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2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC
"-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd" [
5 <!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM
"apt.ent">
13 &apt-author.jgunthorpe;
17 <!-- The last update date -->
18 <date>08 November
2008</date>
22 <refentrytitle>apt-get
</refentrytitle>
23 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
26 <!-- Man page title -->
28 <refname>apt-get
</refname>
29 <refpurpose>APT package handling utility -- command-line interface
</refpurpose>
35 <command>apt-get
</command>
36 <arg><option>-sqdyfmubV
</option></arg>
39 <replaceable>config_string
</replaceable>
44 <replaceable>config_file
</replaceable>
51 <replaceable>target_release_name
</replaceable>
54 <replaceable>target_release_number_expression
</replaceable>
57 <replaceable>target_release_codename
</replaceable>
63 <arg choice='plain'
>update
</arg>
64 <arg choice='plain'
>upgrade
</arg>
65 <arg choice='plain'
>dselect-upgrade
</arg>
66 <arg choice='plain'
>dist-upgrade
</arg>
67 <arg choice='plain'
>install
68 <arg choice=
"plain" rep=
"repeat"><replaceable>pkg
</replaceable>
72 =
<replaceable>pkg_version_number
</replaceable>
75 /
<replaceable>target_release_name
</replaceable>
78 /
<replaceable>target_release_codename
</replaceable>
84 <arg choice='plain'
>remove
<arg choice=
"plain" rep=
"repeat"><replaceable>pkg
</replaceable></arg></arg>
85 <arg choice='plain'
>purge
<arg choice=
"plain" rep=
"repeat"><replaceable>pkg
</replaceable></arg></arg>
86 <arg choice='plain'
>source
87 <arg choice=
"plain" rep=
"repeat"><replaceable>pkg
</replaceable>
89 =
<replaceable>pkg_version_number
</replaceable>
93 <arg choice='plain'
>build-dep
<arg choice=
"plain" rep=
"repeat"><replaceable>pkg
</replaceable></arg></arg>
94 <arg choice='plain'
>check
</arg>
95 <arg choice='plain'
>clean
</arg>
96 <arg choice='plain'
>autoclean
</arg>
97 <arg choice='plain'
>autoremove
</arg>
100 <arg choice='plain'
>-v
</arg>
101 <arg choice='plain'
>--version
</arg>
106 <arg choice='plain'
>-h
</arg>
107 <arg choice='plain'
>--help
</arg>
114 <refsect1><title>Description
</title>
115 <para><command>apt-get
</command> is the command-line tool for handling packages, and may be
116 considered the user's "back-end" to other tools using the APT
117 library. Several "front-end" interfaces exist, such as
&dselect;,
118 &aptitude;,
&synaptic;, &gnome-apt; and
&wajig;.
</para>
120 <para>Unless the
<option>-h
</option>, or
<option>--help
</option> option is given, one of the
121 commands below must be present.
</para>
124 <varlistentry><term>update
</term>
125 <listitem><para><literal>update
</literal> is used to resynchronize the package index files from
126 their sources. The indexes of available packages are fetched from the
127 location(s) specified in
<filename>/etc/apt/sources.list
</filename>.
128 For example, when using a Debian archive, this command retrieves and
129 scans the
<filename>Packages.gz
</filename> files, so that information about new
130 and updated packages is available. An
<literal>update
</literal> should always be
131 performed before an
<literal>upgrade
</literal> or
<literal>dist-upgrade
</literal>. Please
132 be aware that the overall progress meter will be incorrect as the size
133 of the package files cannot be known in advance.
</para></listitem>
136 <varlistentry><term>upgrade
</term>
137 <listitem><para><literal>upgrade
</literal> is used to install the newest versions of all packages
138 currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in
139 <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list
</filename>. Packages currently installed with
140 new versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no circumstances
141 are currently installed packages removed, or packages not already installed
142 retrieved and installed. New versions of currently installed packages that
143 cannot be upgraded without changing the install status of another package
144 will be left at their current version. An
<literal>update
</literal> must be
145 performed first so that
<command>apt-get
</command> knows that new versions of packages are
146 available.
</para></listitem>
149 <varlistentry><term>dselect-upgrade
</term>
150 <listitem><para><literal>dselect-upgrade
</literal>
151 is used in conjunction with the traditional Debian packaging
152 front-end,
&dselect;.
<literal>dselect-upgrade
</literal>
153 follows the changes made by
&dselect; to the
<literal>Status
</literal>
154 field of available packages, and performs the actions necessary to realize
155 that state (for instance, the removal of old and the installation of new
156 packages).
</para></listitem>
159 <varlistentry><term>dist-upgrade
</term>
160 <listitem><para><literal>dist-upgrade
</literal> in addition to performing the function of
161 <literal>upgrade
</literal>, also intelligently handles changing dependencies
162 with new versions of packages;
<command>apt-get
</command> has a "smart" conflict
163 resolution system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important
164 packages at the expense of less important ones if necessary.
165 So,
<literal>dist-upgrade
</literal> command may remove some packages.
166 The
<filename>/etc/apt/sources.list
</filename> file contains a list of locations
167 from which to retrieve desired package files.
168 See also &apt-preferences; for a mechanism for
169 overriding the general settings for individual packages.
</para></listitem>
172 <varlistentry><term>install
</term>
174 <para><literal>install
</literal> is followed by one or more
175 packages desired for installation or upgrading.
176 Each package is a package name, not a fully qualified
177 filename (for instance, in a Debian GNU/Linux system,
178 libc6 would be the argument provided, not
179 <literal>libc6_1.9
.6-
2.deb
</literal>). All packages required
180 by the package(s) specified for installation will also
181 be retrieved and installed.
182 The
<filename>/etc/apt/sources.list
</filename> file is
183 used to locate the desired packages. If a hyphen is
184 appended to the package name (with no intervening space),
185 the identified package will be removed if it is installed.
186 Similarly a plus sign can be used to designate a
187 package to install. These latter features may be used
188 to override decisions made by apt-get's conflict
192 <para>A specific version of a package can be selected for installation by
193 following the package name with an equals and the version of the package
194 to select. This will cause that version to be located and selected for
195 install. Alternatively a specific distribution can be selected by
196 following the package name with a slash and the version of the
197 distribution or the Archive name (stable, testing, unstable).
</para>
199 <para>Both of the version selection mechanisms can downgrade packages and must
200 be used with care.
</para>
202 <para>This is also the target to use if you want to upgrade one or
203 more already-installed packages without upgrading every package
204 you have on your system. Unlike the "upgrade" target, which
205 installs the newest version of all currently installed packages,
206 "install" will install the newest version of only the package(s)
207 specified. Simply provide the name of the package(s) you wish
208 to upgrade, and if a newer version is available, it (and its
209 dependencies, as described above) will be downloaded and
213 <para>Finally, the &apt-preferences; mechanism allows you to
214 create an alternative installation policy for
215 individual packages.
</para>
217 <para>If no package matches the given expression and the expression contains one
218 of '.', '?' or '*' then it is assumed to be a POSIX regular expression,
220 to all package names in the database. Any matches are then installed (or
221 removed). Note that matching is done by substring so 'lo.*' matches 'how-lo'
222 and 'lowest'. If this is undesired, anchor the regular expression
223 with a '^' or '$' character, or create a more specific regular expression.
</para></listitem>
226 <varlistentry><term>remove
</term>
227 <listitem><para><literal>remove
</literal> is identical to
<literal>install
</literal> except that packages are
228 removed instead of installed. Note the removing a package leaves its
229 configuration files in system. If a plus sign is appended to the package
230 name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be
231 installed instead of removed.
</para></listitem>
234 <varlistentry><term>purge
</term>
235 <listitem><para><literal>purge
</literal> is identical to
<literal>remove
</literal> except that packages are
236 removed and purged (any configuration files are deleted too).
</para></listitem>
239 <varlistentry><term>source
</term>
240 <listitem><para><literal>source
</literal> causes
<command>apt-get
</command> to fetch source packages. APT
241 will examine the available packages to decide which source package to
242 fetch. It will then find and download into the current directory the
243 newest available version of that source package. Source packages are
244 tracked separately from binary packages via
<literal>deb-src
</literal> type lines
245 in the &sources-list; file. This probably will mean that you will not
246 get the same source as the package you have installed or as you could
247 install. If the --compile options is specified then the package will be
248 compiled to a binary .deb using dpkg-buildpackage, if --download-only is
249 specified then the source package will not be unpacked.
</para>
251 <para>A specific source version can be retrieved by postfixing the source name
252 with an equals and then the version to fetch, similar to the mechanism
253 used for the package files. This enables exact matching of the source
254 package name and version, implicitly enabling the
255 <literal>APT::Get::Only-Source
</literal> option.
</para>
257 <para>Note that source packages are not tracked like binary packages, they
258 exist only in the current directory and are similar to downloading source
259 tar balls.
</para></listitem>
262 <varlistentry><term>build-dep
</term>
263 <listitem><para><literal>build-dep
</literal> causes apt-get to install/remove packages in an
264 attempt to satisfy the build dependencies for a source package.
</para></listitem>
267 <varlistentry><term>check
</term>
268 <listitem><para><literal>check
</literal> is a diagnostic tool; it updates the package cache and checks
269 for broken dependencies.
</para></listitem>
272 <varlistentry><term>clean
</term>
273 <listitem><para><literal>clean
</literal> clears out the local repository of retrieved package
274 files. It removes everything but the lock file from
275 <filename>&cachedir;/archives/
</filename> and
276 <filename>&cachedir;/archives/partial/
</filename>. When APT is used as a
277 &dselect; method,
<literal>clean
</literal> is run automatically.
278 Those who do not use dselect will likely want to run
<literal>apt-get clean
</literal>
279 from time to time to free up disk space.
</para></listitem>
282 <varlistentry><term>autoclean
</term>
283 <listitem><para>Like
<literal>clean
</literal>,
<literal>autoclean
</literal> clears out the local
284 repository of retrieved package files. The difference is that it only
285 removes package files that can no longer be downloaded, and are largely
286 useless. This allows a cache to be maintained over a long period without
287 it growing out of control. The configuration option
288 <literal>APT::Clean-Installed
</literal> will prevent installed packages from being
289 erased if it is set to off.
</para></listitem>
292 <varlistentry><term>autoremove
</term>
293 <listitem><para><literal>autoremove
</literal> is used to remove packages that were automatically
294 installed to satisfy dependencies for some package and that are no more needed.
</para></listitem>
299 <refsect1><title>options
</title>
303 <varlistentry><term><option>--no-install-recommends
</option></term>
304 <listitem><para>Do not consider recommended packages as a dependency for installing.
305 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Install-Recommends
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
308 <varlistentry><term><option>-d
</option></term><term><option>--download-only
</option></term>
309 <listitem><para>Download only; package files are only retrieved, not unpacked or installed.
310 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Download-Only
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
313 <varlistentry><term><option>-f
</option></term><term><option>--fix-broken
</option></term>
314 <listitem><para>Fix; attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in
315 place. This option, when used with install/remove, can omit any packages
316 to permit APT to deduce a likely solution. Any Package that are specified
317 must completely correct the problem. The option is sometimes necessary when
318 running APT for the first time; APT itself does not allow broken package
319 dependencies to exist on a system. It is possible that a system's
320 dependency structure can be so corrupt as to require manual intervention
321 (which usually means using
&dselect; or
<command>dpkg --remove
</command> to eliminate some of
322 the offending packages). Use of this option together with
<option>-m
</option> may produce an
323 error in some situations.
324 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Fix-Broken
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
327 <varlistentry><term><option>-m
</option></term><term><option>--ignore-missing
</option></term>
328 <term><option>--fix-missing
</option></term>
329 <listitem><para>Ignore missing packages; If packages cannot be retrieved or fail the
330 integrity check after retrieval (corrupted package files), hold back
331 those packages and handle the result. Use of this option together with
332 <option>-f
</option> may produce an error in some situations. If a package is
333 selected for installation (particularly if it is mentioned on the
334 command line) and it could not be downloaded then it will be silently
336 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Fix-Missing
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
339 <varlistentry><term><option>--no-download
</option></term>
340 <listitem><para>Disables downloading of packages. This is best used with
341 <option>--ignore-missing
</option> to force APT to use only the .debs it has
343 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Download
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
346 <varlistentry><term><option>-q
</option></term><term><option>--quiet
</option></term>
347 <listitem><para>Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress indicators.
348 More q's will produce more quiet up to a maximum of
2. You can also use
349 <option>-q=#
</option> to set the quiet level, overriding the configuration file.
350 Note that quiet level
2 implies
<option>-y
</option>, you should never use -qq
351 without a no-action modifier such as -d, --print-uris or -s as APT may
352 decided to do something you did not expect.
353 Configuration Item:
<literal>quiet
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
356 <varlistentry><term><option>-s
</option></term>
357 <term><option>--simulate
</option></term>
358 <term><option>--just-print
</option></term>
359 <term><option>--dry-run
</option></term>
360 <term><option>--recon
</option></term>
361 <term><option>--no-act
</option></term>
362 <listitem><para>No action; perform a simulation of events that would occur but do not
363 actually change the system.
364 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Simulate
</literal>.
</para>
366 <para>Simulation run as user will deactivate locking (
<literal>Debug::NoLocking
</literal>)
367 automatical. Also a notice will be displayed indicating that this is only a simulation,
368 if the option
<literal>APT::Get::Show-User-Simulation-Note
</literal> is set (Default: true)
369 Neigther NoLocking nor the notice will be triggered if run as root (root should know what
370 he is doing without further warnings by
<literal>apt-get
</literal>).
</para>
372 <para>Simulate prints out
373 a series of lines each one representing a dpkg operation, Configure (Conf),
374 Remove (Remv), Unpack (Inst). Square brackets indicate broken packages with
375 and empty set of square brackets meaning breaks that are of no consequence
376 (rare).
</para></listitem>
379 <varlistentry><term><option>-y
</option></term><term><option>--yes
</option></term>
380 <term><option>--assume-yes
</option></term>
381 <listitem><para>Automatic yes to prompts; assume "yes" as answer to all prompts and run
382 non-interactively. If an undesirable situation, such as changing a held
383 package, trying to install a unauthenticated package or removing an essential package
384 occurs then
<literal>apt-get
</literal> will abort.
385 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Assume-Yes
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
388 <varlistentry><term><option>-u
</option></term><term><option>--show-upgraded
</option></term>
389 <listitem><para>Show upgraded packages; Print out a list of all packages that are to be
391 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Show-Upgraded
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
394 <varlistentry><term><option>-V
</option></term><term><option>--verbose-versions
</option></term>
395 <listitem><para>Show full versions for upgraded and installed packages.
396 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Show-Versions
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
399 <varlistentry><term><option>-b
</option></term><term><option>--compile
</option></term>
400 <term><option>--build
</option></term>
401 <listitem><para>Compile source packages after downloading them.
402 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Compile
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
405 <varlistentry><term><option>--install-recommends
</option></term>
406 <listitem><para>Also install recommended packages.
</para></listitem>
409 <varlistentry><term><option>--no-install-recommends
</option></term>
410 <listitem><para>Do not install recommended packages.
</para></listitem>
413 <varlistentry><term><option>--ignore-hold
</option></term>
414 <listitem><para>Ignore package Holds; This causes
<command>apt-get
</command> to ignore a hold
415 placed on a package. This may be useful in conjunction with
416 <literal>dist-upgrade
</literal> to override a large number of undesired holds.
417 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Ignore-Hold
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
420 <varlistentry><term><option>--no-upgrade
</option></term>
421 <listitem><para>Do not upgrade packages; When used in conjunction with
<literal>install
</literal>,
422 <literal>no-upgrade
</literal> will prevent packages on the command line
423 from being upgraded if they are already installed.
424 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Upgrade
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
427 <varlistentry><term><option>--force-yes
</option></term>
428 <listitem><para>Force yes; This is a dangerous option that will cause apt to continue
429 without prompting if it is doing something potentially harmful. It
430 should not be used except in very special situations. Using
431 <literal>force-yes
</literal> can potentially destroy your system!
432 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::force-yes
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
435 <varlistentry><term><option>--print-uris
</option></term>
436 <listitem><para>Instead of fetching the files to install their URIs are printed. Each
437 URI will have the path, the destination file name, the size and the expected
438 md5 hash. Note that the file name to write to will not always match
439 the file name on the remote site! This also works with the
440 <literal>source
</literal> and
<literal>update
</literal> commands. When used with the
441 <literal>update
</literal> command the MD5 and size are not included, and it is
442 up to the user to decompress any compressed files.
443 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Print-URIs
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
446 <varlistentry><term><option>--purge
</option></term>
447 <listitem><para>Use purge instead of remove for anything that would be removed.
448 An asterisk ("*") will be displayed next to packages which are
449 scheduled to be purged.
<option>remove --purge
</option> is equivalent for
450 <option>purge
</option> command.
451 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Purge
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
454 <varlistentry><term><option>--reinstall
</option></term>
455 <listitem><para>Re-Install packages that are already installed and at the newest version.
456 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::ReInstall
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
459 <varlistentry><term><option>--list-cleanup
</option></term>
460 <listitem><para>This option defaults to on, use
<literal>--no-list-cleanup
</literal> to turn it
461 off. When on
<command>apt-get
</command> will automatically manage the contents of
462 <filename>&statedir;/lists
</filename> to ensure that obsolete files are erased.
463 The only reason to turn it off is if you frequently change your source
465 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::List-Cleanup
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
468 <varlistentry><term><option>-t
</option></term>
469 <term><option>--target-release
</option></term>
470 <term><option>--default-release
</option></term>
471 <listitem><para>This option controls the default input to the policy engine, it creates
472 a default pin at priority
990 using the specified release string.
473 This overrides the general settings in
<filename>/etc/apt/preferences
</filename>.
474 Specifically pinned packages are not affected by the value
475 of this option. In short, this option
476 lets you have simple control over which distribution packages will be
477 retrieved from. Some common examples might be
478 <option>-t '
2.1*'
</option>,
<option>-t unstable
</option>
479 or
<option>-t sid
</option>.
480 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Default-Release
</literal>;
481 see also the &apt-preferences; manual page.
</para></listitem>
484 <varlistentry><term><option>--trivial-only
</option></term>
486 Only perform operations that are 'trivial'. Logically this can be considered
487 related to
<option>--assume-yes
</option>, where
<option>--assume-yes
</option> will answer
488 yes to any prompt,
<option>--trivial-only
</option> will answer no.
489 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Trivial-Only
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
492 <varlistentry><term><option>--no-remove
</option></term>
493 <listitem><para>If any packages are to be removed apt-get immediately aborts without
495 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Remove
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
498 <varlistentry><term><option>--auto-remove
</option></term>
499 <listitem><para>If the command is either
<literal>install
</literal> or
<literal>remove
</literal>,
500 then this option acts like running
<literal>autoremove
</literal> command, removing the unused
501 dependency packages. Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::AutomaticRemove
</literal>.
505 <varlistentry><term><option>--only-source
</option></term>
506 <listitem><para>Only has meaning for the
507 <literal>source
</literal> and
<literal>build-dep
</literal>
508 commands. Indicates that the given source names are not to be
509 mapped through the binary table. This means that if this option
510 is specified, these commands will only accept source package
511 names as arguments, rather than accepting binary package names
512 and looking up the corresponding source package. Configuration
513 Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Only-Source
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
516 <varlistentry><term><option>--diff-only
</option></term><term><option>--dsc-only
</option></term><term><option>--tar-only
</option></term>
517 <listitem><para>Download only the diff, dsc, or tar file of a source archive.
518 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Diff-Only
</literal>,
<literal>APT::Get::Dsc-Only
</literal>, and
519 <literal>APT::Get::Tar-Only
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
522 <varlistentry><term><option>--arch-only
</option></term>
523 <listitem><para>Only process architecture-dependent build-dependencies.
524 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Arch-Only
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
527 <varlistentry><term><option>--allow-unauthenticated
</option></term>
528 <listitem><para>Ignore if packages can't be authenticated and don't prompt about it.
529 This is useful for tools like pbuilder.
530 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::AllowUnauthenticated
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
539 <refsect1><title>Files
</title>
541 <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/sources.list
</filename></term>
542 <listitem><para>Locations to fetch packages from.
543 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::Etc::SourceList
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
546 <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf
</filename></term>
547 <listitem><para>APT configuration file.
548 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::Etc::Main
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
551 <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/
</filename></term>
552 <listitem><para>APT configuration file fragments.
553 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::Etc::Parts
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
556 <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/preferences
</filename></term>
557 <listitem><para>Version preferences file.
558 This is where you would specify "pinning",
559 i.e. a preference to get certain packages
560 from a separate source
561 or from a different version of a distribution.
562 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::Etc::Preferences
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
565 <varlistentry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/
</filename></term>
566 <listitem><para>Storage area for retrieved package files.
567 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::Cache::Archives
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
570 <varlistentry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/partial/
</filename></term>
571 <listitem><para>Storage area for package files in transit.
572 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::Cache::Archives
</literal> (implicit partial).
</para></listitem>
575 <varlistentry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/
</filename></term>
576 <listitem><para>Storage area for state information for each package resource specified in
578 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::State::Lists
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
581 <varlistentry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/partial/
</filename></term>
582 <listitem><para> Storage area for state information in transit.
583 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::State::Lists
</literal> (implicit partial).
</para></listitem>
588 <refsect1><title>See Also
</title>
589 <para>&apt-cache;, &apt-cdrom;,
&dpkg;,
&dselect;, &sources-list;,
590 &apt-conf;, &apt-config;, &apt-secure;,
591 The APT User's guide in
&guidesdir;, &apt-preferences;, the APT Howto.
</para>
594 <refsect1><title>Diagnostics
</title>
595 <para><command>apt-get
</command> returns zero on normal operation, decimal
100 on error.
</para>
598 <title>ORIGINAL AUTHORS
</title>
599 <para>&apt-author.jgunthorpe;
</para>
602 <title>CURRENT AUTHORS
</title>