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>30 October 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'>install
  64                          <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable>
  65                                 <arg>
  66                                         <group choice='req'>
  67                                                 <arg choice='plain'>
  68                                                         =<replaceable>pkg_version_number</replaceable>
  69                                                 </arg>
  70                                                 <arg choice='plain'>
  71                                                         /<replaceable>target_release_name</replaceable>
  72                                                 </arg>
  73                                         </group>
  74                                 </arg>
  75                          </arg>
  76              </arg>
  77          <arg choice='plain'>remove <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  78          <arg choice='plain'>purge <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  79          <arg choice='plain'>source
  80                          <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable>
  81                                  <arg>
  82                                          =<replaceable>pkg_version_number</replaceable>
  83                                  </arg>
  84                          </arg>
  85              </arg>
  86          <arg choice='plain'>build-dep <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  87          <arg choice='plain'>check</arg>
  88          <arg choice='plain'>clean</arg>
  89          <arg choice='plain'>autoclean</arg>
  90          <arg choice='plain'>autoremove</arg>
  91                  <arg choice='plain'>
  92                          <group choice='req'>
  93                                 <arg choice='plain'>-h</arg>
  94                                 <arg choice='plain'>--help</arg>
  95                          </group>
  96                  </arg>
  97       </group>
  98    </cmdsynopsis>
  99  </refsynopsisdiv>
 100
 101  <refsect1><title>Description</title>
 102    <para><command>apt-get</command> is the command-line tool for handling packages, and may be
 103    considered the user's "back-end" to other tools using the APT
 104    library.  Several "front-end" interfaces exist, such as dselect(8),
 105    aptitude, synaptic, gnome-apt and wajig.</para>
 106
 107    <para>Unless the <option>-h</option>, or <option>--help</option> option is given, one of the
 108    commands below must be present.</para>
 109
 110    <variablelist>
 111      <varlistentry><term>update</term>
 112      <listitem><para><literal>update</literal> is used to resynchronize the package index files from
 113      their sources. The indexes of available packages are fetched from the
 114      location(s) specified in <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename>.
 115      For example, when using a Debian archive, this command retrieves and
 116      scans the <filename>Packages.gz</filename> files, so that information about new
 117      and updated packages is available. An <literal>update</literal> should always be
 118      performed before an <literal>upgrade</literal> or <literal>dist-upgrade</literal>. Please
 119      be aware that the overall progress meter will be incorrect as the size
 120      of the package files cannot be known in advance.</para></listitem>
 121      </varlistentry>
 122
 123      <varlistentry><term>upgrade</term>
 124      <listitem><para><literal>upgrade</literal> is used to install the newest versions of all packages
 125      currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in
 126      <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename>. Packages currently installed with
 127      new versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no circumstances
 128      are currently installed packages removed, or packages not already installed
 129      retrieved and installed. New versions of currently installed packages that
 130      cannot be upgraded without changing the install status of another package
 131      will be left at their current version. An <literal>update</literal> must be
 132      performed first so that <command>apt-get</command> knows that new versions of packages are
 133      available.</para></listitem>
 134      </varlistentry>
 135
 136      <varlistentry><term>dselect-upgrade</term>
 137      <listitem><para><literal>dselect-upgrade</literal>
 138      is used in conjunction with the traditional Debian packaging
 139      front-end, &dselect;. <literal>dselect-upgrade</literal>
 140      follows the changes made by &dselect; to the <literal>Status</literal>
 141      field of available packages, and performs the actions necessary to realize
 142      that state (for instance, the removal of old and the installation of new
 143      packages).</para></listitem>
 144      </varlistentry>
 145
 146      <varlistentry><term>dist-upgrade</term>
 147      <listitem><para><literal>dist-upgrade</literal> in addition to performing the function of
 148      <literal>upgrade</literal>, also intelligently handles changing dependencies
 149      with new versions of packages; <command>apt-get</command> has a "smart" conflict
 150      resolution system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important
 151      packages at the expense of less important ones if necessary.
 152      The <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename> file contains a list of locations
 153      from which to retrieve desired package files.
 154      See also &apt-preferences; for a mechanism for
 155      overriding the general settings for individual packages.</para></listitem>
 156      </varlistentry>
 157
 158      <varlistentry><term>install</term>
 159      <listitem>
 160              <para>
 161                      <literal>install</literal> is followed by one or more
 162                      packages desired for installation or upgrading.
 163                      Each package is a package name, not a fully qualified
 164                      filename (for instance, in a Debian GNU/Linux system,
 165                      libc6 would be the argument provided, not
 166                      <literal>libc6_1.9.6-2.deb</literal>). All packages required
 167                      by the package(s) specified for installation will also
 168                      be retrieved and installed.
 169                      The <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename> file is
 170                      used to locate the desired packages. If a hyphen is
 171                      appended to the package name (with no intervening space),
 172                      the identified package will be removed if it is installed.
 173                      Similarly a plus sign can be used to designate a
 174                      package to install. These latter features may be used
 175                      to override decisions made by apt-get's conflict
 176                      resolution system.
 177              </para>
 178
 179      <para>A specific version of a package can be selected for installation by
 180      following the package name with an equals and the version of the package
 181      to select. This will cause that version to be located and selected for
 182      install. Alternatively a specific distribution can be selected by
 183      following the package name with a slash and the version of the
 184      distribution or the Archive name (stable, testing, unstable).</para>
 185
 186      <para>Both of the version selection mechanisms can downgrade packages and must
 187      be used with care.</para>
 188
 189         <para>This is also the target to use if you want to upgrade one or
 190                 more already-installed packages without upgrading every package
 191                 you have on your system. Unlike the "upgrade" target, which
 192                 installs the newest version of all currently installed packages,
 193                 "install" will install the newest version of only the package(s)
 194                 specified. Simply provide the name of the package(s) you wish
 195                 to upgrade, and if a newer version is available, it (and its
 196                 dependencies, as described above) will be downloaded and
 197                 installed.
 198         </para>
 199
 200      <para>Finally, the &apt-preferences; mechanism allows you to
 201      create an alternative installation policy for
 202      individual packages.</para>
 203
 204      <para>If no package matches the given expression and the expression contains one
 205      of '.', '?' or '*' then it is assumed to be a POSIX regular expression,
 206      and it is applied
 207      to all package names in the database. Any matches are then installed (or
 208      removed). Note that matching is done by substring so 'lo.*' matches 'how-lo'
 209      and 'lowest'. If this is undesired, anchor the regular expression
 210      with a '^' or '$' character, or create a more specific regular expression.</para></listitem>
 211      </varlistentry>
 212
 213      <varlistentry><term>remove</term>
 214      <listitem><para><literal>remove</literal> is identical to <literal>install</literal> except that packages are
 215      removed instead of installed. If a plus sign is appended to the package
 216      name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be
 217      installed instead of removed.</para></listitem>
 218      </varlistentry>
 219
 220      <varlistentry><term>purge</term>
 221      <listitem><para><literal>purge</literal> is identical to <literal>remove</literal> except that packages are
 222      removed and purged.</para></listitem>
 223      </varlistentry>
 224
 225      <varlistentry><term>source</term>
 226      <listitem><para><literal>source</literal> causes <command>apt-get</command> to fetch source packages. APT
 227      will examine the available packages to decide which source package to
 228      fetch. It will then find and download into the current directory the
 229      newest available version of that source package. Source packages are
 230      tracked separately from binary packages via <literal>deb-src</literal> type lines
 231      in the &sources-list; file. This probably will mean that you will not
 232      get the same source as the package you have installed or as you could
 233      install. If the --compile options is specified then the package will be
 234      compiled to a binary .deb using dpkg-buildpackage, if --download-only is
 235      specified then the source package will not be unpacked.</para>
 236
 237      <para>A specific source version can be retrieved by postfixing the source name
 238      with an equals and then the version to fetch, similar to the mechanism
 239      used for the package files. This enables exact matching of the source
 240      package name and version, implicitly enabling the
 241      <literal>APT::Get::Only-Source</literal> option.</para>
 242
 243      <para>Note that source packages are not tracked like binary packages, they
 244      exist only in the current directory and are similar to downloading source
 245      tar balls.</para></listitem>
 246      </varlistentry>
 247
 248      <varlistentry><term>build-dep</term>
 249      <listitem><para><literal>build-dep</literal> causes apt-get to install/remove packages in an
 250      attempt to satisfy the build dependencies for a source package.</para></listitem>
 251      </varlistentry>
 252
 253      <varlistentry><term>check</term>
 254      <listitem><para><literal>check</literal> is a diagnostic tool; it updates the package cache and checks
 255      for broken dependencies.</para></listitem>
 256      </varlistentry>
 257
 258      <varlistentry><term>clean</term>
 259      <listitem><para><literal>clean</literal> clears out the local repository of retrieved package
 260      files. It removes everything but the lock file from
 261      <filename>&cachedir;/archives/</filename> and
 262      <filename>&cachedir;/archives/partial/</filename>. When APT is used as a
 263      &dselect; method, <literal>clean</literal> is run automatically.
 264      Those who do not use dselect will likely want to run <literal>apt-get clean</literal>
 265      from time to time to free up disk space.</para></listitem>
 266      </varlistentry>
 267
 268      <varlistentry><term>autoclean</term>
 269      <listitem><para>Like <literal>clean</literal>, <literal>autoclean</literal> clears out the local
 270      repository of retrieved package files. The difference is that it only
 271      removes package files that can no longer be downloaded, and are largely
 272      useless. This allows a cache to be maintained over a long period without
 273      it growing out of control. The configuration option
 274      <literal>APT::Clean-Installed</literal> will prevent installed packages from being
 275      erased if it is set to off.</para></listitem>
 276      </varlistentry>
 277
 278      <varlistentry><term>autoremove</term>
 279      <listitem><para><literal>autoremove</literal> is used to remove packages that were automatically
 280      installed to satisfy dependencies for some package and that are no more needed.</para></listitem>
 281      </varlistentry>
 282    </variablelist>
 283  </refsect1>
 284
 285  <refsect1><title>options</title>
 286    &apt-cmdblurb;
 287
 288    <variablelist>
 289      <varlistentry><term><option>--no-install-recommends</option></term>
 290      <listitem><para>Do not consider recommended packages as a dependency for installing.
 291      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Install-Recommends</literal>.</para></listitem>
 292      </varlistentry>
 293
 294      <varlistentry><term><option>-d</option></term><term><option>--download-only</option></term>
 295      <listitem><para>Download only; package files are only retrieved, not unpacked or installed.
 296      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Download-Only</literal>.</para></listitem>
 297      </varlistentry>
 298
 299      <varlistentry><term><option>-f</option></term><term><option>--fix-broken</option></term>
 300      <listitem><para>Fix; attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in
 301      place. This option, when used with install/remove, can omit any packages
 302      to permit APT to deduce a likely solution. Any Package that are specified
 303      must completely correct the problem. The option is sometimes necessary when
 304      running APT for the first time; APT itself does not allow broken package
 305      dependencies to exist on a system. It is possible that a system's
 306      dependency structure can be so corrupt as to require manual intervention
 307      (which usually means using &dselect; or <command>dpkg --remove</command> to eliminate some of
 308      the offending packages). Use of this option together with <option>-m</option> may produce an
 309      error in some situations.
 310      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Fix-Broken</literal>.</para></listitem>
 311      </varlistentry>
 312
 313      <varlistentry><term><option>-m</option></term><term><option>--ignore-missing</option></term>
 314      <term><option>--fix-missing</option></term>
 315      <listitem><para>Ignore missing packages; If packages cannot be retrieved or fail the
 316      integrity check after retrieval (corrupted package files), hold back
 317      those packages and handle the result. Use of this option together with
 318      <option>-f</option> may produce an error in some situations. If a package is
 319      selected for installation (particularly if it is mentioned on the
 320      command line) and it could not be downloaded then it will be silently
 321      held back.
 322      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Fix-Missing</literal>.</para></listitem>
 323      </varlistentry>
 324
 325      <varlistentry><term><option>--no-download</option></term>
 326      <listitem><para>Disables downloading of packages. This is best used with
 327      <option>--ignore-missing</option> to force APT to use only the .debs it has
 328      already downloaded.
 329      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Download</literal>.</para></listitem>
 330      </varlistentry>
 331
 332      <varlistentry><term><option>-q</option></term><term><option>--quiet</option></term>
 333      <listitem><para>Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress indicators.
 334      More q's will produce more quiet up to a maximum of 2. You can also use
 335      <option>-q=#</option> to set the quiet level, overriding the configuration file.
 336      Note that quiet level 2 implies <option>-y</option>, you should never use -qq
 337      without a no-action modifier such as -d, --print-uris or -s as APT may
 338      decided to do something you did not expect.
 339      Configuration Item: <literal>quiet</literal>.</para></listitem>
 340      </varlistentry>
 341
 342      <varlistentry><term><option>-s</option></term>
 343                    <term><option>--simulate</option></term>
 344                    <term><option>--just-print</option></term>
 345                    <term><option>--dry-run</option></term>
 346                    <term><option>--recon</option></term>
 347                    <term><option>--no-act</option></term>
 348      <listitem><para>No action; perform a simulation of events that would occur but do not
 349      actually change the system.
 350      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Simulate</literal>.</para>
 351
 352      <para>Simulate prints out
 353      a series of lines each one representing a dpkg operation, Configure (Conf),
 354      Remove (Remv), Unpack (Inst). Square brackets indicate broken packages with
 355      and empty set of square brackets meaning breaks that are of no consequence
 356      (rare).</para></listitem>
 357      </varlistentry>
 358
 359      <varlistentry><term><option>-y</option></term><term><option>--yes</option></term>
 360                    <term><option>--assume-yes</option></term>
 361      <listitem><para>Automatic yes to prompts; assume "yes" as answer to all prompts and run
 362      non-interactively. If an undesirable situation, such as changing a held
 363      package, trying to install a unauthenticated package or removing an essential package
 364      occurs then <literal>apt-get</literal> will abort.
 365      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Assume-Yes</literal>.</para></listitem>
 366      </varlistentry>
 367
 368      <varlistentry><term><option>-u</option></term><term><option>--show-upgraded</option></term>
 369      <listitem><para>Show upgraded packages; Print out a list of all packages that are to be
 370      upgraded.
 371      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Show-Upgraded</literal>.</para></listitem>
 372      </varlistentry>
 373
 374      <varlistentry><term><option>-V</option></term><term><option>--verbose-versions</option></term>
 375      <listitem><para>Show full versions for upgraded and installed packages.
 376      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Show-Versions</literal>.</para></listitem>
 377      </varlistentry>
 378
 379      <varlistentry><term><option>-b</option></term><term><option>--compile</option></term>
 380                    <term><option>--build</option></term>
 381      <listitem><para>Compile source packages after downloading them.
 382      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Compile</literal>.</para></listitem>
 383      </varlistentry>
 384
 385      <varlistentry><term><option>--ignore-hold</option></term>
 386      <listitem><para>Ignore package Holds; This causes <command>apt-get</command> to ignore a hold
 387      placed on a package. This may be useful in conjunction with
 388      <literal>dist-upgrade</literal> to override a large number of undesired holds.
 389      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Ignore-Hold</literal>.</para></listitem>
 390      </varlistentry>
 391
 392      <varlistentry><term><option>--no-upgrade</option></term>
 393      <listitem><para>Do not upgrade packages; When used in conjunction with <literal>install</literal>,
 394      <literal>no-upgrade</literal> will prevent packages on the command line
 395      from being upgraded if they are already installed.
 396      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Upgrade</literal>.</para></listitem>
 397      </varlistentry>
 398
 399      <varlistentry><term><option>--force-yes</option></term>
 400      <listitem><para>Force yes; This is a dangerous option that will cause apt to continue
 401      without prompting if it is doing something potentially harmful. It
 402      should not be used except in very special situations. Using
 403      <literal>force-yes</literal> can potentially destroy your system!
 404      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::force-yes</literal>.</para></listitem>
 405      </varlistentry>
 406
 407      <varlistentry><term><option>--print-uris</option></term>
 408      <listitem><para>Instead of fetching the files to install their URIs are printed. Each
 409      URI will have the path, the destination file name, the size and the expected
 410      md5 hash. Note that the file name to write to will not always match
 411      the file name on the remote site! This also works with the
 412      <literal>source</literal> and <literal>update</literal> commands. When used with the
 413      <literal>update</literal> command the MD5 and size are not included, and it is
 414      up to the user to decompress any compressed files.
 415      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Print-URIs</literal>.</para></listitem>
 416      </varlistentry>
 417
 418      <varlistentry><term><option>--purge</option></term>
 419      <listitem><para>Use purge instead of remove for anything that would be removed.
 420      An asterisk ("*") will be displayed next to packages which are
 421      scheduled to be purged.
 422      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Purge</literal>.</para></listitem>
 423      </varlistentry>
 424
 425      <varlistentry><term><option>--reinstall</option></term>
 426      <listitem><para>Re-Install packages that are already installed and at the newest version.
 427      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::ReInstall</literal>.</para></listitem>
 428      </varlistentry>
 429
 430      <varlistentry><term><option>--list-cleanup</option></term>
 431      <listitem><para>This option defaults to on, use <literal>--no-list-cleanup</literal> to turn it
 432      off. When on <command>apt-get</command> will automatically manage the contents of
 433      <filename>&statedir;/lists</filename> to ensure that obsolete files are erased.
 434      The only  reason to turn it off is if you frequently change your source
 435      list.
 436      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::List-Cleanup</literal>.</para></listitem>
 437      </varlistentry>
 438
 439      <varlistentry><term><option>-t</option></term>
 440                    <term><option>--target-release</option></term>
 441                    <term><option>--default-release</option></term>
 442      <listitem><para>This option controls the default input to the policy engine, it creates
 443      a default pin at priority 990 using the specified release string.
 444      This overrides the general settings in <filename>/etc/apt/preferences</filename>.
 445      Specifically pinned packages are not affected by the value
 446      of this option. In short, this option
 447      lets you have simple control over which distribution packages will be
 448      retrieved from. Some common examples might be
 449      <option>-t '2.1*'</option> or <option>-t unstable</option>.
 450      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Default-Release</literal>;
 451      see also the &apt-preferences; manual page.</para></listitem>
 452      </varlistentry>
 453
 454      <varlistentry><term><option>--trivial-only</option></term>
 455      <listitem><para>
 456      Only perform operations that are 'trivial'. Logically this can be considered
 457      related to <option>--assume-yes</option>, where <option>--assume-yes</option> will answer
 458      yes to any prompt, <option>--trivial-only</option> will answer no.
 459      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Trivial-Only</literal>.</para></listitem>
 460      </varlistentry>
 461
 462      <varlistentry><term><option>--no-remove</option></term>
 463      <listitem><para>If any packages are to be removed apt-get immediately aborts without
 464      prompting.
 465      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Remove</literal>.</para></listitem>
 466      </varlistentry>
 467
 468      <varlistentry><term><option>--auto-remove</option></term>
 469      <listitem><para>If the command is either <literal>install</literal> or <literal>remove</literal>,
 470      then this option acts like running <literal>autoremove</literal> command, removing the unused
 471      dependency packages. Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::AutomaticRemove</literal>.
 472      </para></listitem>
 473      </varlistentry>
 474
 475      <varlistentry><term><option>--only-source</option></term>
 476      <listitem><para>Only has meaning for the
 477      <literal>source</literal> and <literal>build-dep</literal>
 478      commands.  Indicates that the given source names are not to be
 479      mapped through the binary table.  This means that if this option
 480      is specified, these commands will only accept source package
 481      names as arguments, rather than accepting binary package names
 482      and looking up the corresponding source package.  Configuration
 483      Item: <literal>APT::Get::Only-Source</literal>.</para></listitem>
 484      </varlistentry>
 485
 486      <varlistentry><term><option>--diff-only</option></term><term><option>--dsc-only</option></term><term><option>--tar-only</option></term>
 487      <listitem><para>Download only the diff, dsc, or tar file of a source archive.
 488      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Diff-Only</literal>, <literal>APT::Get::Dsc-Only</literal>, and
 489      <literal>APT::Get::Tar-Only</literal>.</para></listitem>
 490      </varlistentry>
 491
 492      <varlistentry><term><option>--arch-only</option></term>
 493      <listitem><para>Only process architecture-dependent build-dependencies.
 494      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::Arch-Only</literal>.</para></listitem>
 495      </varlistentry>
 496
 497      <varlistentry><term><option>--allow-unauthenticated</option></term>
 498      <listitem><para>Ignore if packages can't be authenticated and don't prompt about it.
 499      This is useful for tools like pbuilder.
 500      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Get::AllowUnauthenticated</literal>.</para></listitem>
 501      </varlistentry>
 502
 503
 504      &apt-commonoptions;
 505
 506    </variablelist>
 507  </refsect1>
 508
 509  <refsect1><title>Files</title>
 510    <variablelist>
 511      <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename></term>
 512      <listitem><para>Locations to fetch packages from.
 513      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Etc::SourceList</literal>.</para></listitem>
 514      </varlistentry>
 515
 516      <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf</filename></term>
 517      <listitem><para>APT configuration file.
 518      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Etc::Main</literal>.</para></listitem>
 519      </varlistentry>
 520
 521      <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/</filename></term>
 522      <listitem><para>APT configuration file fragments.
 523      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Etc::Parts</literal>.</para></listitem>
 524      </varlistentry>
 525
 526      <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/preferences</filename></term>
 527      <listitem><para>Version preferences file.
 528      This is where you would specify "pinning",
 529      i.e. a preference to get certain packages
 530      from a separate source
 531      or from a different version of a distribution.
 532      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Etc::Preferences</literal>.</para></listitem>
 533      </varlistentry>
 534
 535      <varlistentry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/</filename></term>
 536      <listitem><para>Storage area for retrieved package files.
 537      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Cache::Archives</literal>.</para></listitem>
 538      </varlistentry>
 539
 540      <varlistentry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/partial/</filename></term>
 541      <listitem><para>Storage area for package files in transit.
 542      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Cache::Archives</literal> (implicit partial). </para></listitem>
 543      </varlistentry>
 544
 545      <varlistentry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/</filename></term>
 546      <listitem><para>Storage area for state information for each package resource specified in
 547      &sources-list;
 548      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::State::Lists</literal>.</para></listitem>
 549      </varlistentry>
 550
 551      <varlistentry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/partial/</filename></term>
 552      <listitem><para> Storage area for state information in transit.
 553      Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::State::Lists</literal> (implicit partial).</para></listitem>
 554      </varlistentry>
 555    </variablelist>
 556  </refsect1>
 557
 558  <refsect1><title>See Also</title>
 559    <para>&apt-cache;, &apt-cdrom;, &dpkg;, &dselect;, &sources-list;,
 560    &apt-conf;, &apt-config;, &apt-secure;,
 561    The APT User's guide in &guidesdir;, &apt-preferences;, the APT Howto.</para>
 562  </refsect1>
 563
 564  <refsect1><title>Diagnostics</title>
 565    <para><command>apt-get</command> returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error.</para>
 566  </refsect1>
 567  <refsect1>
 568          <title>ORIGINAL AUTHORS</title>
 569          <para>&apt-author.jgunthorpe;</para>
 570  </refsect1>
 571  <refsect1>
 572          <title>CURRENT AUTHORS</title>
 573          <para>
 574                  &apt-author.team;
 575                  &apt-qapage;
 576          </para>
 577  </refsect1>
 578  &manbugs;
 579 </refentry>