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1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
2<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd" [
4
5<!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent">
6%aptent;
7
8]>
9
10<refentry>
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11
12 <refentryinfo>
13 &apt-author.jgunthorpe;
14 &apt-author.team;
15 &apt-email;
16 &apt-product;
17 <!-- The last update date -->
18 <date>29 February 2004</date>
19 </refentryinfo>
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20
21 <refmeta>
22 <refentrytitle>apt-get</refentrytitle>
23 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
24 </refmeta>
25
26 <!-- Man page title -->
27 <refnamediv>
28 <refname>apt-get</refname>
29 <refpurpose>APT package handling utility -- command-line interface</refpurpose>
30 </refnamediv>
31
32 <!-- Arguments -->
33 <refsynopsisdiv>
34 <cmdsynopsis>
35 <command>apt-get</command>
36 <arg><option>-hvs</option></arg>
37 <arg><option>-o=<replaceable>config string</replaceable></option></arg>
38 <arg><option>-c=<replaceable>file</replaceable></option></arg>
39 <group choice="req">
40 <arg>update</arg>
41 <arg>upgrade</arg>
42 <arg>dselect-upgrade</arg>
43 <arg>install <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
44 <arg>remove <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
45 <arg>source <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
46 <arg>build-dep <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
47 <arg>check</arg>
48 <arg>clean</arg>
49 <arg>autoclean</arg>
50 </group>
51 </cmdsynopsis>
52 </refsynopsisdiv>
53
54 <refsect1><title>Description</title>
55 <para><command>apt-get</command> is the command-line tool for handling packages, and may be
56 considered the user's "back-end" to other tools using the APT
57 library. Several "front-end" interfaces exist, such as dselect(8),
58 aptitude, synaptic, gnome-apt and wajig.</para>
59
60 <para>Unless the <option>-h</option>, or <option>--help</option> option is given, one of the
61 commands below must be present.</para>
62
63 <variablelist>
64 <varlistentry><term>update</term>
65 <listitem><para><literal>update</literal> is used to resynchronize the package index files from
66 their sources. The indexes of available packages are fetched from the
67 location(s) specified in <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename>.
68 For example, when using a Debian archive, this command retrieves and
69 scans the <filename>Packages.gz</filename> files, so that information about new
70 and updated packages is available. An <literal>update</literal> should always be
71 performed before an <literal>upgrade</literal> or <literal>dist-upgrade</literal>. Please
72 be aware that the overall progress meter will be incorrect as the size
73 of the package files cannot be known in advance.</para></listitem>
74 </varlistentry>
75
76 <varlistentry><term>upgrade</term>
77 <listitem><para><literal>upgrade</literal> is used to install the newest versions of all packages
78 currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in
79 <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename>. Packages currently installed with
80 new versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no circumstances
81 are currently installed packages removed, or packages not already installed
82 retrieved and installed. New versions of currently installed packages that
83 cannot be upgraded without changing the install status of another package
84 will be left at their current version. An <literal>update</literal> must be
85 performed first so that <command>apt-get</command> knows that new versions of packages are
86 available.</para></listitem>
87 </varlistentry>
88
89 <varlistentry><term>dselect-upgrade</term>
90 <listitem><para><literal>dselect-upgrade</literal>
91 is used in conjunction with the traditional Debian packaging
92 front-end, &dselect;. <literal>dselect-upgrade</literal>
93 follows the changes made by &dselect; to the <literal>Status</literal>
94 field of available packages, and performs the actions necessary to realize
95 that state (for instance, the removal of old and the installation of new
96 packages).</para></listitem>
97 </varlistentry>
98
99 <varlistentry><term>dist-upgrade</term>
100 <listitem><para><literal>dist-upgrade</literal> in addition to performing the function of
101 <literal>upgrade</literal>, also intelligently handles changing dependencies
102 with new versions of packages; <command>apt-get</command> has a "smart" conflict
103 resolution system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important
104 packages at the expense of less important ones if necessary.
105 The <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename> file contains a list of locations
106 from which to retrieve desired package files.
107 See also &apt-preferences; for a mechanism for
108 overriding the general settings for individual packages.</para></listitem>
109 </varlistentry>
110
111 <varlistentry><term>install</term>
112 <listitem><para><literal>install</literal> is followed by one or more packages desired for
113 installation. Each package is a package name, not a fully qualified
114 filename (for instance, in a Debian GNU/Linux system, libc6 would be the
115 argument provided, not <literal>libc6_1.9.6-2.deb</literal>) All packages required
116 by the package(s) specified for installation will also be retrieved and
117 installed. The <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename> file is used to locate
118 the desired packages. If a hyphen is appended to the package name (with
119 no intervening space), the identified package will be removed if it is
120 installed. Similarly a plus sign can be used to designate a package to
121 install. These latter features may be used to override decisions made by
122 apt-get's conflict resolution system.</para>
123
124 <para>A specific version of a package can be selected for installation by
125 following the package name with an equals and the version of the package
126 to select. This will cause that version to be located and selected for
127 install. Alternatively a specific distribution can be selected by
128 following the package name with a slash and the version of the
129 distribution or the Archive name (stable, testing, unstable).</para>
130
131 <para>Both of the version selection mechanisms can downgrade packages and must
132 be used with care.</para>
133
134 <para>Finally, the &apt-preferences; mechanism allows you to
135 create an alternative installation policy for
136 individual packages.</para>
137
138 <para>If no package matches the given expression and the expression contains one
139 of '.', '?' or '*' then it is assumed to be a POSIX regular expression,
140 and it is applied
141 to all package names in the database. Any matches are then installed (or
142 removed). Note that matching is done by substring so 'lo.*' matches 'how-lo'
143 and 'lowest'. If this is undesired, anchor the regular expression
144 with a '^' or '$' character, or create a more specific regular expression.</para></listitem>
145 </varlistentry>
146
147 <varlistentry><term>remove</term>
148 <listitem><para><literal>remove</literal> is identical to <literal>install</literal> except that packages are
149 removed instead of installed. If a plus sign is appended to the package
150 name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be
151 installed instead of removed.</para></listitem>
152 </varlistentry>
153
154 <varlistentry><term>source</term>
155 <listitem><para><literal>source</literal> causes <command>apt-get</command> to fetch source packages. APT
156 will examine the available packages to decide which source package to
157 fetch. It will then find and download into the current directory the
158 newest available version of that source package. Source packages are
159 tracked separately from binary packages via <literal>deb-src</literal> type lines
160 in the &sources-list; file. This probably will mean that you will not
161 get the same source as the package you have installed or as you could
162 install. If the --compile options is specified then the package will be
163 compiled to a binary .deb using dpkg-buildpackage, if --download-only is
164 specified then the source package will not be unpacked.</para>
165
166 <para>A specific source version can be retrieved by postfixing the source name
167 with an equals and then the version to fetch, similar to the mechanism
168 used for the package files. This enables exact matching of the source
169 package name and version, implicitly enabling the
170 <literal>APT::Get::Only-Source</literal> option.</para>
171
172 <para>Note that source packages are not tracked like binary packages, they
173 exist only in the current directory and are similar to downloading source
174 tar balls.</para></listitem>
175 </varlistentry>
176
177 <varlistentry><term>build-dep</term>
178 <listitem><para><literal>build-dep</literal> causes apt-get to install/remove packages in an
179 attempt to satisfy the build dependencies for a source package.</para></listitem>
180 </varlistentry>
181
182 <varlistentry><term>check</term>
183 <listitem><para><literal>check</literal> is a diagnostic tool; it updates the package cache and checks
184 for broken dependencies.</para></listitem>
185 </varlistentry>
186
187 <varlistentry><term>clean</term>
188 <listitem><para><literal>clean</literal> clears out the local repository of retrieved package
189 files. It removes everything but the lock file from
190 <filename>&cachedir;/archives/</filename> and
191 <filename>&cachedir;/archives/partial/</filename>. When APT is used as a
192 &dselect; method, <literal>clean</literal> is run automatically.
193 Those who do not use dselect will likely want to run <literal>apt-get clean</literal>
194 from time to time to free up disk space.</para></listitem>
195 </varlistentry>
196
197 <varlistentry><term>autoclean</term>
198 <listitem><para>Like <literal>clean</literal>, <literal>autoclean</literal> clears out the local
199 repository of retrieved package files. The difference is that it only
200 removes package files that can no longer be downloaded, and are largely
201 useless. This allows a cache to be maintained over a long period without
202 it growing out of control. The configuration option
203 <literal>APT::Clean-Installed</literal> will prevent installed packages from being
204 erased if it is set to off.</para></listitem>
205 </varlistentry>
206 </variablelist>
207 </refsect1>
208
209 <refsect1><title>options</title>
210 &apt-cmdblurb;
211
212 <variablelist>
213 <varlistentry><term><option>-d</option></term><term><option>--download-only</option></term>
214 <listitem><para>Download only; package files are only retrieved, not unpacked or installed.
215 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Download-Only</literal>.</para></listitem>
216 </varlistentry>
217
218 <varlistentry><term><option>-f</option></term><term><option>--fix-broken</option></term>
219 <listitem><para>Fix; attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in
220 place. This option, when used with install/remove, can omit any packages
221 to permit APT to deduce a likely solution. Any Package that are specified
222 must completely correct the problem. The option is sometimes necessary when
223 running APT for the first time; APT itself does not allow broken package
224 dependencies to exist on a system. It is possible that a system's
225 dependency structure can be so corrupt as to require manual intervention
226 (which usually means using &dselect; or <command>dpkg --remove</command> to eliminate some of
227 the offending packages). Use of this option together with <option>-m</option> may produce an
228 error in some situations.
229 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Fix-Broken</literal>.</para></listitem>
230 </varlistentry>
231
232 <varlistentry><term><option>-m</option></term><term><option>--ignore-missing</option></term>
233 <term><option>--fix-missing</option></term>
234 <listitem><para>Ignore missing packages; If packages cannot be retrieved or fail the
235 integrity check after retrieval (corrupted package files), hold back
236 those packages and handle the result. Use of this option together with
237 <option>-f</option> may produce an error in some situations. If a package is
238 selected for installation (particularly if it is mentioned on the
239 command line) and it could not be downloaded then it will be silently
240 held back.
241 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Fix-Missing</literal>.</para></listitem>
242 </varlistentry>
243
244 <varlistentry><term><option>--no-download</option></term>
245 <listitem><para>Disables downloading of packages. This is best used with
246 <option>--ignore-missing</option> to force APT to use only the .debs it has
247 already downloaded.
248 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Download</literal>.</para></listitem>
249 </varlistentry>
250
251 <varlistentry><term><option>-q</option></term><term><option>--quiet</option></term>
252 <listitem><para>Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress indicators.
253 More q's will produce more quiet up to a maximum of 2. You can also use
254 <option>-q=#</option> to set the quiet level, overriding the configuration file.
255 Note that quiet level 2 implies <option>-y</option>, you should never use -qq
256 without a no-action modifier such as -d, --print-uris or -s as APT may
257 decided to do something you did not expect.
258 Configuration Item: <literal>quiet</literal>.</para></listitem>
259 </varlistentry>
260
261 <varlistentry><term><option>-s</option></term>
262 <term><option>--simulate</option></term>
263 <term><option>--just-print</option></term>
264 <term><option>--dry-run</option></term>
265 <term><option>--recon</option></term>
266 <term><option>--no-act</option></term>
267 <listitem><para>No action; perform a simulation of events that would occur but do not
268 actually change the system.
269 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Simulate</literal>.</para>
270
271 <para>Simulate prints out
272 a series of lines each one representing a dpkg operation, Configure (Conf),
273 Remove (Remv), Unpack (Inst). Square brackets indicate broken packages with
274 and empty set of square brackets meaning breaks that are of no consequence
275 (rare).</para></listitem>
276 </varlistentry>
277
278 <varlistentry><term><option>-y</option></term><term><option>--yes</option></term>
279 <term><option>--assume-yes</option></term>
280 <listitem><para>Automatic yes to prompts; assume "yes" as answer to all prompts and run
281 non-interactively. If an undesirable situation, such as changing a held
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282 package, trying to install a unauthenticated package or removing an essential package
283 occurs then <literal>apt-get</literal> will abort.
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284 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Assume-Yes</literal>.</para></listitem>
285 </varlistentry>
286
287 <varlistentry><term><option>-u</option></term><term><option>--show-upgraded</option></term>
288 <listitem><para>Show upgraded packages; Print out a list of all packages that are to be
289 upgraded.
290 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Show-Upgraded</literal>.</para></listitem>
291 </varlistentry>
292
293 <varlistentry><term><option>-V</option></term><term><option>--verbose-versions</option></term>
294 <listitem><para>Show full versions for upgraded and installed packages.
295 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Show-Versions</literal>.</para></listitem>
296 </varlistentry>
297
298 <varlistentry><term><option>-b</option></term><term><option>--compile</option></term>
299 <term><option>--build</option></term>
300 <listitem><para>Compile source packages after downloading them.
301 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Compile</literal>.</para></listitem>
302 </varlistentry>
303
304 <varlistentry><term><option>--ignore-hold</option></term>
305 <listitem><para>Ignore package Holds; This causes <command>apt-get</command> to ignore a hold
306 placed on a package. This may be useful in conjunction with
307 <literal>dist-upgrade</literal> to override a large number of undesired holds.
308 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Ignore-Hold</literal>.</para></listitem>
309 </varlistentry>
310
311 <varlistentry><term><option>--no-upgrade</option></term>
312 <listitem><para>Do not upgrade packages; When used in conjunction with <literal>install</literal>,
313 <literal>no-upgrade</literal> will prevent packages on the command line
314 from being upgraded if they are already installed.
315 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Upgrade</literal>.</para></listitem>
316 </varlistentry>
317
318 <varlistentry><term><option>--force-yes</option></term>
319 <listitem><para>Force yes; This is a dangerous option that will cause apt to continue
320 without prompting if it is doing something potentially harmful. It
321 should not be used except in very special situations. Using
322 <literal>force-yes</literal> can potentially destroy your system!
323 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::force-yes</literal>.</para></listitem>
324 </varlistentry>
325
326 <varlistentry><term><option>--print-uris</option></term>
327 <listitem><para>Instead of fetching the files to install their URIs are printed. Each
328 URI will have the path, the destination file name, the size and the expected
329 md5 hash. Note that the file name to write to will not always match
330 the file name on the remote site! This also works with the
331 <literal>source</literal> and <literal>update</literal> commands. When used with the
332 <literal>update</literal> command the MD5 and size are not included, and it is
333 up to the user to decompress any compressed files.
334 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Print-URIs</literal>.</para></listitem>
335 </varlistentry>
336
337 <varlistentry><term><option>--purge</option></term>
338 <listitem><para>Use purge instead of remove for anything that would be removed.
339 An asterisk ("*") will be displayed next to packages which are
340 scheduled to be purged.
341 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Purge</literal>.</para></listitem>
342 </varlistentry>
343
344 <varlistentry><term><option>--reinstall</option></term>
345 <listitem><para>Re-Install packages that are already installed and at the newest version.
346 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::ReInstall</literal>.</para></listitem>
347 </varlistentry>
348
349 <varlistentry><term><option>--list-cleanup</option></term>
350 <listitem><para>This option defaults to on, use <literal>--no-list-cleanup</literal> to turn it
351 off. When on <command>apt-get</command> will automatically manage the contents of
352 <filename>&statedir;/lists</filename> to ensure that obsolete files are erased.
353 The only reason to turn it off is if you frequently change your source
354 list.
355 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::List-Cleanup</literal>.</para></listitem>
356 </varlistentry>
357
358 <varlistentry><term><option>-t</option></term>
359 <term><option>--target-release</option></term>
360 <term><option>--default-release</option></term>
361 <listitem><para>This option controls the default input to the policy engine, it creates
362 a default pin at priority 990 using the specified release string. The
363 preferences file may further override this setting. In short, this option
364 lets you have simple control over which distribution packages will be
365 retrieved from. Some common examples might be
366 <option>-t '2.1*'</option> or <option>-t unstable</option>.
367 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Default-Release</literal>;
368 see also the &apt-preferences; manual page.</para></listitem>
369 </varlistentry>
370
371 <varlistentry><term><option>--trivial-only</option></term>
372 <listitem><para>
373 Only perform operations that are 'trivial'. Logically this can be considered
374 related to <option>--assume-yes</option>, where <option>--assume-yes</option> will answer
375 yes to any prompt, <option>--trivial-only</option> will answer no.
376 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Trivial-Only</literal>.</para></listitem>
377 </varlistentry>
378
379 <varlistentry><term><option>--no-remove</option></term>
380 <listitem><para>If any packages are to be removed apt-get immediately aborts without
381 prompting.
382 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Remove</literal>.</para></listitem>
383 </varlistentry>
384
385 <varlistentry><term><option>--only-source</option></term>
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386 <listitem><para>Only has meaning for the
387 <literal>source</literal> and <literal>build-dep</literal>
388 commands. Indicates that the given source names are not to be
389 mapped through the binary table. This means that if this option
390 is specified, these commands will only accept source package
391 names as arguments, rather than accepting binary package names
392 and looking up the corresponding source package. Configuration
393 Item: <literal>APT::Get::Only-Source</literal>.</para></listitem>
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394 </varlistentry>
395
396 <varlistentry><term><option>--diff-only</option></term><term><option>--tar-only</option></term>
397 <listitem><para>Download only the diff or tar file of a source archive.
398 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Diff-Only</literal> and
399 <literal>APT::Get::Tar-Only</literal>.</para></listitem>
400 </varlistentry>
401
402 <varlistentry><term><option>--arch-only</option></term>
403 <listitem><para>Only process architecture-dependent build-dependencies.
404 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Arch-Only</literal>.</para></listitem>
405 </varlistentry>
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406
407 <varlistentry><term><option>--allow-unauthenticated</option></term>
408 <listitem><para>Ignore if packages can't be authenticated and don't prompt about it.
409 This is usefull for tools like pbuilder.
410 Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::AllowUnauthenticated</literal>.</para></listitem>
411 </varlistentry>
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414 &apt-commonoptions;
415
416 </variablelist>
417 </refsect1>
418
419 <refsect1><title>Files</title>
420 <variablelist>
421 <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename></term>
422 <listitem><para>Locations to fetch packages from.
423 Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Etc::SourceList</literal>.</para></listitem>
424 </varlistentry>
425
426 <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf</filename></term>
427 <listitem><para>APT configuration file.
428 Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Etc::Main</literal>.</para></listitem>
429 </varlistentry>
430
431 <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/</filename></term>
432 <listitem><para>APT configuration file fragments
433 Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Etc::Parts</literal>.</para></listitem>
434 </varlistentry>
435
436 <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/preferences</filename></term>
437 <listitem><para>Version preferences file.
438 This is where you would specify "pinning",
439 i.e. a preference to get certain packages
440 from a separate source
441 or from a different version of a distribution.
442 Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Etc::Preferences</literal>.</para></listitem>
443 </varlistentry>
444
445 <varlistentry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/</filename></term>
446 <listitem><para>Storage area for retrieved package files.
447 Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Cache::Archives</literal>.</para></listitem>
448 </varlistentry>
449
450 <varlistentry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/partial/</filename></term>
451 <listitem><para>Storage area for package files in transit.
452 Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Cache::Archives</literal> (implicit partial). </para></listitem>
453 </varlistentry>
454
455 <varlistentry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/</filename></term>
456 <listitem><para>Storage area for state information for each package resource specified in
457 &sources-list;
458 Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::State::Lists</literal>.</para></listitem>
459 </varlistentry>
460
461 <varlistentry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/partial/</filename></term>
462 <listitem><para> Storage area for state information in transit.
463 Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::State::Lists</literal> (implicit partial).</para></listitem>
464 </varlistentry>
465 </variablelist>
466 </refsect1>
467
468 <refsect1><title>See Also</title>
469 <para>&apt-cache;, &apt-cdrom;, &dpkg;, &dselect;, &sources-list;,
65d71b38 470 &apt-conf;, &apt-config;, &apt-secure;,
4d9fb6b0 471 The APT User's guide in &guidesdir;, &apt-preferences;, the APT Howto.</para>
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472 </refsect1>
473
474 <refsect1><title>Diagnostics</title>
475 <para><command>apt-get</command> returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error.</para>
476 </refsect1>
477
478 &manbugs;
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479
480</refentry>