1AUTER(1) User Commands AUTER(1)
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6 auter - Automatic Update Transaction Execution by Rackspace
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9 auter [--enable|--disable|--status] [--prep] [--apply] [--reboot]
10 [--postreboot] [--config=<configfile>] [OPTIONS]
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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.
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17 Actions:
18 --enable
19 Enable auter
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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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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
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50 Skip the executions of all custom scripts (Default in
51 /etc/auter/*.d/)
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53 --skip-scripts-by-phase=PHASE
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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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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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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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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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103 /etc/auter/pre-apply.d
104 Directory containing scripts to be executed before applying up‐
105 dates
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108 /etc/auter/post-apply.d
109 Directory containing scripts to be executed after applying up‐
110 dates
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113 /etc/auter/pre-reboot.d
114 Directory containing scripts to be executed before rebooting
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117 /etc/auter/post-reboot.d
118 Directory containing scripts to be executed after rebooting
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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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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
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141 Note that the ordering is case-insensitive so AA-fourth.sh will be run before aa-third.sh.
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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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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.
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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
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174 This documentation was primarily written by:
175 Paolo Gigante
176 Piers Cornwell
177 Cameron Beere
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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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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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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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215 auter.conf(5), cron(8), crontab(5)
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219auter 1.0.0 July 2023 AUTER(1)