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SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Deployment Guide
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7.12 Update from the Command Line

SUSE Linux Enterprise comes with a new command line tool for installing and updating packages, rug. It works with the rcd daemon to install, update, and remove software according to the commands given. It can install software from local files or from servers. You may use one or more remote servers, known as services. Supported services are mount for local files and yum or ZENworks for servers.

rug sorts software from services into catalogs (also known as channels), groups of similar software. For example, one catalog might contain software from an update server and another some software from a third-party software vendor. Subscribe to individual catalogs to control the display of available packages and prevent the accidental installation of unwanted software. Operations are normally performed only on software from catalogs to which you are subscribed.

The most commonly used command is rug update, which downloads and installs patches in catalogs to which you are subscribed. If you only want to update software, this is the only command you need. To obtain a list of all packages from one catalog, use rug pa catalogname. Replace catalogname with name of your catalog. To list all available services, use rug sl. Some other useful rug commands and their functions are shown in Table 7-1.

Table 7-1 rug Commands

Command

Function

ca

List the catalogs

sa

Add a service

reg

Register a service

sub

Subscribe to a catalog

refresh

Refresh the lists of patches

7.12.1 rug User Management

One of the biggest advantages of rug is user management. Normally only root can update or install new packages. With rug, you can distribute the right to update the system to other users and restrict them, for example, only to the update right without the possibility to remove software. Privileges you can grant are:

install
User may install new software
lock
User may set package locks
remove
User may remove software
subscribe
User may change channel subscriptions
trusted
User is considered trusted, so may install packages without package signatures
upgrade
User may update software packages
view
This allows the user to see which software is installed on the machine and which software is in available channels. The option is relevant only to remote users, local users are normally permitted to view installed and available packages.
superuser
Permits all rug commands except user management and settings, which must be done locally.

To give a user permission to update the system, use the command rug ua  username upgrade. Replace username with the name of the user. To revoke the privileges of a user, use command rug ud username. To list users with their rights, use rug ul.

To change the current privileges of a user, use rug ue username. Replace username with name of the desired user. The edit command is interactive. It lists privileges of the selected user and the offers you a prompt. Enter the plus (+) or minus (-) symbol and the name of the privilege then press Enter. For example, to permit the user to delete software, enter +remove. To save and quit, press Enter on a blank line.

7.12.2 Scheduling Updates

Using rug, the system can be updated automatically, for example, with scripts. The simplest example is the fully automatic update. To do this, as root configure a cron job that executes rug up -y. The up -y option downloads and installs the patches from your catalogs without confirmation.

However, you may not want the patches installed automatically. Instead, you may want to retrieve the patches and select the patches for installation at a later time. To download patches only, use the command rug up -dy. The up -dy option downloads the patches from your catalogs without confirmation and saves them to the rug cache. The default location of the rug cache is /var/cache/redcarpet.

7.12.3 Configuring rug

rug comes with many preferences to provide the update functionality in different network configurations. To list the preferences that may be set, use rug get. To set a preference variable, enter rug set. For example, adjust settings if you need to update your system, but the computer is behind a proxy server. Before downloading updates, send your username and password to the proxy server. To do so, use the commands:

    rug set proxy-url url_path
    rug set proxy-username name
    rug set proxy-password password
   

Replace url_path with the name of your proxy server. Replace name with your username. Replace password with your password.

7.12.4 For More Information

For more information about updating from the command line, enter rug --help or see the rug(1) man page. The --help option is also available for all rug commands. If, for example, you want to read help for rug update, enter rug update --help.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Deployment Guide
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