AutoUpdate

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Note: Autoupdate is no longer maintained. These pages remain here only for historic reasons.

Getting AutoUpdate

The current version autoupdate-5.5.5-2 can be downloaded from

http://www.mat.univie.ac.at/~gerald/ftp/autoupdate/

All packages are signed with my GnuPG key (the keyid is B8DF0F04) to ensure that the packages have not been altered. RPM will automatically check this signature if you import this key using

rpm --import http://www.mat.univie.ac.at/~gerald/DSSkey.txt

Note: Never import the key from a mirror or any other untrusted source! Because if the packages on the mirror are altered, so will be the key!

There are tar.gz, noarch.rpm versions available. In addition, some ftp configuration files are available as rpms as well: cfg-redhat, cfg-fedora, cfg-autoupdate. Note: These configuration files are just here to get you started. Please edit them to meet your needs, in particular, replace the ftp server by a mirror close to you!

If you want to know what is new, have a look at the CHANGELOG. All rpms are signed with my DSS key.

Installing AutoUpdate

First make sure that the following software is installed:

Required Software:

RPM (It doesn't make much sense without it;-)
Perl
The DB_File perl module, which is usually part of perl. Otherwise make sure the perl-DB_File package is installed.
The Net::FTP perl module, which is part of newer perl versions. Otherwise install the perl-libnet package.

In addition, there are some optional perl modules you might want to install. To test if you have a module, try to run the command perl -e "use Module::Name". If there are no errors, you are in bussines.

Recommended Perl Modules:

The RPM or RPM2 perl module, if you want autoupdate to query rpm headers and the rpm database. I currently recommend perl-RPM2 (make sure you use version 0.62 or newer)

Optional Perl Modules:

The Sys::Syslog perl module if you want to log to syslogd. This should already be part of recent perl versions.
The LWP perl module, if you want to use it for downloading from http(s) servers (perl-libwww-perl package). If you want support for https you also need to install the Crypt::SSLeay (perl-Crypt-SSLeay package) or Net::SSLeay (perl-Net_SSLeay.pm package).
The Net::SFTP perl module, if you want to download from sftp servers (perl-Net-SFTP package). The Net::SFTP module requires quite a lot of additional modules depending on the chipers you want to use.

Most of these packages should be part of your distribution. If not, you can get all these modules from CPAN or grab a local copy (Please note that the rpms are from RedHat 7.x and will only work if you have perl version 5.6 (RH 7.x). In case of problems download the src.rpm and use "rpmbuild --rebuild" to rebuild the rpm).

Installation: Now install the AutoUpdate rpm plus (optional) some configuration rpms from above. The rpm is intended for use with RedHat {8,7}.x but should work without modifications under RH 6.x (you will need rpm version 4 to install it). They might work with other distributions/versions as well but as always, your milage may vary. If you have problems, download the tar.gz file (modify it to meet your needs) and use rpmbuild -tb --clean to build the rpm.

Configuration: The rpm is configured for use on a single machine. For further information see the section on configuration. In order for the resolve feature to work properly a provides data base is needed. You can create one suitable for you as described in the section on configuration. The data base must be called autoprovides.db and stored in the updates dir (default is /var/spool/autoupdate) or in the config dir (default is /etc/autoupdate.d). If you install the cfg-autoupdate rpm this will be done automatically when you first check for autoupdate updates.

Using AutoUpdate

Now use autodld to download and upgrade rpms respectively autoupd to upgrade rpms which you already have on your disc.

Note that there are two scripts with the name autoupdate: /usr/bin/autoupdate which is part of autoconf and /usr/sbin/autoupdate. So if you say autoupdate, it is likely that you invoke /usr/bin/autoupdate from autoconf. Use auto{dld,upd,get} instead.

[ General | Quick Start Guide | Download and Installation | Configuration | FAQ ]