<!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent">
%aptent;
+<!ENTITY % aptverbatiment SYSTEM "apt-verbatim.ent">
+%aptverbatiment;
+
]>
<refentry>
&apt-email;
&apt-product;
<!-- The last update date -->
- <date>29 February 2004</date>
+ <date>04 February 2011</date>
</refentryinfo>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>apt-cache</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
+ <refmiscinfo class="manual">APT</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<!-- Man page title -->
<refnamediv>
<refname>apt-cache</refname>
- <refpurpose>APT package handling utility -- cache manipulator</refpurpose>
+ <refpurpose>query the APT cache</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
- <!-- Arguments -->
- <refsynopsisdiv>
- <cmdsynopsis>
- <command>apt-cache</command>
- <arg><option>-hvsn</option></arg>
- <arg><option>-o=<replaceable>config string</replaceable></option></arg>
- <arg><option>-c=<replaceable>file</replaceable></option></arg>
- <group choice="req">
- <arg>add <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>file</replaceable></arg></arg>
- <arg>gencaches</arg>
- <arg>showpkg <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
- <arg>showsrc <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
- <arg>stats</arg>
- <arg>dump</arg>
- <arg>dumpavail</arg>
- <arg>unmet</arg>
- <arg>search <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>regex</replaceable></arg></arg>
- <arg>show <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
- <arg>depends <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
- <arg>rdepends <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
- <arg>pkgnames <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>prefix</replaceable></arg></arg>
- <arg>dotty <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
- <arg>policy <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkgs</replaceable></arg></arg>
- <arg>madison <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkgs</replaceable></arg></arg>
- </group>
- </cmdsynopsis>
- </refsynopsisdiv>
-
+ &synopsis-command-apt-cache;
+
<refsect1><title>Description</title>
<para><command>apt-cache</command> performs a variety of operations on APT's package
cache. <command>apt-cache</command> does not manipulate the state of the system
commands below must be present.</para>
<variablelist>
- <varlistentry><term>add <replaceable>file(s)</replaceable></term>
- <listitem><para><literal>add</literal> adds the named package index files to the package cache.
- This is for debugging only.</para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry><term>gencaches</term>
- <listitem><para><literal>gencaches</literal> performs the same operation as
- <command>apt-get check</command>. It builds the source and package caches from
- the sources in &sources-list; and from
- <filename>/var/lib/dpkg/status</filename>.</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para><literal>gencaches</literal> creates APT's package cache. This is done
+ implicitly by all commands needing this cache if it is missing or outdated.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term>showpkg <replaceable>pkg(s)</replaceable></term>
+ <varlistentry><term>showpkg <replaceable>&synopsis-pkg;</replaceable>…</term>
<listitem><para><literal>showpkg</literal> displays information about the packages listed on the
command line. Remaining arguments are package names. The available
versions and reverse dependencies of each package listed are listed, as
<listitem><para><literal>Missing</literal> is the number of package names that were referenced in
a dependency but were not provided by any package. Missing packages may
- be in evidence if a full distribution is not accessed, or if a package
+ be an evidence if a full distribution is not accessed, or if a package
(real or virtual) has been dropped from the distribution. Usually they
are referenced from Conflicts or Breaks statements.</para>
</listitem>
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term>showsrc <replaceable>pkg(s)</replaceable></term>
+ <varlistentry><term>showsrc <replaceable>&synopsis-pkg;</replaceable>…</term>
<listitem><para><literal>showsrc</literal> displays all the source package records that match
the given package names. All versions are shown, as well as all
records that declare the name to be a Binary.</para></listitem>
package cache.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term>show <replaceable>pkg(s)</replaceable></term>
+ <varlistentry><term>show <replaceable>&synopsis-pkg;</replaceable>…</term>
<listitem><para><literal>show</literal> performs a function similar to
<command>dpkg --print-avail</command>; it displays the package records for the
named packages.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term>search <replaceable>regex [ regex ... ]</replaceable></term>
+ <varlistentry><term>search <replaceable>&synopsis-regex;</replaceable>…</term>
<listitem><para><literal>search</literal> performs a full text search on all available package
lists for the POSIX regex pattern given, see
<citerefentry><refentrytitle><command>regex</command></refentrytitle>
are and'ed together.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term>depends <replaceable>pkg(s)</replaceable></term>
+ <varlistentry><term>depends <replaceable>&synopsis-pkg;</replaceable>…</term>
<listitem><para><literal>depends</literal> shows a listing of each dependency a package has
and all the possible other packages that can fulfill that dependency.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term>rdepends <replaceable>pkg(s)</replaceable></term>
+ <varlistentry><term>rdepends <replaceable>&synopsis-pkg;</replaceable>…</term>
<listitem><para><literal>rdepends</literal> shows a listing of each reverse dependency a
package has.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term>pkgnames <replaceable>[ prefix ]</replaceable></term>
- <listitem><para>This command prints the name of each package in the system. The optional
+ <varlistentry><term>pkgnames [ <replaceable>&synopsis-prefix;</replaceable> ]</term>
+ <listitem><para>This command prints the name of each package APT knows. The optional
argument is a prefix match to filter the name list. The output is suitable
for use in a shell tab complete function and the output is generated
extremely quickly. This command is best used with the
- <option>--generate</option> option.</para></listitem>
+ <option>--generate</option> option.</para>
+ <para>Note that a package which APT knows of is not necessarily available to download,
+ installable or installed, e.g. virtual packages are also listed in the generated list.
+ </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term>dotty <replaceable>pkg(s)</replaceable></term>
+ <varlistentry><term>dotty <replaceable>&synopsis-pkg;</replaceable>…</term>
<listitem><para><literal>dotty</literal> takes a list of packages on the command line and
generates output suitable for use by dotty from the
<ulink url="http://www.research.att.com/sw/tools/graphviz/">GraphViz</ulink>
<para>Caution, dotty cannot graph larger sets of packages.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term>policy <replaceable>[ pkg(s) ]</replaceable></term>
+ <varlistentry><term>xvcg <replaceable>&synopsis-pkg;</replaceable></term>
+ <listitem><para>The same as <literal>dotty</literal>, only for xvcg from the
+ <ulink url="http://rw4.cs.uni-sb.de/users/sander/html/gsvcg1.html">VCG tool</ulink>.
+ </para></listitem></varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry><term>policy [ <replaceable>&synopsis-pkg;</replaceable>… ]</term>
<listitem><para><literal>policy</literal> is meant to help debug issues relating to the
preferences file. With no arguments it will print out the
priorities of each source. Otherwise it prints out detailed information
about the priority selection of the named package.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term>madison <replaceable>/[ pkg(s) ]</replaceable></term>
+ <varlistentry><term>madison <replaceable>&synopsis-pkg;</replaceable>…</term>
<listitem><para><literal>apt-cache</literal>'s <literal>madison</literal> command attempts to mimic
the output format and a subset of the functionality of the Debian
archive management tool, <literal>madison</literal>. It displays
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><option>-i</option></term><term><option>--important</option></term>
- <listitem><para>Print only important dependencies; for use with unmet. Causes only Depends and
+ <listitem><para>Print only important dependencies; for use with unmet and depends. Causes only Depends and
Pre-Depends relations to be printed.
Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Cache::Important</literal>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry><term><option>--no-pre-depends</option></term>
+ <term><option>--no-depends</option></term>
+ <term><option>--no-recommends</option></term>
+ <term><option>--no-suggests</option></term>
+ <term><option>--no-conflicts</option></term>
+ <term><option>--no-breaks</option></term>
+ <term><option>--no-replaces</option></term>
+ <term><option>--no-enhances</option></term>
+ <listitem><para>Per default the <literal>depends</literal> and
+ <literal>rdepends</literal> print all dependencies. This can be tweaked with
+ these flags which will omit the specified dependency type.
+ Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Cache::Show<replaceable>DependencyType</replaceable></literal>
+ e.g. <literal>APT::Cache::ShowRecommends</literal>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><option>-f</option></term><term><option>--full</option></term>
<listitem><para>Print full package records when searching.
Configuration Item: <literal>APT::Cache::ShowFull</literal>.</para></listitem>
<refsect1><title>Files</title>
<variablelist>
- <varlistentry><term><filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename></term>
- <listitem><para>Locations to fetch packages from.
- Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::Etc::SourceList</literal>.</para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/</filename></term>
- <listitem><para>Storage area for state information for each package resource specified in
- &sources-list;
- Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::State::Lists</literal>.</para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/partial/</filename></term>
- <listitem><para>Storage area for state information in transit.
- Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::State::Lists</literal> (implicit partial).</para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ &file-sourceslist;
+ &file-statelists;
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
projects / apt.git / blobdiff