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