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Is there a clean way to detect when apt-get upgrade or apt-get dist-upgrade was last run on an Ubuntu Server?

If there isn't a way to do this by default, where would be the best place to modify a script in order to track when apt-get upgrade or apt-get dist-upgrade has last been run.

Kelly John Rose
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2 Answers2

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The log file you are searching is: /var/log/apt/history.log

Here are 2 log entries:

Start-Date: 2014-04-15  14:15:35
Commandline: apt-get install python3-tk
Install: libxcb-dri2-0:amd64 (1.9.1-3ubuntu1, automatic), x11-utils:amd64 (7.7+1, automatic), tk8.5-lib:amd64 (8.5.11-2ubuntu4, automatic), tcl8.5-lib:amd64 (8.5.13-1ubuntu4, automatic), libllvm3.3:amd64 (3.3-5ubuntu4, automatic), libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64 (9.2.1-1ubuntu3, automatic), libglapi-mesa:amd64 (9.2.1-1ubuntu3, automatic), libtxc-dxtn-s2tc0:amd64 (0~git20121227-1, automatic), libxv1:amd64 (1.0.9-1, automatic), libutempter0:amd64 (1.1.5-4build1, automatic), libxss1:amd64 (1.2.2-1, automatic), libxcb-glx0:amd64 (1.9.1-3ubuntu1, automatic), libgl1-mesa-glx:amd64 (9.2.1-1ubuntu3, automatic), libdrm-nouveau2:amd64 (2.4.46-1ubuntu1, automatic), libxcb-shape0:amd64 (1.9.1-3ubuntu1, automatic), blt:amd64 (2.4z-7, automatic), tk8.5:amd64 (8.5.11-2ubuntu4, automatic), tcl8.5:amd64 (8.5.13-1ubuntu4, automatic), xterm:amd64 (278-1ubuntu3, automatic), libxxf86vm1:amd64 (1.1.3-1, automatic), libelf1:amd64 (0.157-1ubuntu1, automatic), libxxf86dga1:amd64 (1.1.4-1, automatic), python3-tk:amd64 (3.3.1-0ubuntu2)
End-Date: 2014-04-15  14:15:44


Start-Date: 2014-04-23  11:10:37
Commandline: apt-get dist-upgrade
Upgrade: mysql-server-core-5.5:amd64 (5.5.35-0ubuntu0.13.10.2, 5.5.37-0ubuntu0.13.10.1), mysql-server-5.5:amd64 (5.5.35-0ubuntu0.13.10.2, 5.5.37-0ubuntu0.13.10.1), mysql-client-core-5.5:amd64 (5.5.35-0ubuntu0.13.10.2, 5.5.37-0ubuntu0.13.10.1), mysql-client-5.5:amd64 (5.5.35-0ubuntu0.13.10.2, 5.5.37-0ubuntu0.13.10.1), mysql-common:amd64 (5.5.35-0ubuntu0.13.10.2, 5.5.37-0ubuntu0.13.10.1), libmysqlclient18:amd64 (5.5.35-0ubuntu0.13.10.2, 5.5.37-0ubuntu0.13.10.1), python3-distupgrade:amd64 (0.205.5, 0.205.6), mysql-server:amd64 (5.5.35-0ubuntu0.13.10.2, 5.5.37-0ubuntu0.13.10.1), ubuntu-release-upgrader-core:amd64 (0.205.5, 0.205.6)
End-Date: 2014-04-23  11:11:10
Mircea Vutcovici
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1

It became useful for us to have a slightly more easy and accurate answer to the question "when was the last time we patched this thing?". So I put this together. I tested it on 12.04 and 14.04 and 16.04. It returns reasonably accurate answers for that question.

Note: "reasonably accurate" probably isn't "completely accurate".

Note: "for that question" only.

(constructive) Comments Appreciated! 

#!/usr/bin/perl

#------------------ subroutines --------------------

sub parseRecord {
    my $sdate = "";
    my $useful = 0;
    my $packages = 0;
    my @ptmp;
    while (my $recordLine = shift() ) {

       if ($recordLine =~ m/^Start-Date: ([\d\-]*).*/) {
          $sdate = $1;
       }
       elsif ($recordLine =~ m/^Commandline:.*upgrade/) {
          $useful = 1;
       }
       elsif ($recordLine =~ m/^Install: (.*)/) {
          $recordLine =~ s/\([^\)]*\)//g;
          @ptmp = split(/,/,$recordLine);
          $packages = $packages + $#ptmp + 1;
       }
       elsif ($recordLine =~ m/^Upgrade: (.*)/) {
          $recordLine =~ s/\([^\)]*\)//g;
          @ptmp = split(/,/,$recordLine);
          $packages = $packages + $#ptmp + 1;
       }
    }



    if ($useful) {
       return ($sdate,$packages);
    }
    else {
       return ("0",0);
    }
}


#------------------ main program --------------------

@lines = split(/\n/,`/bin/zcat -f /var/log/apt/history.log  /var/log/apt/history*gz`);
my %patchHash;
my $line;
my @inputLines;
my $pushDate = "";
my $pushNum = "";

foreach $line (@lines) {
    # all records separated by blank lines
    if ($line !~ /./) {
       # no-op
    }
    elsif ($line =~ m/^Start-Date: ([\d\-]*).*/) {
       @inputLines = ();
       push (@inputLines, $line);
    }
    elsif ($line =~ m/^End-Date: ([\d\-]*).*/) {
       ($pushDate, $pushNum) = parseRecord(@inputLines);
       if ($pushNum != 0) {
          $patchHash{$pushDate} += $pushNum;
       }
    }
    else {
       push (@inputLines, $line);
    }
}

foreach $pushDate (sort(keys(%patchHash))) {
   print "$pushDate $patchHash{$pushDate}\n";
}
JsinJ
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