Just an FYI, you should not be using 'apt' from scripts or automation. Per its own man page apt(8) http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/bionic/en/man8/apt.8.ml
| SCRIPT USAGE AND DIFFERENCES FROM OTHER APT TOOLS | The apt(8) commandline is designed as an end-user tool and it may | change behavior between versions. While it tries not to break backward | compatibility this is not guaranteed either if a change seems | beneficial for interactive use. | | All features of apt(8) are available in dedicated APT tools like | apt-get(8) and apt-cache(8) as well. apt(8) just changes the default | value of some options (see apt.conf(5) and specifically the Binary | scope). So you should prefer using these commands (potentially with | some additional options enabled) in your scripts as they keep backward | compatibility as much as possible. Your comments do also apply to 'apt-get' so they are still relevant. On Sun, Nov 25, 2018 at 6:21 AM Robie Basak <robie.ba...@ubuntu.com> wrote: > > Hi, > > On Sun, Nov 25, 2018 at 02:40:30PM +0800, Jesse Steele wrote: > > I'm a dev who relies on updates on many machines; I write scripts to handle > > them. I don't have the resources to investigate every daily build to see if > > GRUB or PHP is going to ask a question that, under most circumstances, needs > > the obvious, default answer. > > In your case, using DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive, running apt-get with -o > Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" > and redirecting stdin from /dev/null is probably appropriate. > > > This isn't just any Linux distro, this is the awesome Ubuntu, which we use > > for its reliability. So, we don't need to have PHP and GRUB or any other > > update nag us at the `apt upgrade -y` events. All `upgrade` packages should > > come with a presumed response—GRUB's menu can be updated when IT wants to, > > don't bother asking if I used `-y`; and no of course I don't want to > > override all the php.ini settings I have for my production servers. If > > upgrade packages need options, let the devs with more resources still have > > the option, with information on how to automate those in the `upgrade` well > > in advance, but not if using `upgrade -y`. > > Please note https://bugs.launchpad.net/cloud-images/+bug/1747464 - by > default you shouldn't get prompted, and if you do it's a bug (possibly > this bug - please mark yourself as affected if you are). > > Normally though, when there isn't a bug, if you change your system the > distribution doesn't want to step on your feet, so it has to prompt. It > can't have the knowledge of the customisation you've performed (only you > can know that), and doing the wrong thing may lead to a broken system. > If you don't want the prompt in automation, you can use the appropriate > options to turn it off. I don't think it makes sense to change the > default for this case; the most appropriate default is for normal > interactive use. > > Hope that helps, > > Robie > -- > Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list > Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com > Modify settings or unsubscribe at: > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
