scripting to check for update folder

[tangent]

Greetings all, im trying to write a script to check for the presence of an "update" folder, and then if its present, take files from that "update folder" and placing them in their respective folders...

Psuedo Code

Print Output checking for updates
    If updates folder exists in folder 1
        then 
                Print Updates Found
                Print Updating Current Folder
                copy file from /folder1/updates to /folder2/current
    end if

#!/bin/sh

echo "Checking for Updates"
if [ -d /folder1/Updates ]
  then
     echo "Updates Found"
     echo "Updating Current Folder
     ???
fi

Being the noob that I am (first day writing linux), Im assuming my above code seems logical. However, where the "???" exists is what Im having trouble with.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
T

[pmcoleman]

A basic solution would look something like this:

#!/bin/sh
echo "Checking for Updates"
if [ -d /folder1/Updates ]
  then
     echo "Updates Found"
     echo "Updating Current Folder"
        cp -u /folder1/Updates/* /
  else
     echo "No Update directory found in /folder1/"

fi
exit 0

The command cp -u would copy the files in the Update directory to the root / directory only if they are newer than a file by the same name in the destination folder.

Alternatively, you could also instantiate a loop that would test the presence of the destination directory just as you have for the /folder/Updates directory and then add a nested

 [ -f /<destination dir>/<filename> ]

before then using the cp -u command.

Also, if you are really wanting to copy the said files to the root directory, user validation would be in order to check if the user is root, or a sudo user.

It all depends on just how much validation you need. I would consider a larger script to validate if the files are really at root.