Here is a quick and hopefully informative way to use cron to update your system.
Cron is a scheduling program used often in many *nix distro to run automated tasks if your like me and are coming from windows it would equate to task scheduler in windows.
cron's format is
minute: hour: day of the month: day of the week: command:
30 22 * * 0 apt-get update && apt-get -y dist-upgrade -t warty-security
The above example would tell cron to run a check for security updates every sunday at 10:30 pm
*suggested by jdong*
30 22 * * 0 apt-get update
This job would tell cron to update but you would be required to upgrade manually
To make a cron job yourself type in an open console type:
1) crontab -e
2) press the i key to insert commands
3) input your commands using the above guide
4) press esc and then press :wq! to exit and save changes
hopefully if all goes well you should now have setup cron to run a specific task at its appointed time
if your not comfortable inputing the commands yourself there is a site that goes into more detail and has a tool to set up your commands for you.
http://www.clockwatchers.com/cron_tool.html
I hope this helps
Cacofonix
* updated to include sugestions by jdong
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