How to use python in Extension Attribute scripts

[cnixon14]

I am trying to get info from a plist to see if the machine has any updates pending and I got this so far:

But the returned value is not showing up. What am i doing wrong here? Thanks!

[mm2270]

I'm not sure what the issue would be, since from what I can tell it should be outputting the results in between those <result></result> tags. But, why use python for something this simple? A standard shell script using defaults can do this just as easily.

#!/bin/sh

if [[ $(/usr/bin/defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist RecommendedUpdates 2>/dev/null) == "" ]]; then
    /bin/echo "<result>No Updates</result>"
else
    /bin/echo "<result>Updates</result>"
fi

[cnixon14]

I have tried using defaults but it doesn't return an empty string. It returns a few lines of empty space that I have tried to trim with this

but it still says there are "Updates Needed"

[mm2270]

You could try this:

/usr/bin/defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist RecommendedUpdates | sed 's/)//;s/(//;/^$/d'

That should return a null value if the RecommendedUpdates array is empty or some data if it's not empty. From there the rest of the script should work.

[cnixon14]

That appears to have worked. thank you

[tlarkin]

you might have to open the file to read it in python

[tlarkin]

example:

with open('/Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist', 'rb') as f:
     data = plistlib.load(f)
     print(data)