doc/apt-get.8.sgml

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   2 <!doctype refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN" [
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   4 <!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent">
   5 %aptent;
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   8
   9 <refentry>
  10  &apt-docinfo;
  11
  12  <refmeta>
  13    <refentrytitle>apt-get</>
  14    <manvolnum>8</>
  15  </refmeta>
  16
  17  <!-- Man page title -->
  18  <refnamediv>
  19     <refname>apt-get</>
  20     <refpurpose>APT package handling utility -- command-line interface</>
  21  </refnamediv>
  22
  23  <!-- Arguments -->
  24  <refsynopsisdiv>
  25    <cmdsynopsis>
  26       <command>apt-get</>
  27       <arg><option>-hvs</></arg>
  28       <arg><option>-o=<replaceable/config string/</></arg>
  29       <arg><option>-c=<replaceable/file/</></arg>
  30       <group choice=req>
  31          <arg>update</>
  32          <arg>upgrade</>
  33          <arg>dselect-upgrade</>
  34          <arg>install <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  35          <arg>remove <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  36          <arg>source <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  37          <arg>build-dep <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  38          <arg>check</>
  39          <arg>clean</>
  40          <arg>autoclean</>
  41       </group>
  42    </cmdsynopsis>
  43  </refsynopsisdiv>
  44
  45  <RefSect1><Title>Description</>
  46    <para>
  47    <command/apt-get/ is the command-line tool for handling packages, and may be
  48    considered the user's "back-end" to other tools using the APT library.
  49    <para>
  50    Unless the <option/-h/, or <option/--help/ option is given one of the
  51    commands below must be present.
  52
  53    <VariableList>
  54      <VarListEntry><Term>update</Term>
  55      <ListItem><Para>
  56      <literal/update/ is used to resynchronize the package index files from
  57      their sources. The indexes of available packages are fetched from the
  58      location(s) specified in <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</>.
  59      For example, when using a Debian archive, this command retrieves and
  60      scans the <filename>Packages.gz</> files, so that information about new
  61      and updated packages is available. An <literal/update/ should always be
  62      performed before an <literal/upgrade/ or <literal/dist-upgrade/. Please
  63      be aware that the overall progress meter will be incorrect as the size
  64      of the package files cannot be known in advance.
  65      </VarListEntry>
  66
  67      <VarListEntry><Term>upgrade</Term>
  68      <ListItem><Para>
  69      <literal/upgrade/ is used to install the newest versions of all packages
  70      currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in
  71      <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</>. Packages currently installed with
  72      new versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no circumstances
  73      are currently installed packages removed, or packages not already installed
  74      retrieved and installed. New versions of currently installed packages that
  75      cannot be upgraded without changing the install status of another package
  76      will be left at their current version. An <literal/update/ must be
  77      performed first so that <command/apt-get/ knows that new versions of packages are
  78      available.
  79      </VarListEntry>
  80
  81      <VarListEntry><Term>dselect-upgrade</Term>
  82      <ListItem><Para>
  83      is used in conjunction with the traditional Debian GNU/Linux packaging
  84      front-end, &dselect;. <literal/dselect-upgrade/
  85      follows the changes made by &dselect; to the <literal/Status/
  86      field of available packages, and performs the actions necessary to realize
  87      that state (for instance, the removal of old and the installation of new
  88      packages).
  89      </VarListEntry>
  90
  91      <VarListEntry><Term>dist-upgrade</Term>
  92      <ListItem><Para>
  93      <literal/dist-upgrade/, in addition to performing the function of
  94      <literal/upgrade/, also intelligently handles changing dependencies
  95      with new versions of packages; <command/apt-get/ has a "smart" conflict
  96      resolution system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important
  97      packages at the expense of less  important ones if necessary.
  98      The <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</> file contains a list of locations
  99      from which to retrieve desired package files.
 100      </VarListEntry>
 101
 102      <VarListEntry><Term>install</Term>
 103      <ListItem><Para>
 104      <literal/install/ is followed by one or more packages desired for
 105      installation. Each package is a package name, not a fully qualified
 106      filename (for instance, in a Debian GNU/Linux system, libc6 would be the
 107      argument provided, not em(libc6_1.9.6-2.deb)). All packages required
 108      by the package(s) specified for installation will also be retrieved and
 109      installed. The <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</> file is used to locate
 110      the desired packages. If a hyphen is appended to the package name (with
 111      no intervening space), the identified package will be removed if it is
 112      installed. Similarly a plus sign can be used to designate a package to
 113      install. These latter features may be used to override decisions made by
 114      apt-get's conflict resolution  system.
 115      <para>
 116      A specific version of a package can be selected for installation by
 117      following the package name with an equals and the version of the package
 118      to select. This will cause that version to be located and selected for
 119      install. Alternatively a specific distribution can be selected by
 120      following the package name with a slash and the version of the
 121      distribution or the Archive name (stable, frozen, unstable).
 122      <para>
 123      Both of the version selection mechanisms can downgrade packages and must
 124      be used with care.
 125      <para>
 126      If no package matches the given expression and the expression contains one
 127      of '.', '?' or '*' then it is assumed to be a POSIX regex and it is applied
 128      to all package names in the database. Any matches are then installed (or
 129      removed). Note that matching is done by substring so 'lo.*' matches 'how-lo'
 130      and 'lowest'. If this is undesired prefix with a '^' character.
 131      </VarListEntry>
 132
 133      <VarListEntry><Term>remove</Term>
 134      <ListItem><Para>
 135      <literal/remove/ is identical to <literal/install/ except that packages are
 136      removed instead of installed. If a plus sign is appended to the package
 137      name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be
 138      installed.
 139      </VarListEntry>
 140
 141      <VarListEntry><Term>source</Term>
 142      <ListItem><Para>
 143      <literal/source/ causes <command/apt-get/ to fetch source packages. APT
 144      will examine the available packages to decide which source package to
 145      fetch. It will then find and download into the current directory the
 146      newest available version of that source package. Source packages are
 147      tracked separately from binary packages via <literal/deb-src/ type lines
 148      in the &sources-list; file. This probably will mean that you will not
 149      get the same source as the package you have installed or as you could
 150      install. If the --compile options is specified then the package will be
 151      compiled to a binary .deb using dpkg-buildpackage, if --download-only is
 152      specified then the source package will not be unpacked.
 153      <para>
 154      A specific source version can be retrieved by postfixing the source name
 155      with an equals and then the version to fetch, similar to the mechanism
 156      used for the package files. This enables exact matching of the source
 157      package name and version, implicitly enabling the
 158      <literal/APT::Get::Only-Source/ option.
 159
 160      <para>
 161      Note that source packages are not tracked like binary packages, they
 162      exist only in the current directory and are similar to downloading source
 163      tar balls.
 164      </VarListEntry>
 165
 166      <VarListEntry><Term>build-dep</Term>
 167      <ListItem><Para>
 168      <literal/build-dep/ causes apt-get to install/remove packages in an
 169      attempt to satisfy the build dependencies for a source packages.
 170      </VarListEntry>
 171
 172      <VarListEntry><Term>check</Term>
 173      <ListItem><Para>
 174      <literal/check/ is a diagnostic tool; it updates the package cache and checks
 175      for broken dependencies.
 176      </VarListEntry>
 177
 178      <VarListEntry><Term>clean</Term>
 179      <ListItem><Para>
 180      <literal/clean/ clears out the local repository of retrieved package
 181      files. It removes everything but the lock file from
 182      <filename>&cachedir;/archives/</> and
 183      <filename>&cachedir;/archive/partial/</>. When APT is used as a
 184      &dselect; method, <literal/clean/ is run automatically.
 185      Those who do not use dselect will likely want to run <literal/apt-get clean/
 186      from time to time to free up disk space.
 187      </VarListEntry>
 188
 189      <VarListEntry><Term>autoclean</Term>
 190      <ListItem><Para>
 191      Like <literal/clean/, <literal/autoclean/ clears out the local
 192      repository of retrieved package files. The difference is that it only
 193      removes package files that can no longer be downloaded, and are largely
 194      useless. This allows a cache to be maintained over a long period without
 195      it growing out of control. The configuration option
 196      <literal/APT::Clean-Installed/ will prevent installed packages from being
 197      erased if it is set off.
 198      </VarListEntry>
 199    </VariableList>
 200  </RefSect1>
 201
 202  <RefSect1><Title>Options</>
 203    &apt-cmdblurb;
 204
 205    <VariableList>
 206      <VarListEntry><term><option/-d/</><term><option/--download-only/</>
 207      <ListItem><Para>
 208      Download only; package files are only retrieved, not unpacked or installed.
 209      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Download-Only/.
 210      </VarListEntry>
 211
 212      <VarListEntry><term><option/-f/</><term><option/--fix-broken/</>
 213      <ListItem><Para>
 214      Fix; attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in
 215      place. This option, when used with install/remove, can omit any packages
 216      to permit APT to deduce a likely soltion. Any Package that are specified
 217      must completly correct the problem. The option is sometimes necessary when
 218      running APT for the first time; APT itself does not allow broken package
 219      dependencies to exist on a system. It is possible that a system's
 220      dependency structure can be so corrupt as to require manual intervention
 221      (which usually means using &dselect; or <command/dpkg --remove/ to eliminate some of
 222      the offending packages). Use of this option together with <option/-m/ may produce an
 223      error in some situations.
 224      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Fix-Broken/.
 225      </VarListEntry>
 226
 227      <VarListEntry><term><option/-m/</><term><option/--ignore-missing/</>
 228                    <term><option/--fix-missing/</>
 229      <ListItem><Para>
 230      Ignore missing packages; If packages cannot be retrieved or fail the
 231      integrity check after retrieval (corrupted package files), hold back
 232      those packages and handle the result. Use of this option together with
 233      <option/-f/ may produce an error in some situations. If a package is
 234      selected for installation (particularly if it is mentioned on the
 235      command line) and it could not be downloaded then it will be silently
 236      held back.
 237      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Fix-Missing/.
 238      </VarListEntry>
 239
 240      <VarListEntry><term><option/--no-download/</>
 241      <ListItem><Para>
 242      Disables downloading of packages. This is best used with
 243      <option/--ignore-missing/ to force APT to use only the .debs it has
 244      already downloaded.
 245      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Download/.
 246      </VarListEntry>
 247
 248      <VarListEntry><term><option/-q/</><term><option/--quiet/</>
 249      <ListItem><Para>
 250      Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress indicators.
 251      More q's will produce more quiet up to a maximum of 2. You can also use
 252      <option/-q=#/ to set the quiet level, overriding the configuration file.
 253      Note that quiet level 2 implies <option/-y/, you should never use -qq
 254      without a no-action modifier such as -d, --print-uris or -s as APT may
 255      decided to do something you did not expect.
 256      Configuration Item: <literal/quiet/.
 257      </VarListEntry>
 258
 259      <VarListEntry><term><option/-s/</>
 260                    <term><option/--simulate/</>
 261                    <term><option/--just-print/</>
 262                    <term><option/--dry-run/</>
 263                    <term><option/--recon/</>
 264                    <term><option/--no-act/</>
 265      <ListItem><Para>
 266      No action; perform a simulation of events that would occur but do not
 267      actually change the system.
 268      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Simulate/.
 269      <para>
 270      Simulate prints out
 271      a series of lines each one representing a dpkg operation, Configure (Conf),
 272      Remove (Remv), Unpack (Inst). Square brackets indicate broken packages with
 273      and empty set of square brackets meaning breaks that are of no consequence
 274      (rare).
 275      </VarListEntry>
 276
 277      <VarListEntry><term><option/-y/</><term><option/--yes/</>
 278                    <term><option/--assume-yes/</>
 279      <ListItem><Para>
 280      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
 282      package or removing an essential package occurs then <literal/apt-get/
 283      will abort.
 284      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Assume-Yes/.
 285      </VarListEntry>
 286
 287      <VarListEntry><term><option/-u/</><term><option/--show-upgraded/</>
 288      <ListItem><Para>
 289      Show upgraded packages; Print out a list of all packages that are to be
 290      upgraded.
 291      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Show-Upgraded/.
 292      </VarListEntry>
 293
 294      <VarListEntry><term><option/-b/</><term><option/--compile/</>
 295                    <term><option/--build/</>
 296      <ListItem><Para>
 297      Compile source packages after downloading them.
 298      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Compile/.
 299      </VarListEntry>
 300
 301      <VarListEntry><term><option/--ignore-hold/</>
 302      <ListItem><Para>
 303      Ignore package Holds; This causes <command/apt-get/ to ignore a hold
 304      placed on a package. This may be useful in conjunction with
 305      <literal/dist-upgrade/ to override a large number of undesired holds.
 306      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Ignore-Hold/.
 307      </VarListEntry>
 308
 309      <VarListEntry><term><option/--no-upgrade/</>
 310      <ListItem><Para>
 311      Do not upgrade packages; When used in conjunction with <literal/install/
 312      <literal/no-upgrade/ will prevent packages listed from being upgraded
 313      if they are already installed.
 314      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Upgrade/.
 315      </VarListEntry>
 316
 317      <VarListEntry><term><option/--force-yes/</>
 318      <ListItem><Para>
 319      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/ can potentially destroy your system!
 323      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::force-yes/.
 324      </VarListEntry>
 325
 326      <VarListEntry><term><option/--print-uris/</>
 327      <ListItem><Para>
 328      Instead of fetching the files to install their URIs are printed. Each
 329      URI will have the path, the destination file name, the size and the expected
 330      md5 hash. Note that the file name to write to will not always match
 331      the file name on the remote site! This also works with the
 332      <literal/source/ and <literal/update/ commands. When used with the
 333      <literal/update/ command the MD5 and size are not included, and it is
 334      up to the user to decompress any compressed files.
 335      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Print-URIs/.
 336      </VarListEntry>
 337
 338      <VarListEntry><term><option/--purge/</>
 339      <ListItem><Para>
 340      Use purge instead of remove for anything that would be removed.
 341      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Purge/.
 342      </VarListEntry>
 343
 344      <VarListEntry><term><option/--reinstall/</>
 345      <ListItem><Para>
 346      Re-Install packages that are already installed and at the newest version.
 347      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::ReInstall/.
 348      </VarListEntry>
 349
 350      <VarListEntry><term><option/--list-cleanup/</>
 351      <ListItem><Para>
 352      This option defaults to on, use <literal/--no-list-cleanup/ to turn it
 353      off. When on <command/apt-get/ will automatically manage the contents of
 354      <filename>&statedir;/lists</> to ensure that obsolete files are erased.
 355      The only  reason to turn it off is if you frequently change your source
 356      list.
 357      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::List-Cleanup/.
 358      </VarListEntry>
 359
 360      <VarListEntry><term><option/-t/</>
 361                    <term><option/--target-release/</>
 362                    <term><option/--default-release/</>
 363      <ListItem><Para>
 364      This option controls the default input to the policy engine, it creates
 365      a default pin at priority 990 using the specified release string. The
 366      preferences file may further override this setting. In short, this option
 367      lets you have simple control over which distribution packages will be
 368      retrieved from. Some common examples might be
 369      <option>-t '2.1*'</> or <option>-t unstable</>.
 370      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Default-Release/
 371      </VarListEntry>
 372
 373      <VarListEntry><term><option/--trivial-only/</>
 374      <ListItem><Para>
 375      Only perform operations that are 'trivial'. Logically this can be considered
 376      related to <option/--assume-yes/, where <option/--assume-yes/ will answer
 377      yes to any prompt, <option/--trivial-only/ will answer no.
 378      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Trivial-Only/.
 379      </VarListEntry>
 380
 381      <VarListEntry><term><option/--no-remove/</>
 382      <ListItem><Para>
 383      If any packages are to be removed apt-get immediately aborts without
 384      prompting.
 385      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Remove/
 386      </VarListEntry>
 387
 388      <VarListEntry><term><option/--only-source/</>
 389      <ListItem><Para>
 390      Only has meaning for the <literal/source/ command. indicates that the
 391      given source names are not to be mapped through the binary table.
 392      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Only-Source/
 393      </VarListEntry>
 394
 395      <VarListEntry><term><option/--diff-only/</><term><option/--tar-only/</>
 396      <ListItem><Para>
 397      Download only the diff or tar file of a source archive.
 398      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Diff-Only/ and
 399      <literal/APT::Get::Tar-Only/
 400      </VarListEntry>
 401
 402      <VarListEntry><term><option/--arch-only/</>
 403      <ListItem><Para>
 404      Only process architecture-dependent build-dependencies.
 405      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Arch-Only/
 406      </VarListEntry>
 407
 408      &apt-commonoptions;
 409
 410    </VariableList>
 411  </RefSect1>
 412
 413  <RefSect1><Title>Files</>
 414    <variablelist>
 415      <VarListEntry><term><filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</></term>
 416      <ListItem><Para>
 417      locations to fetch packages from.
 418      Configuration Item: <literal/Dir::Etc::SourceList/.
 419      </VarListEntry>
 420
 421      <VarListEntry><term><filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf</></term>
 422      <ListItem><Para>
 423      APT configuration file.
 424      Configuration Item: <literal/Dir::Etc::Main/.
 425      </VarListEntry>
 426
 427      <VarListEntry><term><filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/</></term>
 428      <ListItem><Para>
 429      APT configuration file fragments
 430      Configuration Item: <literal/Dir::Etc::Parts/.
 431      </VarListEntry>
 432
 433      <VarListEntry><term><filename>/etc/apt/preferences</></term>
 434      <ListItem><Para>
 435      version preferences file
 436      Configuration Item: <literal/Dir::Etc::Preferences/.
 437      </VarListEntry>
 438
 439      <VarListEntry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/</></term>
 440      <ListItem><Para>
 441      storage area for retrieved package files.
 442      Configuration Item: <literal/Dir::Cache::Archives/.
 443      </VarListEntry>
 444
 445      <VarListEntry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/partial/</></term>
 446      <ListItem><Para>
 447      storage area for package files in transit.
 448      Configuration Item: <literal/Dir::Cache::Archives/ (implicit partial).
 449      </VarListEntry>
 450
 451      <VarListEntry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/</></term>
 452      <ListItem><Para>
 453      storage area for state information for each package resource specified in
 454      &sources-list;
 455      Configuration Item: <literal/Dir::State::Lists/.
 456      </VarListEntry>
 457
 458      <VarListEntry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/partial/</></term>
 459      <ListItem><Para>
 460      storage area for state information in transit.
 461      Configuration Item: <literal/Dir::State::Lists/ (implicit partial).
 462      </VarListEntry>
 463    </variablelist>
 464  </RefSect1>
 465
 466  <RefSect1><Title>See Also</>
 467    <para>
 468    &apt-cache;, &apt-cdrom;, &dpkg;, &dselect;, &sources-list;, &apt-conf;,
 469    The APT User's guide in &docdir;, &apt-preferences;.
 470  </RefSect1>
 471
 472  <RefSect1><Title>Diagnostics</>
 473    <para>
 474    <command/apt-get/ returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error.
 475  </RefSect1>
 476
 477  &manbugs;
 478  &manauthor;
 479
 480 </refentry>