Script

Update Modules
1

Description

The Script Update Module allows to execute any general purpose script or binary on the target device. A Mender Artifact containing one or more executables (usually scripts) is sent to the device, where the Update Module will execute these during the ArtifactInstall state.

If multiple scripts are provided, they will be executed in alphabetical order on the device.

Example use-cases:

  • Restart application into diagnostic mode
  • Run diagnostics script
  • Execute any other generic command

Specification
Module name script
Supports rollback no
Requires restart no
Artifact generation script no
Full operating system updater no
Source code Update Module
Maintainer Community

Please be aware that Mender Update modules are meant to update parts of the operating system and if not configured properly they could potentially delete parts or the complete operating system. Always inspect the code carefully and only test modules on a device that you can recover easily.

It is not recommended to install a Mender Artifact on your workstation

Prepare the device

This section describes how to setup your target device, i.e. the device to be updated. This will also be referred to as the device environment.

All commands outlined in this section should be run in the device environment.

Prerequisites

This update module has the following prerequisites for the device environment:

  • Install the Mender client, version 2.0 or later
  • Ensure the device has a Bash Unix shell
    • How to install this depends on which OS you are running

Install the Update Module

Download the latest version of this Update Module by running:

mkdir -p /usr/share/mender/modules/v3 && wget -P /usr/share/mender/modules/v3 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mendersoftware/mender/master/support/modules/script

Prepare the development environment on your workstation

This section describes how to set up your development environment on your workstation.

All commands outlined in this section should be run in the development environment.

Prerequisites

This Update Modules has the following prerequisites for the development environment:

Create Mender Artifacts

The Artifact can be generated using mender-artifact tool.

Create example content to deploy:

cat > my-script-1.sh << EOF
#!/bin/bash
echo "$(basename "$0") was executed on device!" > /tmp/my-script-1.txt
EOF

cat > my-script-2.sh << EOF
#!/bin/bash
echo "$(basename "$0") was executed on device!" > /tmp/my-script-2.txt
EOF

Now generate a Mender Artifact using the following command:

ARTIFACT_NAME="my-update-1.0"
DEVICE_TYPE="my-device-type"
OUTPUT_PATH="my-update-1.0.mender"
SHELL_SCRIPTS="my-script-1.sh my-script-2.sh"
mender-artifact write module-image -T script -n ${ARTIFACT_NAME} -t ${DEVICE_TYPE} -o ${OUTPUT_PATH} -f $(echo "$SHELL_SCRIPTS" | sed -e 's/ / -f /g')
  • ARTIFACT_NAME - The name of the Mender Artifact
  • DEVICE_TYPE - The compatible device type of this Mender Artifact
  • OUTPUT_PATH - The path where to place the output Mender Artifact. This should always have a .mender suffix
  • SHELL_SCRIPTS - The path to the script that you wish to deploy and execute on your device. NOTE that the extension does not matter.

You can either deploy this Artifact in managed mode with the Mender server (upload it under Releases in the server UI) or by using the Mender client only in Standalone deployments.

Artifact technical details

The Mender Artifact used by this Update Module has a payload with as many files as scripts are contained in the Artifact.

The Mender Artifact contents will look like:

Updates:
    0:
    Type: script
    Provides: Nothing
    Depends: Nothing
    Metadata: Nothing
    Files:
        name: my-script-1.sh
        size: 140
        modified: 2019-03-05 18:34:43 +0100 CET
        checksum: 065714b581785a2d7c83b684f0d5348031c5512f21863fed38197078cb3ef6e5
    Files:
        name: my-script-2.sh
        size: 139
        modified: 2019-03-05 18:34:54 +0100 CET
        checksum: 9fca4ec0f65f960d1ac2dfd311e32070b62c26f35968c8002c16d39ccdb1330a
2 Likes