NAME¶

apticron - Generate a mail listing packages which are pending an upgrade

SYNOPSIS¶

apticron [--cron]

DESCRIPTION¶

apticron is a shell script which generates a mail with a list of all packages currently pending an upgrade, as well as summary of changes - using apt-listchanges - to a configurable Email address.

apticron is mainly intended for automatic notification of pending security updates but can also be used in many other situations where timely updates are necessary.

The --cron option is only meant to be used when invoked by cron in order to run no more than once a day.

FILES¶

/etc/apticron/apticron.conf

Configuration file, Email address to mail and profile for use with apt-listchanges are configurable.

/etc/cron.d/apticron

Cron job for executing apticron daily.

/etc/cron.d/apticron

Fallback cron script for executing apticron (if no crond running or system down at designated time).

/var/lib/apticron/cron_run

Time stamp file used by apticron when invoked with --cron option.

SEE ALSO¶

apt-get(8), apt-listchanges(1), cron(8)

BUGS¶

In a particular situation apticron may report non-installed packages to be upgraded. It's inconvenient, but it's not a bug in apticron itself. Please see https://bugs.debian.org/544481#105 for details.

AUTHOR¶

Apticron was initially developed by Colm MacCarthaigh <colm.maccarthaigh@heanet.ie> with contributions from Marc Sherman <msherman@projectile.ca>. Since 2006 it is maintained and improved by Tiago Bortoletto Vaz <tiago@debian.org>.