cron-apt without exim and mysql - dependency mess?

[pump321]

Hi Everyone

How should I install cron-apt without installing the necesarry dependencies that "apt-get install cron-apt" suggests (sorry, command output is in German language):

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$ apt-cache depends cron-apt
cron-apt
  Hängt ab von: apt
  Empfiehlt: liblockfile1
  Empfiehlt: <mail-transport-agent>
    citadel-server
    courier-mta
    esmtp-run
    msmtp-mta
    nullmailer
    opensmtpd
    postfix
    qmail-run
    sendmail-bin
    ssmtp
    dma
    exim4-daemon-heavy
    exim4-daemon-light
 |Empfiehlt: cron
  Empfiehlt: <cron-daemon>
    systemd-cron
    cron

and don't mess with the apt dependency database?

synaptics also suggests mysql-common - why does this mysql-package not appear in the output of "apt-cache depends cron-apt"?

Long story short:

I switched my mothers notebook from Win7 to debian 9:

1) and would like to have unattend system updates without asking the user (my mum) for root password.
2) dont have to maintain things like e-mail server or mysql.

Because I don't have the time to care a lot about my mothers notebook remotely.

Thank' in advance

pump321

[stevepusser]

You won't have to maintain those extra packages--they should just work after you install them.

You're also mixing up "suggested", "dependencies", and "recommended" packages in your post. Those have strict definitions in Debian control files. Debian will install dependencies and recommended packages automatically, but you can turn off recommended packages in the Synaptic settings, or install without recommended packages on the the command line:

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apt-get install --no-install-recommends <package>

though this might break some functionality.

Suggested packages are not installed by default.

[pump321]

Hi

I've installed the whole dependencies an recommended packages with cron-apt (but did not configurate the mail function).

But how can I be sure, that alle pending updates (security and software updates) were downloaded and(!) installed without user interaction (and therefore without promting root password) with cron-apt?

Without user interaction because my mother has absolutely no idea how to react.

If I run the following command (neither synaptic nor any other apt action continuing shell is open):

# /usr/sbin/cron-apt

I get the following output:

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CRON-APT RUN [/etc/cron-apt/config]: Tue Dec 25 16:17:01 CET 2018
CRON-APT SLEEP: 70, Tue Dec 25 16:18:11 CET 2018
CRON-APT ACTION: 0-update
CRON-APT LINE: /usr/bin/apt-get -o quiet=1 update -o quiet=2
W: Failed to fetch http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/dists/stretch/InRelease  T
emporary failure resolving 'ftp.de.debian.org'
W: Failed to fetch http://security.debian.org/debian-security/dists/stretch/u
pdates/InRelease  Temporary failure resolving 'security.debian.org'
W: Failed to fetch http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/dists/stretch-updates/InRe
lease  Temporary failure resolving 'ftp.de.debian.org'
W: Failed to fetch http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian/dists/stretch-backports/I
nRelease  Temporary failure resolving 'ftp2.de.debian.org'
W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones u
sed instead.
CRON-APT ACTION: 3-download
CRON-APT LINE: /usr/bin/apt-get -o quiet=1 autoclean -y
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
CRON-APT LINE: /usr/bin/apt-get -o quiet=1 dist-upgrade -d -y -o APT::Get::Sh
ow-Upgraded=true
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily una
vailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another p
rocess using it?
CRON-APT RUN [/etc/cron-apt/config]: Tue Dec 25 16:38:09 CET 2018
CRON-APT ACTION: 0-update
CRON-APT LINE: /usr/bin/apt-get -o quiet=1 update -o quiet=2
CRON-APT ACTION: 3-download
CRON-APT LINE: /usr/bin/apt-get -o quiet=1 autoclean -y
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
CRON-APT LINE: /usr/bin/apt-get -o quiet=1 dist-upgrade -d -y -o APT::Get::Sh
ow-Upgraded=true
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
Calculating upgrade...
The following packages will be upgraded:
  ghostscript libgs9 libgs9-common
3 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/7452 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Download complete and in download only mode

In comparison with the /etc/apt/sources.list:

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deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ stretch main non-free contrib
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ stretch main non-free contrib

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security stretch/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security stretch/updates main contrib non-free

# stretch-updates, previously known as 'volatile'
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ stretch-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ stretch-updates main contrib non-free

deb http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian/ stretch-backports main
deb-src http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian/ stretch-backports main