gentoo_update Introduction

Introduction

gentoo_update (Github repo) is a tool that automatically updates Gentoo Linux.

Motivation

Gentoo Linux gives users maximum flexibility and control over the system. A great example of this is the OS upgrade process. Users have a large selection of different command utilities and a bunch of configuration options to choose from to tailor the upgrade process to their needs. Here is the list of some tools that are commonly used during an upgrade:

[
    eix, equery, emaint, euse, etc-update, dispatch-conf,  
    eselect, elogv, needrestart, eclean, eclean-kernel, 
    qcheck, revdep-rebuild, glsa-check, layman
]

For a successful upgrade, knowing how to use many of these tools is essential. While experienced users might find this manageable, it can be overwhelming for new or inexperienced users.

Additionally, users often delay updates due to the time required, which can compromise system security. Regular updates are vital for maintaining security, so it is recommended to update the system daily.

This project addresses both issues:

1. complicated update process
2. potential security issues caused by the lack of regular upgrades

Functionality

Here are some of the things that gentoo_update will be able to do:

• Install only security updates from Gentoo Linux Security Advisory by default.
• Optionally run a full system upgrade (@world) with different parameters.
• Detect and handle update errors.
• Schedule updates.
• Generate a post-update report and send it via email and/or IRC chat.
• Send push notifications to a mobile app.

The program comprises three core components: the updater, the parser, and the notification sender. The updater is a Bash script that executes emerge to update the system and generates detailed logs for each action performed. Upon successful completion of the updater, the parser reads the logs and compiles an update report. The notification sender then dispatches this report to users.

Usage

At the moment gentoo_update can only install GLSA and @word updates and store the output to a dedicated directory. It is available in GURU overlay in app-admin/gentoo_update, and in PyPI. Generally, installing the program from GURU overlay is the preferred method, but PyPI will always have the most recent version (at the time of writing the newest version is 0.1.6).

After enabling GURU overlay it can be installed via:

emerge --ask app-admin/gentoo_update

Alternatively, it can be installed with pip:

emerge --ask dev-python/pip
pip install gentoo_update --break-system-packages

gentoo-update

gentoo-update --update-mode full \
              --config-update-mode merge \
              --daemon-restart y \
              --read-logs y

gentoo-update --update-mode full --args "quiet-build=n"