wrap a series of bash commands

gistfile1.sh

#!/bin/bash

prog=$(basename $0)
logger="logger -t $prog"

# Logs to syslog and stderr
gripe () {
    $logger -s "$*"
}

bomb () {
    gripe "$*"
    exit 1
}

attempt () {
    eval $* || bomb "failed $*"
}

# doit must be called with a tag as the first argument, in front of a
# command. The tag is a way to label the command without echoing all
# of the command args.
doit () {
    $logger $1
    shift
    attempt $*
}

# Bootstrap begins here

doit install_base_packages apt-get install python # &c.