skip-scripts-by-phase=PHASE
54
55              Skip the execution of  the  custom  scripts  for  the  specified
56              phase. You can specify myltiple phases.
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58              Valid   Phases:   pre-prep,  post-prep,  pre-apply,  post-apply,
59              pre-reboot, post-reboot.
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61              Example:    --skip-scripts-by-phase="pre-prep,post-apply,pre-re‐
62              boot"
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64       --skip-scripts-by-name=SCRIPTNAME
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66              Skip specific scripts by name. You can specify myltiple phases.
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68              Example:   --skip-scripts-by-name="10-configsnap-pre,   20-star‐
69              tApp.sh"
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71       --no-wall
72              If possible, suppress shutdown wall messages in the reboot phase
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74       -h, --help
75              Show this help text
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77       -v, --version Show the version
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DIRECTORIES

80       Default Directory locations are listed below; custom paths can be spec‐
81       ified  in  the  config file. The use of additional, non-default, config
82       files is required when running more than one auter profile.
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84
85   Pre/Post Hooks
86       If any scripts in the pre/post hook  directories  are  not  executable,
87       they  will  be  skipped  by auter and a warning containing the filename
88       will be logged. If any scripts in the pre/post  hook  directories  exit
89       with a non-zero exit code an error will be logged with the filename and
90       exit code, and auter will abort.
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92
93       /etc/auter/pre-prep.d
94              Directory containing scripts to be executed  before  downloading
95              updates
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98       /etc/auter/post-prep.d
99              Directory  containing  scripts  to be executed after downloading
100              updates
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102
103       /etc/auter/pre-apply.d
104              Directory containing scripts to be executed before applying  up‐
105              dates
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107
108       /etc/auter/post-apply.d
109              Directory  containing  scripts to be executed after applying up‐
110              dates
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112
113       /etc/auter/pre-reboot.d
114              Directory containing scripts to be executed before rebooting
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116
117       /etc/auter/post-reboot.d
118              Directory containing scripts to be executed after rebooting
119
120              There is a hard coded delay of 5 minutes  post-reboot  to  allow
121              the  system to become fully ready before the post-reboot scripts
122              are executed.
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124
125   Hook Execution Order
126       Files in the pre/post script directories are parsed in  sorted  lexical
127       order.  That  is, /etc/auter/pre-apply.d/01_first will be parsed before
128       /etc/auter/pre-apply.d/10_second. Be aware that because the sorting  is
129       lexical,  not  numeric, /etc/auter/pre-apply.d/1_whoops would be loaded
130       after /etc/pre-apply.d/10_second. Using a consistent number of  leading
131       zeroes  in the file names can be used to avoid such problems. For exam‐
132       ple the following execution order would occur for pre-apply scripts:
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134              pre-apply.d/00-first.sh
135              pre-apply.d/99-second.sh
136              pre-apply.d/AA-fourth.sh
137              pre-apply.d/aa-third.sh
138              pre-apply.d/zz-fifth.sh
139              pre-apply.d/ZZ-sixth.sh
140
141       Note that the ordering is case-insensitive so AA-fourth.sh will be run before aa-third.sh.
142

ENABLE/DISABLE

144       To provide an easy way to switch on/off all auter jobs, use auter --en‐
145       able  or  auter  --disable  to set the lockfile /var/lib/auter/enabled.
146       Auter will check for the presence of this file before running.
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148       This is also the correct method for cleaning up an unused pidfile.
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REBOOTING

151       Rebooting is an essential part of applying updates, in order to  ensure
152       the  updated  packages  are in use. An update to the kernel will always
153       need a reboot. Some  application  updates,  for  example  Apache,  will
154       restart  the  service.  However  often  libraries  are updated, such as
155       openssl, which don't force a reboot of services that use them.  Reboot‐
156       ing guarantees that every update is in use by running services. You can
157       either enable AUTOREBOOT=yes in the config file (the default is AUTORE‐
158       BOOT=no),  to  reboot  after  --apply,  or  you can schedule a separate
159       schedule for --reboot via a second cronjob. A 2 minute warning is emit‐
160       ted before the server is rebooted, and this can be cancelled by a supe‐
161       ruser with shutdown -c.
162

EXIT CODES

164        0 = updates successful / no updates available
165        3 = issue related to yum / dnf / apt-get command
166        4 = auter disabled via lockfile
167        5 = script not run as root / DATADIR does not exist / config file does
168       not exist
169        6 = auter is already running / PIDFILE exists
170        7 = yum, dnf or apt-get was not found
171        8 = a pre/post hook exited with a non-zero error code
172

AUTHORS

174       This documentation was primarily written by:
175               Paolo Gigante
176               Piers Cornwell
177               Cameron Beere
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FILES

180       /etc/auter/auter.conf
181              Default config file location. Use the --config option to pass an
182              alternative config file to use within /etc/auter.
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185       /etc/cron.d/auter
186              The default cron file with examples
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189       /usr/bin/auter
190              The main auter script which contains linux generic code
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193       /usr/lib/auter/auter.module
194              The auter module for the relevant package manager
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197       /usr/share/doc/auter-0.11/LICENSE
198              The Apache License
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200
201       /usr/share/doc/auter-0.11/MAINTAINERS.md
202              A list of maintainers and mailing list
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205       /usr/share/doc/auter-0.11/NEWS
206              The NEWS file and changelog for auter
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REPORTING BUGS

209       Please report any bugs by raising an issue against the github  page  or
210       email us at:
211               https://github.com/rackerlabs/auter/issues
212               auter-devel@rackspace.com
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SEE ALSO

215        auter.conf(5), cron(8), crontab(5)
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219auter 1.0.0                        July 2023                          AUTER(1)
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