I run several CentOS 4.0 servers, and having to manually check each server for new updates is tedious. To simplify my life, I decided to write a shell script (yumnotifier) to E-mail me when new updates are available. The script (yumnotifier) analyzes the output from ‘yum check-update,’ and generates an E-mail similar to the following if updates are available:
From root@localhost.localdomain Sat Jul 15 19:24:59 2006
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2006 19:24:59T-0400:00-04:00
From: root
To: matty@localhost.localdomain
Subject: Updates available for biscuit
==== The following updates are available for biscuit ===
comps.i386 2:4.3CENTOS-0.20060314 base
gtk2.i386 2.4.13-18 base
kernel.i686 2.6.9-34.0.2.EL update
libtiff.i386 3.6.1-10 update
mysql.i386 4.1.20-1.RHEL4.1 update
mysql-devel.i386 4.1.20-1.RHEL4.1 update
If you manage systems that use yum, you might be interested in this script.