[NMLUG] A couple of remote computing questions

[tiberius at freeshell.org (Matt Rechkemmer)]

On Sun, Dec 12, 2004 at 10:54:19PM -0800, Tim Emerick wrote:
> I am running sshd on my home pc.  I have a couple of questions regarding
> remote computing and backgrounding tasks.
> 
> 1. During an SSH session I use apt-get to upgrade my debian distribution.  If
> I am disconnected during the middle of it I tend to get some errors.
> 
> 2. If I use apt-get dist-upgrade &, will the process end if the SSH session
> ends or will it continue to run until finish?
> 
> 3. What is the difference between using one ampersand to background a task
> and two ampersands?
> 
> 4. Am I using the wrong terminology when saying --backgrounding--.  Is this
> commonly referred to as --forking a process-- ??
> 
> Thanks!

I update my system with this recipe:

contagion# dtach -n /root/upgrade /bin/bash
contagion# dtach -a /root/upgrade

contagion# apt-get update; apt-get dist-upgrade

Ctrl+\

You'll need the "dtach" debian package.  When you run dtach -n it creates the
socket "upgrade" in root's home directory.  When you run dtach -a it attaches
to it and you see the prompt, you're in bash.

Run the upgrade as you usually would, when it starts chugging along, detach
with Ctrl+\.  The neat thing about dtach over screen is, you can attach
multiple times, so it's very easy to monitor your background process.

Enjoy,

Matt Rechkemmer