2. Usage (man Page)

Synopsis

    rhupdate --auto|manual|all [--v|--vv|--vvv] [--listonly] [--checkdeps]

    rhupdate --help

Description

In the first case rhupdate downloads updated RPMs from the RedHat update FTP site (or mirror). (The new RPMs are not installed: rpm -vh --freshen or similar should be used for this after the download has completed.)

In the second case rhupdate simply prints out a brief help/usage message and exits.

Options: Help

--help

Prints out

     Usage:

       rhupdate --help
       rhupdate --auto|manual|all [--v|--vv|--vvv]
 
       Other options:
 
         --listonly
         --checkdeps
  

Options: Modes

--all

Reads the contents of the updates directory for the configured version of the OS on the configured FTP mirror site, e.g., /sites/updates.redhat.com/9/en/os/ on ftp.mirror.ac.uk and downloads RPMs to the configured local directory, e.g., ~/__updates:

• updates/files which have already been downloaded are not downloaded for a second time;
• update directories i386, i486, i586 and i686 (or athlon, as configured) are read in sequence --- if an update is available for more than one architecture, only update for the most advanced architecture is downloaded;
• nothing is actually installed --- use rpm -vh --freshen or similar to do this.

This mode is the slowest: it may download updates which are not required but is useful for keeping a local mirror of the RedHat update FTP sites (this could be used for updating a local cluster, for example).

--manual

As for --all except that the user is asked to confirm downloads.

There is the possibility that one update which is downloaded requires a second update which is not downloaded (owing to user/manual decision). If this happens, using --checkdeps should resolve the issue (though manually downloading the required package(s) later might well be faster or simpler).

--auto

In this case, potential downloads are compared to already-installed RPMs as well as to already-downloaded updates. If the update to be downloaded does not correspond to an already-installed package, the update is not downloaded.

There is the possibility that one update which is downloaded requires an update which is not, since the latter was not already installed, though this is rare. The issue is resolved as per --manual mode.

Options: Verbosity

--v|--vv|--vvv

Increasing levels of verbosity: --v should be considered normal and --vvv might be considered as synonymous with --debug (though the latter does not actually exist as an option).

Options: Further Download Options

--listonly

Having determined the list of things to download, rhupdate simply prints the list and exists; no download takes place.

--checkdeps

After each download, rhupdate checks to see if the new RPM depends upon any RPMs which are not already installed, not already downloaded and not on our list or RPMs to download. Any such packages are shouted about and sought out (actually, as of 2003 July 23 the latter is not implemented, but "watch this space").

Examples

List all updates which are available that are not as yet downloaded:

  rhupdate --all --listonly

  rhupdate --auto --vv --checkdeps