update-linux command automates Fedora updates

[Barry Scott]

I have released a tool that I have been using for a number of years to 
maintain my Fedora systems.

https://pypi.org/project/update-linux/2.0.0/

This tool allows you to update all your Fedora systems easily:

$ update-linux host1 host2

Or check if there are updates available:

$ update-linux --check host4 host5

It also handles system upgrades:

$ update-linux --system-upgrade=37 host3

It can be configured with named groups of hosts to avoid the need to 
type long lists of host names.

Barry

[Mario Marietto]

Hello Barry and Fedora community.

I would like to integrate Debian,Fedora,Arch or maybe some other distro
into one single,homogeneous and flexible operating (OS) context.

I would like to use Debian 11 as the host OS and the rest of the OSes (
Fedora,Arch) will be virtualized within different virtual machines
(I don't want to use containers,I know that they are a better choice,but I
want to understand if a virtual machine is good anyway when it is very well
configured). The idea is also to use qemu + kvm with the nographic and no
vga options enabled,without virt-manager or boxes.

I don't want to open and close the virtual machine graphical interface
every time I want to run an application. I find it much more comfortable if
I can run every application and command within one only terminal by
premising,for example,a letter indicating to which distribution the command
or application belongs to. Or I could tell xpra to open the fedora or the
arch linux terminal. For sure it will be much faster to configure,but it
has less scenic effect.

I don't take in consideration the apps that can be installed through
flatpaks,snap or app images,because I don't like to use these systems.

I'm a traditional user of linux,I have used it since the 90's. I prefer to
use the traditional packaging systems used by debian,fedora,arch.
I've read that in some cases the snap system in Ubuntu contains obscure
parts of code. And I've checked by myself how much can those systems
complicate the management of the OS if they get jammed or if one does not
want them because he/she/ wants to streamline the system.

So,I really like the idea to use apt/apt-get, dnf/yum, pacman and yay all
together from one only shell, just like you'd use them on their native
distributions. I may want to install or remove an application on one of
those OSes because it does not work anymore and you have no time to fix it.

You know that sometimes it takes time to fix the broken part,time that you
don't have. Luckily it still works for the remaining one or two OSes. I may
like to use some specific distro just because I like,without particular
reason,for some time. Maybe there are also different technical reasons why
I want to have that fusion,tied to the libraries used. Some libraries could
improve the stability and the speed of the systems,some others could do it
less. It seems that some good distros are coming out these days,following
the same idea : a couple of them are : blendOS,BedRock.

Now,I'm on Debian 11 (where I'm using the default qemu version 5.2) and I'm
trying to boot Fedora 37 using the following qemu commands :

/usr/bin/./qemu-system-x86_64
-enable-kvm
-m 8G
-machine q35,accel=kvm
-smp 8,cores=4
-cpu host,kvm=off
-smp 2,sockets=1,cores=2,threads=1
-drive if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on,file=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE_4M.fd
-device ich9-intel-hda
-device hda-output
-usb -device usb-kbd
-device usb-mouse
-device virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0
-netdev tap,id=net0,ifname=tap0,script=no,downscript=no,vhost=on
-device ich9-ahci,id=sata
-drive
id=SystemDisk,if=none,snapshot=off,cache=none,media=disk,format=raw,file=/dev/sdd
-device ide-hd,bus=sata.4,drive=SystemDisk
-device bochs-display
-device
pcie-root-port,bus=pcie.0,multifunction=on,port=1,chassis=1,id=port.1 \

At this point your script comes into play. The idea is to use your
update-linux script to update automatically the Fedora VM that's running
under the hood. This seems to be the missing piece for my project. But it's
not the only missing piece. My idea is to keep synchronized all the VMs
that are running silently,so the project still needs two pieces of code :
your script should do the same for the arch and the Ubuntu VMs. The idea
behind is to have a sort of immediate backup if one of the VM gets
corrupted. But this backup is represented by the remaining and still
working VMs that's still running in memory.

Do you like the idea ? I'm not a coder,so I'm not able to replicate your
script to make it work for Ubuntu and arch.  You can,if you like the
project and you want to collaborate with me. Let me know,thanks.

On Mon, Apr 3, 2023 at 12:51 PM Barry Scott  wrote:
> I have released a tool that I have been using for a number of years to
> maintain my Fedora systems.
>  https://pypi.org/project/update-linux/2.0.0/
>
> This tool allows you to update all your Fedora systems easily:
>  $ update-linux host1 host2
>
> Or check if there are updates available:
>  $ update-linux --check host4 host5
>
> It also handles system upgrades:
>  $ update-linux --system-upgrade=37 host3
>
> It can be configured with named groups of hosts to avoid the need to
> type long lists of host names.
>
> Barry
>
> users mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]
> Fedora Code of Conduct:
> https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/
> List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
> List Archives:
> https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[e-mail]
> Do not reply to spam, report it:
> https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/new_issue

[Barry Scott]

> On 3 Apr 2023, at 17:03, Mario Marietto  wrote:
>
> Hello Barry and Fedora community.
>
> I would like to integrate Debian,Fedora,Arch or maybe some other distro into one single,homogeneous and flexible operating (OS) context.
>
> I would like to use Debian 11 as the host OS and the rest of the OSes (Fedora,Arch) will be virtualized within different virtual machines
> (I don't want to use containers,I know that they are a better choice,but I want to understand if a virtual machine is good anyway when it is very well configured). The idea is also to use qemu + kvm with the nographic and no vga options enabled,without virt-manager or boxes.

I'm not sure how you run your linux systems matters for an update automation tool.
> I don't want to open and close the virtual machine graphical interface every time I want to run an application. I find it much more comfortable if I can run every application and command within one only terminal by premising,for example,a letter indicating to which distribution the command or application belongs to. Or I could tell xpra to open the fedora or the arch linux terminal. For sure it will be much faster to configure,but it has less scenic effect.
>
> I don't take in consideration the apps that can be installed through flatpaks,snap or app images,because I don't like to use these systems.
>
> I'm a traditional user of linux,I have used it since the 90's. I prefer to use the traditional packaging systems used by debian,fedora,arch. 
> I've read that in some cases the snap system in Ubuntu contains obscure parts of code. And I've checked by myself how much can those systems complicate the management of the OS if they get jammed or if one does not want them because he/she/ wants to streamline the system.
>
> So,I really like the idea to use apt/apt-get, dnf/yum, pacman and yay all together from one only shell, just like you'd use them on their native distributions. I may want to install or remove an application on one of those OSes because it does not work anymore and you have no time to fix it.
>
> You know that sometimes it takes time to fix the broken part,time that you don't have. Luckily it still works for the remaining one or two OSes. I may like to use some specific distro just because I like,without particular reason,for some time. Maybe there are also different technical reasons why I want to have that fusion,tied to the libraries used. Some libraries could improve the stability and the speed of the systems,some others could do it less. It seems that some good distros are coming out these days,following the same idea : a couple of them are : blendOS,BedRock.
>
> Now,I'm on Debian 11 (where I'm using the default qemu version 5.2) and I'm trying to boot Fedora 37 using the following qemu commands :
>
> /usr/bin/./qemu-system-x86_64
> -enable-kvm
> -m 8G
> -machine q35,accel=kvm
> -smp 8,cores=4
> -cpu host,kvm=off
> -smp 2,sockets=1,cores=2,threads=1
> -drive if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on,file=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE_4M.fd
> -device ich9-intel-hda
> -device hda-output
> -usb -device usb-kbd
> -device usb-mouse
> -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0
> -netdev tap,id=net0,ifname=tap0,script=no,downscript=no,vhost=on
> -device ich9-ahci,id=sata
> -drive id=SystemDisk,if=none,snapshot=off,cache=none,media=disk,format=raw,file=/dev/sdd
> -device ide-hd,bus=sata.4,drive=SystemDisk
> -device bochs-display
> -device pcie-root-port,bus=pcie.0,multifunction=on,port=1,chassis=1,id=port.1 \
>
> At this point your script comes into play. The idea is to use your update-linux script to update automatically the Fedora VM that's running under the hood. This seems to be the missing piece for my project. But it's not the only missing piece. My idea is to keep synchronized all the VMs that are running silently,so the project still needs two pieces of code : your script should do the same for the arch and the Ubuntu VMs. The idea behind is to have a sort of immediate backup if one of the VM gets corrupted. But this backup is represented by the remaining and still working VMs that's still running in memory.

Not sure how an update tool help with the backup and disaster recover.
> Do you like the idea ? I'm not a coder,so I'm not able to replicate your script to make it work for Ubuntu and arch.  You can,if you like the project and you want to collaborate with me. Let me know,thanks.

I am open to have coding contributed to support other packaging systems.
I have debian and ubuntu systems that I will likely add support for at some point.

My setup has Fedora on most of my systems a router, server for files and mail, music player, desktop and VMs.
I do have debian and unbuntu VMs for development work.

Barry
> On Mon, Apr 3, 2023 at 12:51 PM Barry Scott <[e-mail] > wrote:
> > I have released a tool that I have been using for a number of years to 
> > maintain my Fedora systems.
> >  https://pypi.org/project/update-linux/2.0.0/
> >
> > This tool allows you to update all your Fedora systems easily:
> >  $ update-linux host1 host2
> >
> > Or check if there are updates available:
> >  $ update-linux --check host4 host5
> >
> > It also handles system upgrades:
> >  $ update-linux --system-upgrade=37 host3
> >
> > It can be configured with named groups of hosts to avoid the need to 
> > type long lists of host names.
> >
> > Barry
> >
> > users mailing list -- [e-mail] 
> > To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail] 
> > Fedora Code of Conduct: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/
> > List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
> > List Archives: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[e-mail]
> > Do not reply to spam, report it: https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/new_issue
>
> -- 
> Mario.
> _______________________________________________
> users mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]
> Fedora Code of Conduct: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/
> List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
> List Archives: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[e-mail]
> Do not reply to spam, report it: https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/new_issue

[Mario Marietto]

---> I'm not sure how you run your linux systems matters for an update
automation tool. Not sure how an update tool helps with the backup and
disaster recovery.

because my idea is to improve your script to adapt it to work on Debian and
Arch,too,so that,every time you issue the commands expected by your
script,they will work for every VM you want. In this way we will have the
same information stored in 3 different operating systems. One or two of
them crash ? The remaining VM is good and your data will be safe.

On Mon, Apr 3, 2023 at 9:36 PM Barry Scott  wrote:
> On 3 Apr 2023, at 17:03, Mario Marietto  wrote:
>
> Hello Barry and Fedora community.
>
> I would like to integrate Debian,Fedora,Arch or maybe some other distro
> into one single,homogeneous and flexible operating (OS) context.
>
> I would like to use Debian 11 as the host OS and the rest of the OSes (
> Fedora,Arch) will be virtualized within different virtual machines
> (I don't want to use containers,I know that they are a better choice,but I
> want to understand if a virtual machine is good anyway when it is very well
> configured). The idea is also to use qemu + kvm with the nographic and no
> vga options enabled,without virt-manager or boxes.
>
> I'm not sure how you run your linux systems matters for an update
> automation tool.
>
> I don't want to open and close the virtual machine graphical interface
> every time I want to run an application. I find it much more comfortable if
> I can run every application and command within one only terminal by
> premising,for example,a letter indicating to which distribution the command
> or application belongs to. Or I could tell xpra to open the fedora or the
> arch linux terminal. For sure it will be much faster to configure,but it
> has less scenic effect.
>
> I don't take in consideration the apps that can be installed through
> flatpaks,snap or app images,because I don't like to use these systems.
>
> I'm a traditional user of linux,I have used it since the 90's. I prefer to
> use the traditional packaging systems used by debian,fedora,arch.
> I've read that in some cases the snap system in Ubuntu contains obscure
> parts of code. And I've checked by myself how much can those systems
> complicate the management of the OS if they get jammed or if one does not
> want them because he/she/ wants to streamline the system.
>
> So,I really like the idea to use apt/apt-get, dnf/yum, pacman and yay all
> together from one only shell, just like you'd use them on their native
> distributions. I may want to install or remove an application on one of
> those OSes because it does not work anymore and you have no time to fix it.
>
> You know that sometimes it takes time to fix the broken part,time that you
> don't have. Luckily it still works for the remaining one or two OSes. I may
> like to use some specific distro just because I like,without particular
> reason,for some time. Maybe there are also different technical reasons why
> I want to have that fusion,tied to the libraries used. Some libraries could
> improve the stability and the speed of the systems,some others could do it
> less. It seems that some good distros are coming out these days,following
> the same idea : a couple of them are : blendOS,BedRock.
>
> Now,I'm on Debian 11 (where I'm using the default qemu version 5.2) and
> I'm trying to boot Fedora 37 using the following qemu commands :
>
> /usr/bin/./qemu-system-x86_64
> -enable-kvm
> -m 8G
> -machine q35,accel=kvm
> -smp 8,cores=4
> -cpu host,kvm=off
> -smp 2,sockets=1,cores=2,threads=1
> -drive
> if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on,file=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE_4M.fd
> -device ich9-intel-hda
> -device hda-output
> -usb -device usb-kbd
> -device usb-mouse
> -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0
> -netdev tap,id=net0,ifname=tap0,script=no,downscript=no,vhost=on
> -device ich9-ahci,id=sata
> -drive
> id=SystemDisk,if=none,snapshot=off,cache=none,media=disk,format=raw,file=/dev/sdd
> -device ide-hd,bus=sata.4,drive=SystemDisk
> -device bochs-display
> -device
> pcie-root-port,bus=pcie.0,multifunction=on,port=1,chassis=1,id=port.1 \
>
> At this point your script comes into play. The idea is to use your
> update-linux script to update automatically the Fedora VM that's running
> under the hood. This seems to be the missing piece for my project. But
> it's not the only missing piece. My idea is to keep synchronized all the
> VMs that are running silently,so the project still needs two pieces of code
> : your script should do the same for the arch and the Ubuntu VMs. The idea
> behind is to have a sort of immediate backup if one of the VM gets
> corrupted. But this backup is represented by the remaining and still
> working VMs that's still running in memory.
>
> Not sure how an update tool help with the backup and disaster recover.
>
> Do you like the idea ? I'm not a coder,so I'm not able to replicate your
> script to make it work for Ubuntu and arch.  You can,if you like the
> project and you want to collaborate with me. Let me know,thanks.
>
> I am open to have coding contributed to support other packaging systems.
> I have debian and ubuntu systems that I will likely add support for at
> some point.
>
> My setup has Fedora on most of my systems a router, server for files and
> mail, music player, desktop and VMs.
> I do have debian and unbuntu VMs for development work.
>
> Barry
>
> On Mon, Apr 3, 2023 at 12:51 PM Barry Scott 
> wrote:
> > I have released a tool that I have been using for a number of years to
> > maintain my Fedora systems.
> >  https://pypi.org/project/update-linux/2.0.0/
> >
> > This tool allows you to update all your Fedora systems easily:
> >  $ update-linux host1 host2
> >
> > Or check if there are updates available:
> >  $ update-linux --check host4 host5
> >
> > It also handles system upgrades:
> >  $ update-linux --system-upgrade=37 host3
> >
> > It can be configured with named groups of hosts to avoid the need to
> > type long lists of host names.
> >
> > Barry
> >
> > users mailing list -- [e-mail]
> > To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]
> > Fedora Code of Conduct:
> > https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/
> > List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
> > List Archives:
> > https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[e-mail]
> > Do not reply to spam, report it:
> > https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/new_issue
>
> --
> Mario.
> _______________________________________________
> users mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]
> Fedora Code of Conduct:
> https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/
> List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
> List Archives:
> https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[e-mail]
> Do not reply to spam, report it:
> https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/new_issue
>
> users mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]
> Fedora Code of Conduct:
> https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/
> List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
> List Archives:
> https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[e-mail]
> Do not reply to spam, report it:
> https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/new_issue

[Jonathan Billings]

On Apr 3, 2023, at 17:26, Mario Marietto  wrote:
> 
> ---> I'm not sure how you run your linux systems matters for an update automation tool. Not sure how an update tool helps with the backup and disaster recovery.
>
> because my idea is to improve your script to adapt it to work on Debian and Arch,too,so that,every time you issue the commands expected by your script,they will work for every VM you want. In this way we will have the same information stored in 3 different operating systems. One or two of them crash ? The remaining VM is good and your data will be safe.

If you want a generic tool for remotely updating and configuring systems that is cross-distro compatible, I suggest using Ansible rather than reinventing the wheel.

Also, check out Vagrant to automate building VMs, although Ansible is also getting pretty good at that.

The original post has some neat ideas but a lot of it can (and has) been done with Ansible. I use it to build VMs with luks and automate Clevis/Tang for automatic decryption, along side other more mundane configurations.

[Mario Marietto]

Sometimes I feel creative and I want to create something new. Little
projects,because I'm not experienced. Why not ? This is a method to learn
just as the using of an existing tool. WIth a difference. That if I create
something new I feel better than if I use a tool that already exists.
Vagrant or ansible are complicated tools. Maybe I will learn them
"tomorrow". Now I want to develop something that makes me feel "alive".

On Mon, Apr 3, 2023 at 11:47 PM Jonathan Billings 
wrote:
> On Apr 3, 2023, at 17:26, Mario Marietto  wrote:
> > 
> > ---> I'm not sure how you run your linux systems matters for an update
>
> automation tool. Not sure how an update tool helps with the backup and
> disaster recovery.
> > because my idea is to improve your script to adapt it to work on Debian
>
> and Arch,too,so that,every time you issue the commands expected by your
> script,they will work for every VM you want. In this way we will have the
> same information stored in 3 different operating systems. One or two of
> them crash ? The remaining VM is good and your data will be safe.
>
> If you want a generic tool for remotely updating and configuring systems
> that is cross-distro compatible, I suggest using Ansible rather than
> reinventing the wheel.
>
> Also, check out Vagrant to automate building VMs, although Ansible is also
> getting pretty good at that.
>
> The original post has some neat ideas but a lot of it can (and has) been
> done with Ansible. I use it to build VMs with luks and automate Clevis/Tang
> for automatic decryption, along side other more mundane configurations.
>
> --
> Jonathan Billings
> _______________________________________________
> users mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]
> Fedora Code of Conduct:
> https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/
> List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
> List Archives:
> https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[e-mail]
> Do not reply to spam, report it:
> https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/new_issue