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I'm trying to make an update fully non interactive.(on ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS) I thought it will be easy with this type of command:

export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -q -y --force-yes && apt-get dist-upgrade -q -y --force-yes

but no... I always have a question like:

Configuration file '/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg'
 ==> Modified (by you or by a script) since installation.
 ==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.
   What would you like to do about it ?  Your options are:
    Y or I  : install the package maintainer's version
    N or O  : keep your currently-installed version
      D     : show the differences between the versions
      Z     : start a shell to examine the situation
 The default action is to keep your current version.
*** cloud.cfg (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N] ?

So do you known how I can accept the default value automatically ?

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3
  • 2
    This site is for programming questions. We are not general OS/software tech support.
    – Marc B
    Commented Oct 27, 2015 at 14:14
  • 20
    I think to ask how to make apt non-interactive is a valid question
    – Mayou36
    Commented May 29, 2017 at 13:23
  • 3
    We should finally sort out whether superuser.com is still needed or not.
    – Torsten Bronger
    Commented Sep 9, 2019 at 8:06

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
19

You need to pass some dpkg options to your commands, for instance:

export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
apt-get update && 
    apt-get -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" upgrade -q -y --force-yes &&
    apt-get -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" dist-upgrade -q -y --force-yes

On a side note, I would recommend using only dist-upgrade, you will eventually end up with broken dependencies if you use upgrade.

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4
  • For any other fellow travelers that find this, the quoting around Dpkg::Options is wrong. it should be: apt-get -o "Dpkg::Options::=--force-confold" dist-upgrade -y --force-yes
    – Irving
    Commented Jun 29, 2017 at 20:27
  • 1
    For use within sudo, make sure to put the environment variable in front of the command rather than hoping sudo won't strip your envs, like: sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -o "Dpkg::Options::=--force-confold" dist-upgrade -y --force-yes
    – Irving
    Commented Jun 29, 2017 at 20:28
  • 1
    @Irving, that quoting worked for me, perhaps something changed recently?
    – ryanpcmcquen
    Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 15:51
  • W: --force-yes is deprecated, use one of the options starting with --allow instead. (apt v1.1 and newer). Looks like the new equivalent is --allow-downgrades --allow-remove-essential --allow-change-held-packages
    – jacobq
    Commented May 21, 2018 at 16:15
14

>= Apt 1.1

If you're using Apt 1.1 or above, --force-yes has been deprecated, so you've to use the options starting with --allow instead, e.g. --allow-downgrades, --allow-remove-essential, --allow-change-held-packages.

So the command is:

DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
  apt-get \
  -o Dpkg::Options::=--force-confold \
  -o Dpkg::Options::=--force-confdef \
  -y --allow-downgrades --allow-remove-essential --allow-change-held-packages

Note: Use --force-confold to keep old, and --force-confnew to keep new configs.

Source: CFE-2360: Make apt_get package module version aware.

Related:

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2
  • 5
    I think you're missing the word "update" in your command someplace?
    – bovine
    Commented Apr 2, 2021 at 17:22
  • I still unfortunately get asked to select a drive when grub-efi is upgraded. Any ideas how to get it to select the first option by default?
    – Hackeron
    Commented Dec 5, 2022 at 13:52

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