doc/apt.8.xml

   1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
   2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
   3   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
   4 <!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent"> %aptent;
   5 <!ENTITY % aptverbatiment SYSTEM "apt-verbatim.ent"> %aptverbatiment;
   6 <!ENTITY % aptvendor SYSTEM "apt-vendor.ent"> %aptvendor;
   7 ]>
   8
   9 <refentry>
  10
  11  <refentryinfo>
  12    &apt-author.team;
  13    &apt-email;
  14    &apt-product;
  15    <!-- The last update date -->
  16    <date>2013-11-25T00:00:00Z</date>
  17  </refentryinfo>
  18
  19  <refmeta>
  20    <refentrytitle>apt</refentrytitle>
  21    <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
  22    <refmiscinfo class="manual">APT</refmiscinfo>
  23  </refmeta>
  24
  25  <!-- Man page title -->
  26  <refnamediv>
  27     <refname>apt</refname>
  28     <refpurpose>command-line interface</refpurpose>
  29  </refnamediv>
  30
  31  &synopsis-command-apt;
  32
  33  <refsect1><title>Description</title>
  34    <para><command>apt</command> provides a high-level commandline interface for
  35       the package management system. It is intended as an end user interface and
  36       enables some options better suited for interactive usage by default
  37       compared to more specialized APT tools like &apt-get; and &apt-cache;.
  38    </para><para>
  39    Much like <command>apt</command> itself, its manpage is intended as an end
  40    user interface and as such only mentions the most used commands and options
  41    partly to not duplicate information in multiple places and partly to avoid
  42    overwelming readers with a cornucopia of options and details.
  43    </para>
  44
  45    <variablelist>
  46      <varlistentry><term><option>update</option> (&apt-get;)</term>
  47      <listitem><para><option>update</option> is used to download package
  48            information from all configured sources. Other commands operate on
  49            this data to e.g. perform package upgrades or search in and display
  50            details about all packages available for installation.
  51      </para></listitem>
  52      </varlistentry>
  53
  54      <varlistentry><term><option>upgrade</option> (&apt-get;)</term>
  55      <listitem><para><option>upgrade</option> is used to install available
  56            upgrades of all packages currently installed on the system from the
  57            sources configured via &sources-list;. New packages will be
  58            installed if required to statisfy dependencies, but existing
  59            packages will never be removed. If an upgrade for a package requires
  60            the remove of an installed package the upgrade for this package
  61            isn't performed.
  62      </para></listitem>
  63      </varlistentry>
  64
  65      <varlistentry><term><option>full-upgrade</option> (&apt-get;)</term>
  66      <listitem><para><literal>full-upgrade</literal> performs the function of
  67            upgrade but will remove currently installed packages if this is
  68            needed to upgrade the system as a whole.
  69      </para></listitem>
  70      </varlistentry>
  71
  72      <varlistentry><term><option>install</option>, <option>remove</option>, <option>purge</option> (&apt-get;)</term>
  73      <listitem><para>Performs the requested action on one or more packages
  74            specified via &regex;, &glob; or exact match. The requested action
  75            can be overidden for specific packages by append a plus (+) to the
  76            package name to install this package or a minus (-) to remove it.
  77      </para><para>
  78            A specific version of a package can be selected for installation by
  79            following the package name with an equals (=) and the version of the
  80            package to select. Alternatively the version from a specific release can be
  81            selected by following the package name with a forward slash (/) and
  82            codename (&stable-codename;, &testing-codename;, sid …) or suite name (stable,
  83            testing, unstable). This will also select versions from this release
  84            for dependencies of this package if needed to satisfy the request.
  85      </para><para>
  86            Removing a package removes all packaged data, but leaves usually
  87            small (modified) user configuration files behind, in case the
  88            remove was an accident. Just issuing an installtion request for the
  89            accidently removed package will restore it funcation as before in
  90            that case. On the other hand you can get right of these leftovers
  91            via calling <command>purge</command> even on already removed
  92            packages.  Note that this does not effect any data or configuration
  93            stored in your home directory.
  94      </para></listitem>
  95      </varlistentry>
  96
  97      <varlistentry><term><option>autoremove</option> (&apt-get;)</term>
  98      <listitem><para>
  99            <literal>autoremove</literal> is used to remove packages that were
 100            automatically installed to satisfy dependencies for other packages
 101            and are now no longer needed as dependencies changed or the package(s)
 102            needing them were removed in the meantime.
 103      </para><para>
 104            Try to ensure that the list does not include applications you have
 105            grown to like even through they there once installed just as a
 106            dependency of another package. You can mark such a package as manually
 107            installed by using &apt-mark;. Packages which you have installed explicitly
 108            via <command>install</command> are never proposed for automatic removal as well.
 109      </para></listitem>
 110      </varlistentry>
 111
 112      <varlistentry><term><option>search</option> (&apt-cache;)</term>
 113      <listitem><para><option>search</option> can be used to search for the given
 114            &regex; term(s) in the list of the available packages and display
 115            matches.  This can e.g. be useful if you are looking for packages
 116            having a specific feature.  If you are looking for a package
 117            including a specific file try &apt-file;.
 118      </para></listitem>
 119      </varlistentry>
 120
 121      <varlistentry><term><option>show</option> (&apt-cache;)</term>
 122      <listitem><para>Show information about the given package(s) including
 123            its dependencies, installation and download size, sources the
 124            package is available from, the description of the packages content
 125            and many more. It can e.g. be helpful to look at this information
 126            before allowing &apt; to remove a package or while searching for
 127            new packages to install.
 128      </para></listitem>
 129      </varlistentry>
 130
 131      <varlistentry><term><option>list</option> (work-in-progress)</term>
 132      <listitem><para><option>list</option> is somewhat similar to <command>dpkg-query --list</command>
 133            in that it can display a list of packages satisfying certain
 134            criteria.  It supports &glob; patterns for matching package names as
 135            well as options to list installed (<option>--installed</option>),
 136            upgradeable (<option>--upgradeable</option>) or all available
 137            (<option>--all-versions</option>) versions.
 138      </para></listitem>
 139      </varlistentry>
 140
 141      <varlistentry><term><option>edit-sources</option> (work-in-progress)</term>
 142      <listitem><para><literal>edit-sources</literal> lets you edit
 143            your &sources-list; files in your preferred texteditor while also
 144            providing basic sanity checks.
 145      </para></listitem>
 146      </varlistentry>
 147
 148
 149    </variablelist>
 150  </refsect1>
 151
 152  <refsect1><title>Script usage and Differences to other APT tools</title>
 153   <para>
 154    The &apt; commandline is designed as a end-user tool and it may
 155    change behaviour between versions. While it tries to not break
 156    backward compatibility there is no guarantee for it either if it
 157    seems benefitial for interactive use.
 158   </para><para>
 159    All features of &apt; are available in dedicated APT tools like &apt-get;
 160    and &apt-cache; as well.  &apt; just changes the default value of some
 161    options (see &apt-conf; and specifically the Binary scope). So prefer using
 162    these commands (potentially with some additional options enabled) in your
 163    scripts as they keep backward compatibility as much as possible.
 164    </para>
 165  </refsect1>
 166
 167  <refsect1><title>See Also</title>
 168    <para>&apt-get;, &apt-cache;, &sources-list;,
 169    &apt-conf;, &apt-config;,
 170    The APT User's guide in &guidesdir;, &apt-preferences;, the APT Howto.</para>
 171  </refsect1>
 172
 173  <refsect1><title>Diagnostics</title>
 174    <para><command>apt</command> returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error.</para>
 175  </refsect1>
 176  &manbugs;
 177 </refentry>