% check_updates(1) check_updates
% Alexander Schäferdiek
% January 2023

# NAME
check_updates - Notifies about available updates. Configuration is done in environment files.\
It's part of **system-helpers**.

# SYNOPSIS
**check_updates** [CONFIG_FILE (absolute path)]

# DESCRIPTION

**check_updates** checks for available updates using *checkupdates* and sends out a mail. It comes with systemd services.

If no *CONFIG_FILE* is provided, **check_updates** tries to read from *$HOME/.check_updates.conf* and */etc/check_updates.conf* for configuration. It will exit with a non-zero exit code if it cannot find an proper configuration file.

The following are at least required for the script to work:\
- **CHECK_UPDATES_MAIL_ADDRESS=""** which requires *mail.rc* to be configured and '*mailx*' command has be available.
- **CHECK_UPDATES_UPDATES_CMD** is the command for retrieving which updates are available, by default it's set to */usr/bin/checkupdates* (Arch Linux default).
- **CHECK_UPDATES_UPDATES_AMOUNT_CMD** is the command used to determine the amount of updates, by default it's set to */usr/bin/checkupdates | wc -l* (Arch Linux default).

You can copy this script to */usr/local/bin* and use create a custom **CONFIG_FILE** as user.

# EXAMPLE

Create a *$HOME/.check_updates.conf* and add *CHECK_UPDATES_MAIL_ADDRESS="alias@domain.tld"*. Notifications will be delivered to alias@domain.tld. Examples can be found in */usr/share/doc/check_updates*.

# EXIT VALUES
**0**
: Success

**1**
: Error