doc/apt-get.8.xml

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  10 <refentry>
  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>
  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
 282      package, trying to install a unauthenticated package or removing an essential package
 283      occurs then <literal>apt-get</literal> will abort.
 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>
 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>
 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>
 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>
 412
 413
 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;,
 470    &apt-conf;, &apt-config;, &apt-secure;,
 471    The APT User's guide in &guidesdir;, &apt-preferences;, the APT Howto.</para>
 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;
 479
 480 </refentry>