How to get the outdated pakage list (apt-get upgrade list)

[Elv13]

Hi, here is a simple question, how can I get a list of package that need to be upgraded. I want to use it in a cron script so It have to just list package, not interact with a shell.

Thanks!

[albinootje]

Hi, here is a simple question, how can I get a list of package that need to be upgraded. I want to use it in a cron script so It have to just list package, not interact with a shell.

Thanks!

Do you want to do automatic updates every night ?
There's the package called cron-apt amongst others (I've used it for a while), but maybe you want : apticron

[Elv13]

No, I want to do it myself, it is why I need a packages list. Diong an automiatic update is not hard at all, it look like

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade --force-yes

but I want to use a for loop like

apt-get update
for i in (the command)
my script
done

[albinootje]

but I want to use a for loop like

apt-get update
for i in (the command)
my script
done

If you use the command "sudo apt-get -d dist-upgrade" you can see which packages are marked to be upgraded, and perhaps you can grab that information to run your script.

[Elv13]

Yes, but it still ask the [Y/N] question, I need to disable it if I want to get the packae list, thats my problem here.

[albinootje]

Yes, but it still ask the [Y/N] question, I need to disable it if I want to get the packae list, thats my problem here.

Okay, but if you run one script which nightly does :
sudo apt-get -d dist-upgrade > /tmp/output.txt
then you can work in another script while extracting the text in /tmp/output.txt and use both in a cronjob.
Think of tools like awk and sed.
Perhaps this idea is too difficult to achieve, but it's an idea.

[Elv13]

Not dificult, just not practicable, it is a hack and is really cheap, this is for production, so even having to deal with the header and end of page feel cheap for a production script. I am sure there is a way somehow. After all how many apps have that list, I don't think they parsed apt-get.

[cdtech]

Install:

sudo apt-get install apt-show-versions

Then run:

$ apt-show-versions -u
login/intrepid-security upgradeable from 1:4.1.1-1ubuntu1.1 to 1:4.1.1-1ubuntu1.2
passwd/intrepid-security upgradeable from 1:4.1.1-1ubuntu1.1 to 1:4.1.1-1ubuntu1.2

Shows what packages in your system may be updated. The -u option displays a list of upgradeable packages.

[Elv13]

Thanks! It work perfectly