Managing updates from the command line

[yang]

Is aptitude update; aptitude safe-upgrade (or full-upgrade?) actually equivalent to using update-manager? If so, how do I tell whether a restart was required afterward (as seems to frequently be the case with updates applied via update-manager)? Thanks in advance!

[avtolle]

Using aptitude, it will tell you that a restart is required in the console window. Generally, a restart is required when the kernel is updated; there are a few other specific circumstances (almost always affecting the kernel), FYI.

[yang]

Thanks. And the command to use is safe-upgrade, yes?