<!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 -->
<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>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>xvcg <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>
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
<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>
<varlistentry><term>search <replaceable>regex [ regex ... ]</replaceable></term>
<listitem><para><literal>search</literal> performs a full text search on all available package
- lists for the regex pattern given. It searches the package names and the
+ lists for the POSIX regex pattern given, see
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle><command>regex</command></refentrytitle>
+ <manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
+ It searches the package names and the
descriptions for an occurrence of the regular expression and prints out
- the package name and the short description. If <option>--full</option> is given
+ the package name and the short description, including virtual package
+ names.
+ If <option>--full</option> is given
then output identical to <literal>show</literal> is produced for each matched
package, and if <option>--names-only</option> is given then the long description
is not searched, only the package name is.</para>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>pkgnames <replaceable>[ prefix ]</replaceable></term>
- <listitem><para>This command prints the name of each package in the system. The optional
+ <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>
<para>Caution, dotty cannot graph larger sets of packages.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry><term>xvcg <replaceable>pkg(s)</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>[ pkg(s) ]</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
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>