doc/apt-get.8.xml

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   5 <!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent">
   6 %aptent;
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   9
  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>05 November 2008</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>-vsqdyfmubV</option></arg>
  37       <arg>
  38               <option>-o=
  39                           <replaceable>config_string</replaceable>
  40               </option>
  41       </arg>
  42       <arg>
  43               <option>-c=
  44                       <replaceable>config_file</replaceable>
  45               </option>
  46       </arg>
  47       <arg>
  48                   <option>-t=</option>
  49                   <group choice='req'>
  50                           <arg choice='plain'>
  51                                   <replaceable>target_release_name</replaceable>
  52                           </arg>
  53                           <arg choice='plain'>
  54                                   <replaceable>target_release_number_expression</replaceable>
  55                           </arg>
  56                   </group>
  57       </arg>
  58
  59       <group choice="req">
  60          <arg choice='plain'>update</arg>
  61          <arg choice='plain'>upgrade</arg>
  62          <arg choice='plain'>dselect-upgrade</arg>
  63          <arg choice='plain'>dist-upgrade</arg>
  64          <arg choice='plain'>install
  65                          <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable>
  66                                 <arg>
  67                                         <group choice='req'>
  68                                                 <arg choice='plain'>
  69                                                         =<replaceable>pkg_version_number</replaceable>
  70                                                 </arg>
  71                                                 <arg choice='plain'>
  72                                                         /<replaceable>target_release_name</replaceable>
  73                                                 </arg>
  74                                         </group>
  75                                 </arg>
  76                          </arg>
  77              </arg>
  78          <arg choice='plain'>remove <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  79          <arg choice='plain'>purge <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  80          <arg choice='plain'>source
  81                          <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable>
  82                                  <arg>
  83                                          =<replaceable>pkg_version_number</replaceable>
  84                                  </arg>
  85                          </arg>
  86              </arg>
  87          <arg choice='plain'>build-dep <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  88          <arg choice='plain'>check</arg>
  89          <arg choice='plain'>clean</arg>
  90          <arg choice='plain'>autoclean</arg>
  91          <arg choice='plain'>autoremove</arg>
  92                  <arg choice='plain'>
  93                          <group choice='req'>
  94                                 <arg choice='plain'>-h</arg>
  95                                 <arg choice='plain'>--help</arg>
  96                          </group>
  97                  </arg>
  98       </group>
  99    </cmdsynopsis>
 100  </refsynopsisdiv>
 101
 102  <refsect1><title>Description</title>
 103    <para><command>apt-get</command> is the command-line tool for handling packages, and may be
 104    considered the user's "back-end" to other tools using the APT
 105    library.  Several "front-end" interfaces exist, such as &dselect;,
 106    &aptitude;, &synaptic;, &gnome-apt; and &wajig;.</para>
 107
 108    <para>Unless the <option>-h</option>, or <option>--help</option> option is given, one of the
 109    commands below must be present.</para>
 110
 111    <variablelist>
 112      <varlistentry><term>update</term>
 113      <listitem><para><literal>update</literal> is used to resynchronize the package index files from
 114      their sources. The indexes of available packages are fetched from the
 115      location(s) specified in <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename>.
 116      For example, when using a Debian archive, this command retrieves and
 117      scans the <filename>Packages.gz</filename> files, so that information about new
 118      and updated packages is available. An <literal>update</literal> should always be
 119      performed before an <literal>upgrade</literal> or <literal>dist-upgrade</literal>. Please
 120      be aware that the overall progress meter will be incorrect as the size
 121      of the package files cannot be known in advance.</para></listitem>
 122      </varlistentry>
 123
 124      <varlistentry><term>upgrade</term>
 125      <listitem><para><literal>upgrade</literal> is used to install the newest versions of all packages
 126      currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in
 127      <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename>. Packages currently installed with
 128      new versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no circumstances
 129      are currently installed packages removed, or packages not already installed
 130      retrieved and installed. New versions of currently installed packages that
 131      cannot be upgraded without changing the install status of another package
 132      will be left at their current version. An <literal>update</literal> must be
 133      performed first so that <command>apt-get</command> knows that new versions of packages are
 134      available.</para></listitem>
 135      </varlistentry>
 136
 137      <varlistentry><term>dselect-upgrade</term>
 138      <listitem><para><literal>dselect-upgrade</literal>
 139      is used in conjunction with the traditional Debian packaging
 140      front-end, &dselect;. <literal>dselect-upgrade</literal>
 141      follows the changes made by &dselect; to the <literal>Status</literal>
 142      field of available packages, and performs the actions necessary to realize
 143      that state (for instance, the removal of old and the installation of new
 144      packages).</para></listitem>
 145      </varlistentry>
 146
 147      <varlistentry><term>dist-upgrade</term>
 148      <listitem><para><literal>dist-upgrade</literal> in addition to performing the function of
 149      <literal>upgrade</literal>, also intelligently handles changing dependencies
 150      with new versions of packages; <command>apt-get</command> has a "smart" conflict
 151      resolution system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important
 152      packages at the expense of less important ones if necessary.
 153      The <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename> file contains a list of locations
 154      from which to retrieve desired package files.
 155      See also &apt-preferences; for a mechanism for
 156      overriding the general settings for individual packages.</para></listitem>
 157      </varlistentry>
 158
 159      <varlistentry><term>install</term>
 160      <listitem>
 161              <para>
 162                      <literal>install</literal> is followed by one or more
 163                      packages desired for installation or upgrading.
 164                      Each package is a package name, not a fully qualified
 165                      filename (for instance, in a Debian GNU/Linux system,
 166                      libc6 would be the argument provided, not
 167                      <literal>libc6_1.9.6-2.deb</literal>). All packages required
 168                      by the package(s) specified for installation will also
 169                      be retrieved and installed.
 170                      The <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename> file is
 171                      used to locate the desired packages. If a hyphen is
 172                      appended to the package name (with no intervening space),
 173                      the identified package will be removed if it is installed.
 174                      Similarly a plus sign can be used to designate a
 175                      package to install. These latter features may be used
 176                      to override decisions made by apt-get's conflict
 177                      resolution system.
 178              </para>
 179
 180      <para>A specific version of a package can be selected for installation by
 181      following the package name with an equals and the version of the package
 182      to select. This will cause that version to be located and selected for
 183      install. Alternatively a specific distribution can be selected by
 184      following the package name with a slash and the version of the
 185      distribution or the Archive name (stable, testing, unstable).</para>
 186
 187      <para>Both of the version selection mechanisms can downgrade packages and must
 188      be used with care.</para>
 189
 190         <para>This is also the target to use if you want to upgrade one or
 191                 more already-installed packages without upgrading every package
 192                 you have on your system. Unlike the "upgrade" target, which
 193                 installs the newest version of all currently installed packages,
 194                 "install" will install the newest version of only the package(s)
 195                 specified. Simply provide the name of the package(s) you wish
 196                 to upgrade, and if a newer version is available, it (and its
 197                 dependencies, as described above) will be downloaded and
 198                 installed.
 199         </para>
 200
 201      <para>Finally, the &apt-preferences; mechanism allows you to
 202      create an alternative installation policy for
 203      individual packages.</para>
 204
 205      <para>If no package matches the given expression and the expression contains one
 206      of '.', '?' or '*' then it is assumed to be a POSIX regular expression,
 207      and it is applied
 208      to all package names in the database. Any matches are then installed (or
 209      removed). Note that matching is done by substring so 'lo.*' matches 'how-lo'
 210      and 'lowest'. If this is undesired, anchor the regular expression
 211      with a '^' or '$' character, or create a more specific regular expression.</para></listitem>
 212      </varlistentry>
 213
 214      <varlistentry><term>remove</term>
 215      <listitem><para><literal>remove</literal> is identical to <literal>install</literal> except that packages are
 216      removed instead of installed. If a plus sign is appended to the package
 217      name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be
 218      installed instead of removed.</para></listitem>
 219      </varlistentry>
 220
 221      <varlistentry><term>purge</term>
 222      <listitem><para><literal>purge</literal> is identical to <literal>remove</literal> except that packages are
 223      removed and purged.</para></listitem>
 224      </varlistentry>
 225
 226      <varlistentry><term>source</term>
 227      <listitem><para><literal>source</literal> causes <command>apt-get</command> to fetch source packages. APT
 228      will examine the available packages to decide which source package to
 229      fetch. It will then find and download into the current directory the
 230      newest available version of that source package. Source packages are
 231      tracked separately from binary packages via <literal>deb-src</literal> type lines
 232      in the &sources-list; file. This probably will mean that you will not
 233      get the same source as the package you have installed or as you could
 234      install. If the --compile options is specified then the package will be
 235      compiled to a binary .deb using dpkg-buildpackage, if --download-only is
 236      specified then the source package will not be unpacked.</para>
 237
 238      <para>A specific source version can be retrieved by postfixing the source name
 239      with an equals and then the version to fetch, similar to the mechanism
 240      used for the package files. This enables exact matching of the source
 241      package name and version, implicitly enabling the
 242      <literal>APT::Get::Only-Source</literal> option.</para>
 243
 244      <para>Note that source packages are not tracked like binary packages, they
 245      exist only in the current directory and are similar to downloading source
 246      tar balls.</para></listitem>
 247      </varlistentry>
 248
 249      <varlistentry><term>build-dep</term>
 250      <listitem><para><literal>build-dep</literal> causes apt-get to install/remove packages in an
 251      attempt to satisfy the build dependencies for a source package.</para></listitem>
 252      </varlistentry>
 253
 254      <varlistentry><term>check</term>
 255      <listitem><para><literal>check</literal> is a diagnostic tool; it updates the package cache and checks
 256      for broken dependencies.</para></listitem>
 257      </varlistentry>
 258
 259      <varlistentry><term>clean</term>
 260      <listitem><para><literal>clean</literal> clears out the local repository of retrieved package
 261      files. It removes everything but the lock file from
 262      <filename>&cachedir;/archives/</filename> and
 263      <filename>&cachedir;/archives/partial/</filename>. When APT is used as a
 264      &dselect; method, <literal>clean</literal> is run automatically.
 265      Those who do not use dselect will likely want to run <literal>apt-get clean</literal>
 266      from time to time to free up disk space.</para></listitem>
 267      </varlistentry>
 268
 269      <varlistentry><term>autoclean</term>
 270      <listitem><para>Like <literal>clean</literal>, <literal>autoclean</literal> clears out the local
 271      repository of retrieved package files. The difference is that it only
 272      removes package files that can no longer be downloaded, and are largely
 273      useless. This allows a cache to be maintained over a long period without
 274      it growing out of control. The configuration option
 275      <literal>APT::Clean-Installed</literal> will prevent installed packages from being
 276      erased if it is set to off.</para></listitem>
 277      </varlistentry>
 278
 279      <varlistentry><term>autoremove</term>
 280      <listitem><para><literal>autoremove</literal> is used to remove packages that were automatically
 281      installed to satisfy dependencies for some package and that are no more needed.</para></listitem>
 282      </varlistentry>
 283    </variablelist>
 284  </refsect1>
 285
 286  <refsect1><title>options</title>
 287    &apt-cmdblurb;
 288
 289    <variablelist>
 290      <varlistentry><term><option>--no-install-recommends</option></term>
 291      <listitem><para>Do not consider recommended packages as a dependency for installing.
 292      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Install-Recommends</literal>.</para></listitem>
 293      </varlistentry>
 294
 295      <varlistentry><term><option>-d</option></term><term><option>--download-only</option></term>
 296      <listitem><para>Download only; package files are only retrieved, not unpacked or installed.
 297      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Download-Only</literal>.</para></listitem>
 298      </varlistentry>
 299
 300      <varlistentry><term><option>-f</option></term><term><option>--fix-broken</option></term>
 301      <listitem><para>Fix; attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in
 302      place. This option, when used with install/remove, can omit any packages
 303      to permit APT to deduce a likely solution. Any Package that are specified
 304      must completely correct the problem. The option is sometimes necessary when
 305      running APT for the first time; APT itself does not allow broken package
 306      dependencies to exist on a system. It is possible that a system's
 307      dependency structure can be so corrupt as to require manual intervention
 308      (which usually means using &dselect; or <command>dpkg --remove</command> to eliminate some of
 309      the offending packages). Use of this option together with <option>-m</option> may produce an
 310      error in some situations.
 311      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Fix-Broken</literal>.</para></listitem>
 312      </varlistentry>
 313
 314      <varlistentry><term><option>-m</option></term><term><option>--ignore-missing</option></term>
 315      <term><option>--fix-missing</option></term>
 316      <listitem><para>Ignore missing packages; If packages cannot be retrieved or fail the
 317      integrity check after retrieval (corrupted package files), hold back
 318      those packages and handle the result. Use of this option together with
 319      <option>-f</option> may produce an error in some situations. If a package is
 320      selected for installation (particularly if it is mentioned on the
 321      command line) and it could not be downloaded then it will be silently
 322      held back.
 323      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Fix-Missing</literal>.</para></listitem>
 324      </varlistentry>
 325
 326      <varlistentry><term><option>--no-download</option></term>
 327      <listitem><para>Disables downloading of packages. This is best used with
 328      <option>--ignore-missing</option> to force APT to use only the .debs it has
 329      already downloaded.
 330      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Download</literal>.</para></listitem>
 331      </varlistentry>
 332
 333      <varlistentry><term><option>-q</option></term><term><option>--quiet</option></term>
 334      <listitem><para>Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress indicators.
 335      More q's will produce more quiet up to a maximum of 2. You can also use
 336      <option>-q=#</option> to set the quiet level, overriding the configuration file.
 337      Note that quiet level 2 implies <option>-y</option>, you should never use -qq
 338      without a no-action modifier such as -d, --print-uris or -s as APT may
 339      decided to do something you did not expect.
 340      Configuration Item: <literal>quiet</literal>.</para></listitem>
 341      </varlistentry>
 342
 343      <varlistentry><term><option>-s</option></term>
 344                    <term><option>--simulate</option></term>
 345                    <term><option>--just-print</option></term>
 346                    <term><option>--dry-run</option></term>
 347                    <term><option>--recon</option></term>
 348                    <term><option>--no-act</option></term>
 349      <listitem><para>No action; perform a simulation of events that would occur but do not
 350      actually change the system.
 351      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Simulate</literal>.</para>
 352
 353      <para>Simulate prints out
 354      a series of lines each one representing a dpkg operation, Configure (Conf),
 355      Remove (Remv), Unpack (Inst). Square brackets indicate broken packages with
 356      and empty set of square brackets meaning breaks that are of no consequence
 357      (rare).</para></listitem>
 358      </varlistentry>
 359
 360      <varlistentry><term><option>-y</option></term><term><option>--yes</option></term>
 361                    <term><option>--assume-yes</option></term>
 362      <listitem><para>Automatic yes to prompts; assume "yes" as answer to all prompts and run
 363      non-interactively. If an undesirable situation, such as changing a held
 364      package, trying to install a unauthenticated package or removing an essential package
 365      occurs then <literal>apt-get</literal> will abort.
 366      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Assume-Yes</literal>.</para></listitem>
 367      </varlistentry>
 368
 369      <varlistentry><term><option>-u</option></term><term><option>--show-upgraded</option></term>
 370      <listitem><para>Show upgraded packages; Print out a list of all packages that are to be
 371      upgraded.
 372      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Show-Upgraded</literal>.</para></listitem>
 373      </varlistentry>
 374
 375      <varlistentry><term><option>-V</option></term><term><option>--verbose-versions</option></term>
 376      <listitem><para>Show full versions for upgraded and installed packages.
 377      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Show-Versions</literal>.</para></listitem>
 378      </varlistentry>
 379
 380      <varlistentry><term><option>-b</option></term><term><option>--compile</option></term>
 381                    <term><option>--build</option></term>
 382      <listitem><para>Compile source packages after downloading them.
 383      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Compile</literal>.</para></listitem>
 384      </varlistentry>
 385
 386      <varlistentry><term><option>--ignore-hold</option></term>
 387      <listitem><para>Ignore package Holds; This causes <command>apt-get</command> to ignore a hold
 388      placed on a package. This may be useful in conjunction with
 389      <literal>dist-upgrade</literal> to override a large number of undesired holds.
 390      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Ignore-Hold</literal>.</para></listitem>
 391      </varlistentry>
 392
 393      <varlistentry><term><option>--no-upgrade</option></term>
 394      <listitem><para>Do not upgrade packages; When used in conjunction with <literal>install</literal>,
 395      <literal>no-upgrade</literal> will prevent packages on the command line
 396      from being upgraded if they are already installed.
 397      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Upgrade</literal>.</para></listitem>
 398      </varlistentry>
 399
 400      <varlistentry><term><option>--force-yes</option></term>
 401      <listitem><para>Force yes; This is a dangerous option that will cause apt to continue
 402      without prompting if it is doing something potentially harmful. It
 403      should not be used except in very special situations. Using
 404      <literal>force-yes</literal> can potentially destroy your system!
 405      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::force-yes</literal>.</para></listitem>
 406      </varlistentry>
 407
 408      <varlistentry><term><option>--print-uris</option></term>
 409      <listitem><para>Instead of fetching the files to install their URIs are printed. Each
 410      URI will have the path, the destination file name, the size and the expected
 411      md5 hash. Note that the file name to write to will not always match
 412      the file name on the remote site! This also works with the
 413      <literal>source</literal> and <literal>update</literal> commands. When used with the
 414      <literal>update</literal> command the MD5 and size are not included, and it is
 415      up to the user to decompress any compressed files.
 416      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Print-URIs</literal>.</para></listitem>
 417      </varlistentry>
 418
 419      <varlistentry><term><option>--purge</option></term>
 420      <listitem><para>Use purge instead of remove for anything that would be removed.
 421      An asterisk ("*") will be displayed next to packages which are
 422      scheduled to be purged.
 423      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Purge</literal>.</para></listitem>
 424      </varlistentry>
 425
 426      <varlistentry><term><option>--reinstall</option></term>
 427      <listitem><para>Re-Install packages that are already installed and at the newest version.
 428      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::ReInstall</literal>.</para></listitem>
 429      </varlistentry>
 430
 431      <varlistentry><term><option>--list-cleanup</option></term>
 432      <listitem><para>This option defaults to on, use <literal>--no-list-cleanup</literal> to turn it
 433      off. When on <command>apt-get</command> will automatically manage the contents of
 434      <filename>&statedir;/lists</filename> to ensure that obsolete files are erased.
 435      The only  reason to turn it off is if you frequently change your source
 436      list.
 437      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::List-Cleanup</literal>.</para></listitem>
 438      </varlistentry>
 439
 440      <varlistentry><term><option>-t</option></term>
 441                    <term><option>--target-release</option></term>
 442                    <term><option>--default-release</option></term>
 443      <listitem><para>This option controls the default input to the policy engine, it creates
 444      a default pin at priority 990 using the specified release string.
 445      This overrides the general settings in <filename>/etc/apt/preferences</filename>.
 446      Specifically pinned packages are not affected by the value
 447      of this option. In short, this option
 448      lets you have simple control over which distribution packages will be
 449      retrieved from. Some common examples might be
 450      <option>-t '2.1*'</option> or <option>-t unstable</option>.
 451      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Default-Release</literal>;
 452      see also the &apt-preferences; manual page.</para></listitem>
 453      </varlistentry>
 454
 455      <varlistentry><term><option>--trivial-only</option></term>
 456      <listitem><para>
 457      Only perform operations that are 'trivial'. Logically this can be considered
 458      related to <option>--assume-yes</option>, where <option>--assume-yes</option> will answer
 459      yes to any prompt, <option>--trivial-only</option> will answer no.
 460      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Trivial-Only</literal>.</para></listitem>
 461      </varlistentry>
 462
 463      <varlistentry><term><option>--no-remove</option></term>
 464      <listitem><para>If any packages are to be removed apt-get immediately aborts without
 465      prompting.
 466      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Remove</literal>.</para></listitem>
 467      </varlistentry>
 468
 469      <varlistentry><term><option>--auto-remove</option></term>
 470      <listitem><para>If the command is either <literal>install</literal> or <literal>remove</literal>,
 471      then this option acts like running <literal>autoremove</literal> command, removing the unused
 472      dependency packages. Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::AutomaticRemove</literal>.
 473      </para></listitem>
 474      </varlistentry>
 475
 476      <varlistentry><term><option>--only-source</option></term>
 477      <listitem><para>Only has meaning for the
 478      <literal>source</literal> and <literal>build-dep</literal>
 479      commands.  Indicates that the given source names are not to be
 480      mapped through the binary table.  This means that if this option
 481      is specified, these commands will only accept source package
 482      names as arguments, rather than accepting binary package names
 483      and looking up the corresponding source package.  Configuration
 484      Item: <literal>APT::Get::Only-Source</literal>.</para></listitem>
 485      </varlistentry>
 486
 487      <varlistentry><term><option>--diff-only</option></term><term><option>--dsc-only</option></term><term><option>--tar-only</option></term>
 488      <listitem><para>Download only the diff, dsc, or tar file of a source archive.
 489      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Diff-Only</literal>, <literal>APT::Get::Dsc-Only</literal>, and
 490      <literal>APT::Get::Tar-Only</literal>.</para></listitem>
 491      </varlistentry>
 492
 493      <varlistentry><term><option>--arch-only</option></term>
 494      <listitem><para>Only process architecture-dependent build-dependencies.
 495      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Arch-Only</literal>.</para></listitem>
 496      </varlistentry>
 497
 498      <varlistentry><term><option>--allow-unauthenticated</option></term>
 499      <listitem><para>Ignore if packages can't be authenticated and don't prompt about it.
 500      This is useful for tools like pbuilder.
 501      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::AllowUnauthenticated</literal>.</para></listitem>
 502      </varlistentry>
 503
 504
 505      &apt-commonoptions;
 506
 507    </variablelist>
 508  </refsect1>
 509
 510  <refsect1><title>Files</title>
 511    <variablelist>
 512      <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename></term>
 513      <listitem><para>Locations to fetch packages from.
 514      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Etc::SourceList</literal>.</para></listitem>
 515      </varlistentry>
 516
 517      <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf</filename></term>
 518      <listitem><para>APT configuration file.
 519      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Etc::Main</literal>.</para></listitem>
 520      </varlistentry>
 521
 522      <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/</filename></term>
 523      <listitem><para>APT configuration file fragments.
 524      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Etc::Parts</literal>.</para></listitem>
 525      </varlistentry>
 526
 527      <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/preferences</filename></term>
 528      <listitem><para>Version preferences file.
 529      This is where you would specify "pinning",
 530      i.e. a preference to get certain packages
 531      from a separate source
 532      or from a different version of a distribution.
 533      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Etc::Preferences</literal>.</para></listitem>
 534      </varlistentry>
 535
 536      <varlistentry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/</filename></term>
 537      <listitem><para>Storage area for retrieved package files.
 538      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Cache::Archives</literal>.</para></listitem>
 539      </varlistentry>
 540
 541      <varlistentry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/partial/</filename></term>
 542      <listitem><para>Storage area for package files in transit.
 543      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Cache::Archives</literal> (implicit partial). </para></listitem>
 544      </varlistentry>
 545
 546      <varlistentry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/</filename></term>
 547      <listitem><para>Storage area for state information for each package resource specified in
 548      &sources-list;
 549      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::State::Lists</literal>.</para></listitem>
 550      </varlistentry>
 551
 552      <varlistentry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/partial/</filename></term>
 553      <listitem><para> Storage area for state information in transit.
 554      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::State::Lists</literal> (implicit partial).</para></listitem>
 555      </varlistentry>
 556    </variablelist>
 557  </refsect1>
 558
 559  <refsect1><title>See Also</title>
 560    <para>&apt-cache;, &apt-cdrom;, &dpkg;, &dselect;, &sources-list;,
 561    &apt-conf;, &apt-config;, &apt-secure;,
 562    The APT User's guide in &guidesdir;, &apt-preferences;, the APT Howto.</para>
 563  </refsect1>
 564
 565  <refsect1><title>Diagnostics</title>
 566    <para><command>apt-get</command> returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error.</para>
 567  </refsect1>
 568  <refsect1>
 569          <title>ORIGINAL AUTHORS</title>
 570          <para>&apt-author.jgunthorpe;</para>
 571  </refsect1>
 572  <refsect1>
 573          <title>CURRENT AUTHORS</title>
 574          <para>
 575                  &apt-author.team;
 576                  &apt-qapage;
 577          </para>
 578  </refsect1>
 579  &manbugs;
 580 </refentry>