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2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC
"-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd" [
5 <!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM
"apt.ent">
13 &apt-author.jgunthorpe;
17 <!-- The last update date -->
18 <date>08 November
2008</date>
22 <refentrytitle>apt-get
</refentrytitle>
23 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
26 <!-- Man page title -->
28 <refname>apt-get
</refname>
29 <refpurpose>APT package handling utility -- command-line interface
</refpurpose>
35 <command>apt-get
</command>
36 <arg><option>-sqdyfmubV
</option></arg>
39 <replaceable>config_string
</replaceable>
44 <replaceable>config_file
</replaceable>
51 <replaceable>target_release_name
</replaceable>
54 <replaceable>target_release_number_expression
</replaceable>
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>
69 =
<replaceable>pkg_version_number
</replaceable>
72 /
<replaceable>target_release_name
</replaceable>
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>
83 =
<replaceable>pkg_version_number
</replaceable>
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>
94 <arg choice='plain'
>-v
</arg>
95 <arg choice='plain'
>--version
</arg>
100 <arg choice='plain'
>-h
</arg>
101 <arg choice='plain'
>--help
</arg>
108 <refsect1><title>Description
</title>
109 <para><command>apt-get
</command> is the command-line tool for handling packages, and may be
110 considered the user's "back-end" to other tools using the APT
111 library. Several "front-end" interfaces exist, such as
&dselect;,
112 &aptitude;,
&synaptic;, &gnome-apt; and
&wajig;.
</para>
114 <para>Unless the
<option>-h
</option>, or
<option>--help
</option> option is given, one of the
115 commands below must be present.
</para>
118 <varlistentry><term>update
</term>
119 <listitem><para><literal>update
</literal> is used to resynchronize the package index files from
120 their sources. The indexes of available packages are fetched from the
121 location(s) specified in
<filename>/etc/apt/sources.list
</filename>.
122 For example, when using a Debian archive, this command retrieves and
123 scans the
<filename>Packages.gz
</filename> files, so that information about new
124 and updated packages is available. An
<literal>update
</literal> should always be
125 performed before an
<literal>upgrade
</literal> or
<literal>dist-upgrade
</literal>. Please
126 be aware that the overall progress meter will be incorrect as the size
127 of the package files cannot be known in advance.
</para></listitem>
130 <varlistentry><term>upgrade
</term>
131 <listitem><para><literal>upgrade
</literal> is used to install the newest versions of all packages
132 currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in
133 <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list
</filename>. Packages currently installed with
134 new versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no circumstances
135 are currently installed packages removed, or packages not already installed
136 retrieved and installed. New versions of currently installed packages that
137 cannot be upgraded without changing the install status of another package
138 will be left at their current version. An
<literal>update
</literal> must be
139 performed first so that
<command>apt-get
</command> knows that new versions of packages are
140 available.
</para></listitem>
143 <varlistentry><term>dselect-upgrade
</term>
144 <listitem><para><literal>dselect-upgrade
</literal>
145 is used in conjunction with the traditional Debian packaging
146 front-end,
&dselect;.
<literal>dselect-upgrade
</literal>
147 follows the changes made by
&dselect; to the
<literal>Status
</literal>
148 field of available packages, and performs the actions necessary to realize
149 that state (for instance, the removal of old and the installation of new
150 packages).
</para></listitem>
153 <varlistentry><term>dist-upgrade
</term>
154 <listitem><para><literal>dist-upgrade
</literal> in addition to performing the function of
155 <literal>upgrade
</literal>, also intelligently handles changing dependencies
156 with new versions of packages;
<command>apt-get
</command> has a "smart" conflict
157 resolution system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important
158 packages at the expense of less important ones if necessary.
159 So,
<literal>dist-upgrade
</literal> command may remove some packages.
160 The
<filename>/etc/apt/sources.list
</filename> file contains a list of locations
161 from which to retrieve desired package files.
162 See also &apt-preferences; for a mechanism for
163 overriding the general settings for individual packages.
</para></listitem>
166 <varlistentry><term>install
</term>
168 <para><literal>install
</literal> is followed by one or more
169 packages desired for installation or upgrading.
170 Each package is a package name, not a fully qualified
171 filename (for instance, in a Debian GNU/Linux system,
172 libc6 would be the argument provided, not
173 <literal>libc6_1.9
.6-
2.deb
</literal>). All packages required
174 by the package(s) specified for installation will also
175 be retrieved and installed.
176 The
<filename>/etc/apt/sources.list
</filename> file is
177 used to locate the desired packages. If a hyphen is
178 appended to the package name (with no intervening space),
179 the identified package will be removed if it is installed.
180 Similarly a plus sign can be used to designate a
181 package to install. These latter features may be used
182 to override decisions made by apt-get's conflict
186 <para>A specific version of a package can be selected for installation by
187 following the package name with an equals and the version of the package
188 to select. This will cause that version to be located and selected for
189 install. Alternatively a specific distribution can be selected by
190 following the package name with a slash and the version of the
191 distribution or the Archive name (stable, testing, unstable).
</para>
193 <para>Both of the version selection mechanisms can downgrade packages and must
194 be used with care.
</para>
196 <para>This is also the target to use if you want to upgrade one or
197 more already-installed packages without upgrading every package
198 you have on your system. Unlike the "upgrade" target, which
199 installs the newest version of all currently installed packages,
200 "install" will install the newest version of only the package(s)
201 specified. Simply provide the name of the package(s) you wish
202 to upgrade, and if a newer version is available, it (and its
203 dependencies, as described above) will be downloaded and
207 <para>Finally, the &apt-preferences; mechanism allows you to
208 create an alternative installation policy for
209 individual packages.
</para>
211 <para>If no package matches the given expression and the expression contains one
212 of '.', '?' or '*' then it is assumed to be a POSIX regular expression,
214 to all package names in the database. Any matches are then installed (or
215 removed). Note that matching is done by substring so 'lo.*' matches 'how-lo'
216 and 'lowest'. If this is undesired, anchor the regular expression
217 with a '^' or '$' character, or create a more specific regular expression.
</para></listitem>
220 <varlistentry><term>remove
</term>
221 <listitem><para><literal>remove
</literal> is identical to
<literal>install
</literal> except that packages are
222 removed instead of installed. Note the removing a package leaves its
223 configuration files in system. If a plus sign is appended to the package
224 name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be
225 installed instead of removed.
</para></listitem>
228 <varlistentry><term>purge
</term>
229 <listitem><para><literal>purge
</literal> is identical to
<literal>remove
</literal> except that packages are
230 removed and purged (any configuration files are deleted too).
</para></listitem>
233 <varlistentry><term>source
</term>
234 <listitem><para><literal>source
</literal> causes
<command>apt-get
</command> to fetch source packages. APT
235 will examine the available packages to decide which source package to
236 fetch. It will then find and download into the current directory the
237 newest available version of that source package. Source packages are
238 tracked separately from binary packages via
<literal>deb-src
</literal> type lines
239 in the &sources-list; file. This probably will mean that you will not
240 get the same source as the package you have installed or as you could
241 install. If the --compile options is specified then the package will be
242 compiled to a binary .deb using dpkg-buildpackage, if --download-only is
243 specified then the source package will not be unpacked.
</para>
245 <para>A specific source version can be retrieved by postfixing the source name
246 with an equals and then the version to fetch, similar to the mechanism
247 used for the package files. This enables exact matching of the source
248 package name and version, implicitly enabling the
249 <literal>APT::Get::Only-Source
</literal> option.
</para>
251 <para>Note that source packages are not tracked like binary packages, they
252 exist only in the current directory and are similar to downloading source
253 tar balls.
</para></listitem>
256 <varlistentry><term>build-dep
</term>
257 <listitem><para><literal>build-dep
</literal> causes apt-get to install/remove packages in an
258 attempt to satisfy the build dependencies for a source package.
</para></listitem>
261 <varlistentry><term>check
</term>
262 <listitem><para><literal>check
</literal> is a diagnostic tool; it updates the package cache and checks
263 for broken dependencies.
</para></listitem>
266 <varlistentry><term>clean
</term>
267 <listitem><para><literal>clean
</literal> clears out the local repository of retrieved package
268 files. It removes everything but the lock file from
269 <filename>&cachedir;/archives/
</filename> and
270 <filename>&cachedir;/archives/partial/
</filename>. When APT is used as a
271 &dselect; method,
<literal>clean
</literal> is run automatically.
272 Those who do not use dselect will likely want to run
<literal>apt-get clean
</literal>
273 from time to time to free up disk space.
</para></listitem>
276 <varlistentry><term>autoclean
</term>
277 <listitem><para>Like
<literal>clean
</literal>,
<literal>autoclean
</literal> clears out the local
278 repository of retrieved package files. The difference is that it only
279 removes package files that can no longer be downloaded, and are largely
280 useless. This allows a cache to be maintained over a long period without
281 it growing out of control. The configuration option
282 <literal>APT::Clean-Installed
</literal> will prevent installed packages from being
283 erased if it is set to off.
</para></listitem>
286 <varlistentry><term>autoremove
</term>
287 <listitem><para><literal>autoremove
</literal> is used to remove packages that were automatically
288 installed to satisfy dependencies for some package and that are no more needed.
</para></listitem>
293 <refsect1><title>options
</title>
297 <varlistentry><term><option>--no-install-recommends
</option></term>
298 <listitem><para>Do not consider recommended packages as a dependency for installing.
299 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Install-Recommends
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
302 <varlistentry><term><option>-d
</option></term><term><option>--download-only
</option></term>
303 <listitem><para>Download only; package files are only retrieved, not unpacked or installed.
304 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Download-Only
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
307 <varlistentry><term><option>-f
</option></term><term><option>--fix-broken
</option></term>
308 <listitem><para>Fix; attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in
309 place. This option, when used with install/remove, can omit any packages
310 to permit APT to deduce a likely solution. Any Package that are specified
311 must completely correct the problem. The option is sometimes necessary when
312 running APT for the first time; APT itself does not allow broken package
313 dependencies to exist on a system. It is possible that a system's
314 dependency structure can be so corrupt as to require manual intervention
315 (which usually means using
&dselect; or
<command>dpkg --remove
</command> to eliminate some of
316 the offending packages). Use of this option together with
<option>-m
</option> may produce an
317 error in some situations.
318 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Fix-Broken
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
321 <varlistentry><term><option>-m
</option></term><term><option>--ignore-missing
</option></term>
322 <term><option>--fix-missing
</option></term>
323 <listitem><para>Ignore missing packages; If packages cannot be retrieved or fail the
324 integrity check after retrieval (corrupted package files), hold back
325 those packages and handle the result. Use of this option together with
326 <option>-f
</option> may produce an error in some situations. If a package is
327 selected for installation (particularly if it is mentioned on the
328 command line) and it could not be downloaded then it will be silently
330 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Fix-Missing
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
333 <varlistentry><term><option>--no-download
</option></term>
334 <listitem><para>Disables downloading of packages. This is best used with
335 <option>--ignore-missing
</option> to force APT to use only the .debs it has
337 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Download
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
340 <varlistentry><term><option>-q
</option></term><term><option>--quiet
</option></term>
341 <listitem><para>Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress indicators.
342 More q's will produce more quiet up to a maximum of
2. You can also use
343 <option>-q=#
</option> to set the quiet level, overriding the configuration file.
344 Note that quiet level
2 implies
<option>-y
</option>, you should never use -qq
345 without a no-action modifier such as -d, --print-uris or -s as APT may
346 decided to do something you did not expect.
347 Configuration Item:
<literal>quiet
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
350 <varlistentry><term><option>-s
</option></term>
351 <term><option>--simulate
</option></term>
352 <term><option>--just-print
</option></term>
353 <term><option>--dry-run
</option></term>
354 <term><option>--recon
</option></term>
355 <term><option>--no-act
</option></term>
356 <listitem><para>No action; perform a simulation of events that would occur but do not
357 actually change the system.
358 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Simulate
</literal>.
</para>
360 <para>Simulate prints out
361 a series of lines each one representing a dpkg operation, Configure (Conf),
362 Remove (Remv), Unpack (Inst). Square brackets indicate broken packages with
363 and empty set of square brackets meaning breaks that are of no consequence
364 (rare).
</para></listitem>
367 <varlistentry><term><option>-y
</option></term><term><option>--yes
</option></term>
368 <term><option>--assume-yes
</option></term>
369 <listitem><para>Automatic yes to prompts; assume "yes" as answer to all prompts and run
370 non-interactively. If an undesirable situation, such as changing a held
371 package, trying to install a unauthenticated package or removing an essential package
372 occurs then
<literal>apt-get
</literal> will abort.
373 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Assume-Yes
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
376 <varlistentry><term><option>-u
</option></term><term><option>--show-upgraded
</option></term>
377 <listitem><para>Show upgraded packages; Print out a list of all packages that are to be
379 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Show-Upgraded
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
382 <varlistentry><term><option>-V
</option></term><term><option>--verbose-versions
</option></term>
383 <listitem><para>Show full versions for upgraded and installed packages.
384 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Show-Versions
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
387 <varlistentry><term><option>-b
</option></term><term><option>--compile
</option></term>
388 <term><option>--build
</option></term>
389 <listitem><para>Compile source packages after downloading them.
390 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Compile
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
393 <varlistentry><term><option>--install-recommends
</option></term>
394 <listitem><para>Also install recommended packages.
</para></listitem>
397 <varlistentry><term><option>--no-install-recommends
</option></term>
398 <listitem><para>Do not install recommended packages.
</para></listitem>
401 <varlistentry><term><option>--ignore-hold
</option></term>
402 <listitem><para>Ignore package Holds; This causes
<command>apt-get
</command> to ignore a hold
403 placed on a package. This may be useful in conjunction with
404 <literal>dist-upgrade
</literal> to override a large number of undesired holds.
405 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Ignore-Hold
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
408 <varlistentry><term><option>--no-upgrade
</option></term>
409 <listitem><para>Do not upgrade packages; When used in conjunction with
<literal>install
</literal>,
410 <literal>no-upgrade
</literal> will prevent packages on the command line
411 from being upgraded if they are already installed.
412 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Upgrade
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
415 <varlistentry><term><option>--force-yes
</option></term>
416 <listitem><para>Force yes; This is a dangerous option that will cause apt to continue
417 without prompting if it is doing something potentially harmful. It
418 should not be used except in very special situations. Using
419 <literal>force-yes
</literal> can potentially destroy your system!
420 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::force-yes
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
423 <varlistentry><term><option>--print-uris
</option></term>
424 <listitem><para>Instead of fetching the files to install their URIs are printed. Each
425 URI will have the path, the destination file name, the size and the expected
426 md5 hash. Note that the file name to write to will not always match
427 the file name on the remote site! This also works with the
428 <literal>source
</literal> and
<literal>update
</literal> commands. When used with the
429 <literal>update
</literal> command the MD5 and size are not included, and it is
430 up to the user to decompress any compressed files.
431 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Print-URIs
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
434 <varlistentry><term><option>--purge
</option></term>
435 <listitem><para>Use purge instead of remove for anything that would be removed.
436 An asterisk ("*") will be displayed next to packages which are
437 scheduled to be purged.
<option>remove --purge
</option> is equivalent for
438 <option>purge
</option> command.
439 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Purge
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
442 <varlistentry><term><option>--reinstall
</option></term>
443 <listitem><para>Re-Install packages that are already installed and at the newest version.
444 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::ReInstall
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
447 <varlistentry><term><option>--list-cleanup
</option></term>
448 <listitem><para>This option defaults to on, use
<literal>--no-list-cleanup
</literal> to turn it
449 off. When on
<command>apt-get
</command> will automatically manage the contents of
450 <filename>&statedir;/lists
</filename> to ensure that obsolete files are erased.
451 The only reason to turn it off is if you frequently change your source
453 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::List-Cleanup
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
456 <varlistentry><term><option>-t
</option></term>
457 <term><option>--target-release
</option></term>
458 <term><option>--default-release
</option></term>
459 <listitem><para>This option controls the default input to the policy engine, it creates
460 a default pin at priority
990 using the specified release string.
461 This overrides the general settings in
<filename>/etc/apt/preferences
</filename>.
462 Specifically pinned packages are not affected by the value
463 of this option. In short, this option
464 lets you have simple control over which distribution packages will be
465 retrieved from. Some common examples might be
466 <option>-t '
2.1*'
</option> or
<option>-t unstable
</option>.
467 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Default-Release
</literal>;
468 see also the &apt-preferences; manual page.
</para></listitem>
471 <varlistentry><term><option>--trivial-only
</option></term>
473 Only perform operations that are 'trivial'. Logically this can be considered
474 related to
<option>--assume-yes
</option>, where
<option>--assume-yes
</option> will answer
475 yes to any prompt,
<option>--trivial-only
</option> will answer no.
476 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Trivial-Only
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
479 <varlistentry><term><option>--no-remove
</option></term>
480 <listitem><para>If any packages are to be removed apt-get immediately aborts without
482 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Remove
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
485 <varlistentry><term><option>--auto-remove
</option></term>
486 <listitem><para>If the command is either
<literal>install
</literal> or
<literal>remove
</literal>,
487 then this option acts like running
<literal>autoremove
</literal> command, removing the unused
488 dependency packages. Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::AutomaticRemove
</literal>.
492 <varlistentry><term><option>--only-source
</option></term>
493 <listitem><para>Only has meaning for the
494 <literal>source
</literal> and
<literal>build-dep
</literal>
495 commands. Indicates that the given source names are not to be
496 mapped through the binary table. This means that if this option
497 is specified, these commands will only accept source package
498 names as arguments, rather than accepting binary package names
499 and looking up the corresponding source package. Configuration
500 Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Only-Source
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
503 <varlistentry><term><option>--diff-only
</option></term><term><option>--dsc-only
</option></term><term><option>--tar-only
</option></term>
504 <listitem><para>Download only the diff, dsc, or tar file of a source archive.
505 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Diff-Only
</literal>,
<literal>APT::Get::Dsc-Only
</literal>, and
506 <literal>APT::Get::Tar-Only
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
509 <varlistentry><term><option>--arch-only
</option></term>
510 <listitem><para>Only process architecture-dependent build-dependencies.
511 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::Arch-Only
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
514 <varlistentry><term><option>--allow-unauthenticated
</option></term>
515 <listitem><para>Ignore if packages can't be authenticated and don't prompt about it.
516 This is useful for tools like pbuilder.
517 Configuration Item:
<literal>APT::Get::AllowUnauthenticated
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
526 <refsect1><title>Files
</title>
528 <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/sources.list
</filename></term>
529 <listitem><para>Locations to fetch packages from.
530 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::Etc::SourceList
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
533 <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf
</filename></term>
534 <listitem><para>APT configuration file.
535 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::Etc::Main
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
538 <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/
</filename></term>
539 <listitem><para>APT configuration file fragments.
540 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::Etc::Parts
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
543 <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/preferences
</filename></term>
544 <listitem><para>Version preferences file.
545 This is where you would specify "pinning",
546 i.e. a preference to get certain packages
547 from a separate source
548 or from a different version of a distribution.
549 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::Etc::Preferences
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
552 <varlistentry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/
</filename></term>
553 <listitem><para>Storage area for retrieved package files.
554 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::Cache::Archives
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
557 <varlistentry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/partial/
</filename></term>
558 <listitem><para>Storage area for package files in transit.
559 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::Cache::Archives
</literal> (implicit partial).
</para></listitem>
562 <varlistentry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/
</filename></term>
563 <listitem><para>Storage area for state information for each package resource specified in
565 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::State::Lists
</literal>.
</para></listitem>
568 <varlistentry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/partial/
</filename></term>
569 <listitem><para> Storage area for state information in transit.
570 Configuration Item:
<literal>Dir::State::Lists
</literal> (implicit partial).
</para></listitem>
575 <refsect1><title>See Also
</title>
576 <para>&apt-cache;, &apt-cdrom;,
&dpkg;,
&dselect;, &sources-list;,
577 &apt-conf;, &apt-config;, &apt-secure;,
578 The APT User's guide in
&guidesdir;, &apt-preferences;, the APT Howto.
</para>
581 <refsect1><title>Diagnostics
</title>
582 <para><command>apt-get
</command> returns zero on normal operation, decimal
100 on error.
</para>
585 <title>ORIGINAL AUTHORS
</title>
586 <para>&apt-author.jgunthorpe;
</para>
589 <title>CURRENT AUTHORS
</title>