RFC: adding shell scripting capabilities will bring PM2 to the next level

[robang74]

@olf

@robang74

I can deliver a better solution or simply switch to a better product.

Yes, please go ahead with either of these two options; pick the one which suits you best.

Just I did, moving forward for both of them. About the better solution:

1. I show that it is easy and feasible to patch the filesystem (files and directory) without creating links to a temporary directory
2. the Patch Manager can move easily from “apply at boot time” in “persistent mode” with check by --dry-run option which probably is just implemented because currently the Patch Manager is able to detect when a patched file is changed
3. avoid that Patch Manager removes patches when the system is asked to go down for shutdown or reboot

In particular about the point #3, I have tested with success and satisfaction a killall -9 patchmanager. Obviously this would not provide persistence because /tmp/patchmanager is volatile. Now, I have to make another test based on information collected with find /tmp/patchmanager -type f.

The test will be similar to the shell script code I presented here:

0. collect the list of files using find
1. backup all the system files when all patches are disabled (original versions) which probably is not necessary because it is reasonable that they are stored somewhere
2. kill the patchmanger
3. use the list of files to remove the links and replace with real files
4. start again the patchmanager to check how is going to behave
5. do a system reboot instead of point #4

Some tests, just before going to edit the two scripts that apply patches and one in perl and another in shell script.

After that, I will probably discover the SFOS ill-design choice that constrain the Patch Manager to act volatile instead of providing persistence. Or in a lucky scenario, I will simple discover that volatile for Patch Manager is not a constrain (or not anymore).

In both cases the result will be a lot of fun.

UPDATE

About the point #2, checking the /tmp/patchmanager3/patchmanager.log I found that the check with patch -Rp0 --dry-run is exactly what Patch Manager does to check that each enabled patch is applied correctly.