If I generate a "Package Download Script" in Snyaptic can it be rn from a terminal window instead of Synaptic?

[Nils Kassube]

jimmckenzie at earthlink.net wrote:
> I'm asking because basically I find the "Command Line" to be more
> understandable in terms of installing programs/packages as compared
> to a "GUI" like "Synaptic" or any other "Graphical" programs. Aside
> from thermometer showing some indicator of progress (and not all
> that well) there's nothing on the screen that the command line
> doesn't tell me. A text representation of the D/L percentage and
> speed is all I need.

Unless things have chnaged recently, a download script generated by 
synaptic would download the necessary packages with wget commands. Wget 
would show a progress bar for the individual packages but there is no 
progress bar for the overall download action. That download script is 
supposed to be run from the command line.

> Are any alterations needed to run the script in a terminal.

No alterations needed, it is even executable already.

> If I run
> a small "apt-get" script and serialize a group of installs I have to
> follow each install with &&
> 
> example below
> 
> sudo apt-get update &&
> sudo apt-get upgrade &&
> sudo apt-get install linux-generic &&
> sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic &&
> sudo apt-get install linux-image-generic &&
> sudo apt-get install jockey-kde &&
[...]

That is not really necessary unless you want to make sure that the 
installation stops in case of any error. But do you really want that 
bahaviour? IMHO it would be better to install as many packages as 
possible and handle the possible errors afterwards.

> Running a script like my example requires constantly re-entering the
> password and if enough packages are contained can't be run
> unattended. Oddly enough I can't hand-hold the whole process as if
> there's nothing else to do.

If you write a script like your example, then you would really have to 
watch the progress. It would be easier if you would make it a single 
apt-get command like this:

sudo apt-get install linux-generic linux-headers-generic \
linux-image-generic jockey-kde .....

Then you would have to enter the password only once and you would save a 
lot of time because the database isn't read again for ever single 
package.

> Is the && at the end of each line also required to run a script?

It isn't required at all. The "&&" means that the shell should run one 
command at a time and continue with the next command only if the 
previous command was run successfully. That may be a wanted behaviour, 
but I think it is debatable if it is useful for installing lots of 
packages.


Nils