As Debian/Ubuntu user, I am spoiled when it comes to update management: apt-get updates most of my software, and apticron notifies me when updates are available. For WordPress however, the packaged versions of Debian/Ubuntu are really old and less adjustable which unfortunately makes a manual installation inevitable. While there are several automated WordPress update mechanisms out there, I couldn’t find a simple notify-on-update tool.

This post introduces the WordPress Update Notifier (WP-UN), a simple script that frequently compares the installed WordPress version with the latest available one. If a new version is available, it sends an e-mail to a given address.

Requirements

WP-UN needs a local mail server such as Sendmail or Postfix to deliver the notification e-mail.

Download & Installation

Download the script, save it to your preferred location and make it executable:

$ wget -O /usr/local/bin/wp-un \
          http://blog.philippheckel.com/uploads/2010/01/wp-un
$ chmod +x /usr/local/bin/wp-un

That’s it for the installation. The script can now be called by simply running wp-un.

Download: WP-UN 0.1, January 2010

Usage

Now you can call the script with the following arguments:

• –test: to test if the notification works, use the –test parameter (optional).
• INSTALL-DIR: the path to your local WordPress installation, for example /var/www/myblog.
• NOTIFY-EMAIL: the e-mail address of the person to notify if a new WordPress version is available.

By default, the script is completely silent so that adding a cronjob doesn’t require output redirections. If, however, the –test option is given, it is more verbose and sends the notification e-mail in any case.

If a new WordPress version is available, the output looks something like this:

$ wp-un --test /var/www/myblog admin@example.com
Checking installed version... WordPress 2.5.1
Checking latest version... WordPress 2.9.1
Update required; Sending notification to admin@example.com... done.

If WordPress is up-to-date, WP-UN would normally not send any notification. If, however, the –test option is enabled, it sends the e-mail no matter what. In this case, the output will look like this:

$ wp-un --test /var/www/myblog admin@example.com
Checking installed version... WordPress 2.9.1
Checking latest version... WordPress 2.9.1
Update not necessary; WordPress is up-to-date.
TEST-flag enabled: sending notfication to admin@example.com... done.

The notification you receive will look like this:

 The WordPress installation on host example.com needs an update:
 
   Installed Version: WordPress 2.5.1
                  at: /var/www/myblog
 
      Latest Version: WordPress 2.9.1
            Download: http://www.wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz

As cronjob

If you want to be notified as soon as a new version comes out, installing a cronjob is a good idea. Simply run crontab -e and add the following line to the file:

0 6 * * * /usr/local/bin/wp-un /var/www/myblog admin@example.com

WP-UN will now run every morning at 6am and notify you if a new WordPress version is out there!

Conclusion

WP-UN is just one of many solutions and it’s only the work of one afternoon. However, it doesn’t need any additional software and keeps it simple. It serves its purpose and keeps my WordPress installation always up-to-date. If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to comment below.>

This is where a password manager comes in handy: Open the password vault by typing in the master password, put in all you secrets and crucial information, save it and be happy. As if!

Almost every password manager I found on the Web was crowded out by details so that it took minutes to add a single account. What I wanted was something like a text-file with password — and that’s what I made: A simple command-line password safe.

How it works

Simsafe is nothing else but a simple Perl script wrapped around the symmetric encryption functions of GPG. Every box with GPG and Perl installed can hence use the script (= every linux box!). And even if the simsafe-script is not installed on the system, a simple gpg –decrypt FILE shows the plain text contents. That is, Simsafe files are nothing more but text-files with password!

Usage

It’s simple and really easy to use.
Syntax:

$ simsafe FILE

Create a new password safe file

$ simsafe mySafe
simsafe: Creating a new password safe 'mySafe'
simsafe: Please enter the new password: (type in your password)
simsafe: Please confirm the password: (confirm your password)
simsafe: Executing editor vi ...
  // VI or your favourite editor opens
  // and you can edit the plain text file
simsafe: Encrypting with GPG ...

Adding/Removing entries to the password vault

$ simsafe mySafe
simsafe: Please enter the safe password: (type in your password)
simsafe: Decrypting with GPG ...
simsafe: Executing editor vi ...
  // VI or your favourite editor opens
  // and you can edit the plain text file
simsafe: Safe unchanged.

Get it!

It’s a reeeaallly small script and this post is possible longer than the perl-file itself, but here it is. Simply download it, make it executable and put it somewhere in your PATH.

Download: Simsafe v0.1, Apr. 2009