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Idea #14770: True unattended distibution upgrade option

bug This idea is a duplicate of Idea #6351: first ask all questions - then install - don`t ask in the middle.
Written by carpex the 24 Oct 08 at 14:18. Category: Installation. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: New
Rationale
Ubuntu really needs an unattended distribution upgrade option, that will not stop from the time you click upgrade, to the time you need to reboot your computer. One option would be to have a "yes to all" option for the different questions asked. The computer may also automatically shut down after the upgrade.

I upgraded my distro to Ibex last night hoping that it would be done in the morning, only to realize that it stopped 10% of the way through to ask me if I want to overwrite a configuration file. Overall, it stopped at least 10 times in the upgrade procedure.

Unattented upgrades would allow users to upgrade at night when the local servers are less busy, and would allow system administrators to upgrade several computers simultaneously without having to babysit them.
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #14770
Written by carpex the 24 Oct 08 at 14:18.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #14770 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

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spec Blueprint update-manager-continues: [Information on this blueprint will be retrieved soon]


Duplicates


Comments
acet wrote on the 24 Oct 08 at 15:27
Would it be possible to skip certain parts of the upgrade and come back to them after other work is done?
This way when the user returns to the computer they'll have to answer some config questions but itll be almost finished...

koenfloris wrote on the 24 Oct 08 at 16:05
it will comsume a lot of power to do that cause the computer will not shut down itself.

i say, +1 including automatic reboot, automatic re-check update's and automatic shutdown.

Endperform wrote on the 24 Oct 08 at 16:29
Perhaps the best approach would be to have a question pop up at the very beginning of the install, asking if it should replace any configuration files with newer versions, then that would most likely resolve it. I've had instances where I've upgraded and this has happened too.

andruk (Idea reviewer) wrote on the 24 Oct 08 at 18:42
Just preprocess all of the config files before installing anything and prompt the user for input if things are different.

I don't think there should be a click-n-forget option to install (it can introduce security flaws if not implemented correctly), but I could see others wanting that option.

Make the option slightly hard to get to, like having to launch the installer from the command line with specific flags. This would make casual users less likely to use it.

+1

vexorian wrote on the 24 Oct 08 at 22:52
"
Unattented upgrades would allow users to upgrade at night when the local servers are less busy,

"

Totally unrelated. The questions don't come until all the packages have been downloaded, you should have just used download only first. Then install, once it is downloaded even distro upgrade takes about 20 minutes.

carpex wrote on the 25 Oct 08 at 02:26
@vexorian: its not totally unrelated. I just wish I could simply click upgrade before going to bed and the downloads and installs would all be done when I wake up. The upgrade to Ibex took about 2.5 hours on my laptop. About 1.5 hours to download the 1.5 gigs of upgrades and another 1-1.5 hour for installation of the upgrades. I have having to babysit that stuff.

BrentNewland wrote on the 25 Oct 08 at 06:18
Believe it or not, I actually wrote a blueprint for this 10 days ago. Basically, whenever update-manager encounters a dialog prompt, it should skip it an continue, then give you all the dialog boxes at once.

alcockell wrote on the 25 Oct 08 at 13:25
Actually, the OP has a point. Might I be right in assuming they're thinking of the corporate-scripted-build environment? Where the parameters could be passed either by a load of questions being asked initially, or those answers coming from a response file?

'Cos I've worked in onsite support areas which had an automated-build process (OK, on NT/XP), where a number of questions were asked - answers filed away, and you went away and let it run - 90 mins later.. built machine.

Thoughts?

Zerd wrote on the 26 Oct 08 at 06:40
The same happened to me. I started the update on my laptop, went to sleep, and woke up to about 20 questions about config files. Then it took about 30 minutes to install everything, and I only had 20 minutes before school started.

Asking the questions before (after checking what needs to be asked of course) or after would be awesome.


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