Introduction
The script bellow uses interrupt-driven polling for specific messages from dbus, and whenever it sees request for shutdown/reboot , it will test whether or not a package manager such as dpkg or apt are running. If they are running, the shutdown request will be cancelled.
Set up
Since you have mentioned that your friend doesn't want to touch command line, you will either need to ssh into his machine, or come over and install this manually.
Manual setup
mkdir $HOME/bin- Copy the script source, save into file named
preventShutdown.sh
- The script must be executable. Use
chmod +x $HOME/bin/preventShutdown.sh to do that
- Add a script to list of routines to be ran on login to Unity/Gnome using Startup Applications app or by manually placing a
.desktop file into $HOME/.config/autostart
Alternative Setup
sudo apt-get install git
cd /opt
sudo git clone https://github.com/SergKolo/sergrep.git
sudo chmod +x /opt/sergrep/*
Add the script as a startup application.
Script Source
#! /bin/bash
##########################
# AUTHOR: Serg Kolo
# Date: Saturday, December 26th, 2015
# Description: Script to notify user and prevent
# shutdown or reboot
# if any update or package manager
# are running.
# TESTED ON: 14.04.3 LTS, Trusty Tahr
# WRITTEN FOR: http://askubuntu.com/q/702156/295286
# VERSION: 2, removed xdotool, using dbus method
# changed to C-style of organizing code
#########################
# Copyright (c) 2015 Serg Kolo
#
# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
# of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in
# the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
# copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of
# the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
# subject to the following conditions:
#
# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
# copies or substantial portions of the Software.
#
# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
# INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A
# PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
# HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
# OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
# SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
# Uncomment the line bellow if needed for debugging
# set -x
###########################
# VARIABLES
###########################
DISPLAY=:0 # has to be set since we are using notify-send
###########################
# MAIN
###########################
#
# Basic idea : This runs dbus-monitor which waits for
# "RebootRequested" memberf from com.canonical.Unity.Session ,
# which apprears only when the user clicks the shutdown option
# from the Unity's top right drop down box. Why RebootRequested ?
# Because this message is guaranteed to pop up once user presses
# the shutdown button.
# The while loop with read command does the big job.
# dbus-monitor sends initial message , so we want to filter only
# The output that contains the string we need, hence the case...esac
# structure employed here. Once we get the proper message.
# we check whether update-manager or package managers are running
# If there is one instance, then call CancelAction method
# and send notification to the user.
# Both dbus-monitor and while loop run continuously. This
# can be launcher as script in `/etc/rc.local` or `/etc/rc2.d`
# or preferably (!) in `/etc/xdg/autostart/` .
# Here is sample /etc/xdg/autostart/preventShutdown.desktop file
#
# [Desktop Entry]
# Type=Application
# Name=Prevent-Update
# Exec=/home/$USER/bin/preventShutdown.sh
# OnlyShowIn=GNOME;Unity;
# Terminal=false
#
# Remember to make this file as well as script be root-owned with
# chmod +x /path/to/Script.
# It is preferred to store the script in user's personal $HOME/bin
# folder.
# Make sure to edit $HOME/.profile file to include that into $PATH
# variable
interupt()
{
qdbus com.canonical.Unity /com/canonical/Unity/Session com.canonical.Unity.Session.CancelAction
notify-send "<<< UPDATE IN PROGRESS; DO NOT SHUT DOWN>>>"
wall <<< "<<< UPDATE IN PROGRESS; DO NOT SHUT DOWN>>>"
}
main()
{
dbus-monitor --profile "interface='com.canonical.Unity.Session',type=signal" |
while read -r line;
do
case "$line" in
*RebootRequested*)
pgrep update-manager || pgrep apt-get || pgrep dpkg
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
interupt
fi
;;
esac
done
}
main
System Settings -> Power– BeGood Nov 24 '15 at 23:41/bin/shutdownas a symlink that points to/bin/systemctlright? – cat Dec 25 '15 at 00:54xdotool– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Mar 18 '16 at 18:01