Question

Do I need cloud-init?

Posted on May 16, 2017
Linux Basics Ubuntu
Asked by adminc6bc084b9ac49e0d2801b

Every time I update, I see the following:

$ apt list --upgradable
Listing... Done
cloud-init/zesty 0.7.9-90-g61eb03fe-0ubuntu1 all [upgradable from: 0.7.9-0ubuntu1~16.10.1]

and when upgrading

The following packages have been kept back:
  cloud-init

What is the package for and why is it held back?

DigitalOcean’s FAQ contains an entry on CloudInit:

What is CloudInit?

CloudInit is a process enabled on recent DigitalOcean images that is able to pull down and process information from metadata. When the Droplet boots for the first time, the CloudInit program executes the script it finds in the user-data field, providing users the opportunity to automate the initial configuration of their servers.

but I am not much wiser. Apparently, it is used during the initial boot but is it safe to remove it afterwards?

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Jonathan Tittle • May 16, 2017

Accepted Answer

@adminc6bc084b9ac49e0d2801b

Last I recall, DigitalOcean uses it for the imaging and snapshot setups. If you’re not going to use the snapshot / backup service, then it’s safe to remove.

Removing the package shouldn’t remove any other packages or core dependencies. When testing it on Ubuntu 16.04, only that one package is removed.

…

As for the purpose of the package, you can read over the basics here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CloudInit

The above link provides more detailed information on what it can do as well as a few use cases for it.

…

That said, it’s odd that dist-upgrade would leave the package hanging. I tested this one two Droplets and neither have any packages remaining or hanging behind, kernel or otherwise.

I normally run the full suite on initial deployment:

apt update \
&& apt -y full-upgrade \
&& apt -y upgrade \
&& apt -y autoremove

Or if you prefer to use apt-get:

apt-get update \
&& apt-get -y dist-upgrade \
&& apt-get -y upgrade \
&& apt-get -y autoremove

16.04/16.10 now use apt which I find more useful since it shortens commands (even though I mostly use bash scripts).

adminc6bc084b9ac49e0d2801b • May 16, 2017

@jtittle

Unless you absolutely need to remove it, it’s safe to leave it as-is. It’s not really taking up much disk space or utilizing large amounts of CPU or RAM (if any at all).

For various reasons, I prefer to have installed only the packages that are actually used. I understand how the package is employed for the initial deployment, I would like to know if it does anything once the system is set up.

…

Actually the “packages have been kept back” is an output of dist-upgrade. I always run it since I like to live on the edge ;-)

But this particular peculiarity of apt is of secondary interest to me. Mainly, I would like to make sense of the package itself.

Jonathan Tittle • May 16, 2017

@adminc6bc084b9ac49e0d2801b

When you first deploy a Droplet, there’s a checkbox labeled “User Data” which allows you to pass a bash script to the service, which will then run during the initial deployment. This allows you to do an initial server configuration without having to login to the terminal. It’s more useful if you’re using the API as a part of automated deployments, though it can be a quick way to simply get things setup as needed from the control panel as well.

…

Unless you absolutely need to remove it, it’s safe to leave it as-is. It’s not really taking up much disk space or utilizing large amounts of CPU or RAM (if any at all).

The reason it’s kept back is similar to how kernel updates are kept back unless you run:

apt-get dist-upgrade

The standard upgrade command:

apt-get upgrade

… won’t upgrade core packages that may change functionality. For example, if you were running PHP 7.0 and PHP 7.1 was in the repositories as well, the base upgrade command won’t upgrade 7.0 to 7.1 or even 8.0 (when it’s released) as those are major version releases. It would, however, upgrade 7.0.x to 7.0.1, 7.0.2, etc. The same for other software.

Generally, unless you 100% confident you’re not going to run in to issues with a new kernel, newer versions of software, etc – you don’t want to dist-upgrade. While it’s generally safe, it does allow major version releases to be installed.