apt-dater For Linux

apt-dater provides a ncurses frontend to manage package updats on a large number of remote hosts using SSH. At the moment on the client site are only Debian based hosts running apt are supported.

Copy and modify the apt-dater.conf:

cp conf/apt-dater.conf.example $HOME/.config/apt-dater/apt-dater.conf

Copy and modify the hosts.conf:

cp conf/hosts.conf.example $HOME/.config/apt-dater/hosts.conf

Copy and modify the screenrc:

cp conf/screenrc.example $HOME/.config/apt-dater/screenrc

You need a SSH server and sudo installed. Create a user which will be used to install updates (using root is NOT recommended).

Modify the /etc/sudoers:

Defaults env_reset,env_keep=MAINTAINER the-user ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/apt-get, /usr/bin/aptitude

Create a user on your management server which perform updates on your Debian hosts.

Generate a SSH keypair:

ssh-keygen -t TYPE

Distribute the public key(s) e.g.: ssh-copy-id .ssh/your-public-key managed-host