Using the cron-apt package, which as the name might suggest, combines the cron and apt utilities, but provides a bit more flexibility and a simpler interface — as well as supporting e-mail alerts on errors or new information. cron-apt automatically adds the -d flag, so you’ll have to run apt-get dist-upgrade to install the changes. You can install cron-apt like any other common utility by using apt:
% apt-get install cron-apt
The configuration for cron-apt reside in /etc/cron-apt/config — except how often the script runs, that’s depended on cron so you can find it in /etc/cron.d/cron-apt. One popular configuration change is to add the line:
MAILON=”always”
This will make sure an e-mail is always sent when the update runs, rather than only when an error occurs.
