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;
15 <!-- The last update date -->
16 <date>2013-
11-
25T00:
00:
00Z
</date>
20 <refentrytitle>apt
</refentrytitle>
21 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
22 <refmiscinfo class=
"manual">APT
</refmiscinfo>
25 <!-- Man page title -->
27 <refname>apt
</refname>
28 <refpurpose>command-line interface
</refpurpose>
31 &synopsis-command-apt;
33 <refsect1><title>Description
</title>
34 <para><command>apt
</command> (Advanced Package Tool) is the
35 command-line tool for handling packages. It provides a commandline
36 interface for the package management of the system.
38 See also &apt-get; and &apt-cache; for more low-level command options.
42 <varlistentry><term><option>list
</option></term>
43 <listitem><para><literal>list
</literal> is used to
44 display a list of packages. It supports shell pattern for matching
45 package names and the following options:
46 <option>--installed
</option>,
47 <option>--upgradable
</option>,
48 <option>--upgradeable
</option>,
49 <option>--all-versions
</option>
54 <varlistentry><term><option>search
</option></term>
55 <listitem><para><literal>search
</literal> searches for the given
56 term(s) and display matching packages.
60 <varlistentry><term><option>show
</option></term>
61 <listitem><para><literal>show
</literal> shows the package information
62 for the given package(s).
66 <varlistentry><term><option>install
</option></term>
68 <para><literal>install
</literal> is followed by one or more
69 package names desired for installation or upgrading.
72 <para>A specific version of a package can be selected for installation by
73 following the package name with an equals and the version of the package
74 to select. This will cause that version to be located and selected for
75 install. Alternatively a specific distribution can be selected by
76 following the package name with a slash and the version of the
77 distribution or the Archive name (stable, testing, unstable).
</para>
81 <varlistentry><term><option>remove
</option></term>
82 <listitem><para><literal>remove
</literal> is identical to
<literal>install
</literal> except that packages are
83 removed instead of installed. Note that removing a package leaves its
84 configuration files on the system. If a plus sign is appended to the package
85 name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be
86 installed instead of removed.
</para></listitem>
89 <varlistentry><term><option>edit-sources
</option></term>
90 <listitem><para><literal>edit-sources
</literal> lets you edit
91 your sources.list file and provides basic sanity checks.
95 <varlistentry><term><option>update
</option></term>
96 <listitem><para><literal>update
</literal> is used to
97 resynchronize the package index files from their sources.
101 <varlistentry><term><option>upgrade
</option></term>
102 <listitem><para><literal>upgrade
</literal> is used to install the
103 newest versions of all packages currently installed on the system
104 from the sources enumerated in
105 <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list
</filename>. New packages will be
106 installed, but existing packages will never be removed.
110 <varlistentry><term><option>full-upgrade
</option></term>
111 <listitem><para><literal>full-upgrade
</literal> performs the
112 function of upgrade but may also remove installed packages
113 if that is required in order to resolve a package conflict.
121 <refsect1><title>options
</title>
131 <refsect1><title>Script usage
</title>
133 The
&apt; commandline is designed as a end-user tool and it may
134 change the output between versions. While it tries to not break
135 backward compatibility there is no guarantee for it either.
136 All features of
&apt; are available in &apt-cache; and &apt-get;
137 via APT options. Please prefer using these commands in your scripts.
141 <refsect1><title>Differences to &apt-get;
</title>
142 <para>The
<command>apt
</command> command is meant to be pleasant for
143 end users and does not need to be backward compatible like
144 &apt-get;. Therefore some options are different:
148 <para>The option
<literal>DPkg::Progress-Fancy
</literal> is enabled.
152 <para>The option
<literal>APT::Color
</literal> is enabled.
156 <para>A new
<literal>list
</literal> command is available
157 similar to
<literal>dpkg --list
</literal>.
161 <para>The option
<literal>upgrade
</literal> has
162 <literal>--with-new-pkgs
</literal> enabled by default.
171 <refsect1><title>See Also
</title>
172 <para>&apt-get;, &apt-cache;, &sources-list;,
173 &apt-conf;, &apt-config;,
174 The APT User's guide in
&guidesdir;, &apt-preferences;, the APT Howto.
</para>
177 <refsect1><title>Diagnostics
</title>
178 <para><command>apt
</command> returns zero on normal operation, decimal
100 on error.
</para>