How to automatically reboot after running a command

Question

I'm installing updates on a bunch of machines, and I simply want to run:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo reboot

all at once on all machines (after hours of course) and let them run without requiring my input for passwords. However, the above commands don't work, because they all require root permission, and thus require my password each time. Running them all under a single sudo concatentated by && doesn't seem to work. Also, if an update has release notes, it'll display any release notes and halt until I exit less.

How do I accomplish this?

Answer 1

sudo -s will prompt you for your password once, then leave you sitting in a root shell that remains until you exit. There you can chain commands like apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y && reboot.

Answer 2

So you don't want your user to have to type in a password to use sudo? You could add a line like this into /etc/sudoers or a file in /etc/sudoers.d/

username  ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

Or to just allow a few programs like reboot and apt-get:

username ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /sbin/reboot, /usr/bin/apt-get

Might want to look into some apt-get options too like:

   -q, --quiet
       Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress
       indicators. More q's will produce more quiet up to a maximum of 2.
       You can also use -q=# to set the quiet level, overriding the
       configuration file. Note that quiet level 2 implies -y; you should
       never use -qq without a no-action modifier such as -d, --print-uris
       or -s as APT may decide to do something you did not expect.
       Configuration Item: quiet.

   -y, --yes, --assume-yes
       Automatic yes to prompts; assume "yes" as answer to all prompts and
       run non-interactively. If an undesirable situation, such as
       changing a held package, trying to install a unauthenticated
       package or removing an essential package occurs then apt-get will
       abort. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Assume-Yes.

   --force-yes
       Force yes; this is a dangerous option that will cause apt to
       continue without prompting if it is doing something potentially
       harmful. It should not be used except in very special situations.
       Using force-yes can potentially destroy your system! Configuration
       Item: APT::Get::force-yes.

Or you could blindly pipe a few newlines or "q"'s into apt-get, I used to install one package that would ignore apt options like -y and wait for a keypress (probably in it's preinst or postinst script). Could try something like:

{
sleep 20
echo
echo "q"
} | apt-get upgrade

---

And if you're installing the exact same packages in every machine, you don't need to update and upgrade each one over the internet, you can download all the required .deb files once with:

sudo apt-get install --download-only [packages]

or

sudo apt-get upgrade --download-only

then install them all from a local / shared folder with

sudo dpkg -iR /folder_of_debs

Answer 3

The really simplest solution if you're 'root' is

apt-get -y update && apt-get -y upgrade && reboot

And if you're a user on the system, firstly make sure the user is enabled in the sudoers then type:

sudo apt-get -y update && apt-get -y upgrade && reboot