&synopsis-command-apt;
<refsect1><title>Description</title>
- <para><command>apt</command> (Advanced Package Tool) is the
- command-line tool for handling packages. It provides a commandline
- interface for the package management of the system.
-
- See also &apt-get; and &apt-cache; for more low-level command options.
+ <para><command>apt</command> provides a high-level commandline interface for
+ the package management system. It is intended as an end user interface and
+ enables some options better suited for interactive usage by default
+ compared to more specialized APT tools like &apt-get; and &apt-cache;.
+ </para><para>
+ Much like <command>apt</command> itself, its manpage is intended as an end
+ user interface and as such only mentions the most used commands and options
+ partly to not duplicate information in multiple places and partly to avoid
+ overwelming readers with a cornucopia of options and details.
</para>
<variablelist>
- <varlistentry><term><option>list</option></term>
- <listitem><para><literal>list</literal> is used to
- display a list of packages. It supports shell pattern for matching
- package names and the following options:
- <option>--installed</option>,
- <option>--upgradable</option>,
- <option>--all-versions</option>
- are supported.
+ <varlistentry><term><option>update</option> (&apt-get;)</term>
+ <listitem><para><option>update</option> is used to download package
+ information from all configured sources. Other commands operate on
+ this data to e.g. perform package upgrades or search in and display
+ details about all packages available for installation.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry><term><option>search</option></term>
- <listitem><para><literal>search</literal> searches for the given
- term(s) and display matching packages.
+
+ <varlistentry><term><option>upgrade</option> (&apt-get;)</term>
+ <listitem><para><option>upgrade</option> is used to install available
+ upgrades of all packages currently installed on the system from the
+ sources configured via &sources-list;. New packages will be
+ installed if required to statisfy dependencies, but existing
+ packages will never be removed. If an upgrade for a package requires
+ the remove of an installed package the upgrade for this package
+ isn't performed.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term><option>show</option></term>
- <listitem><para><literal>show</literal> shows the package information
- for the given package(s).
+ <varlistentry><term><option>full-upgrade</option> (&apt-get;)</term>
+ <listitem><para><literal>full-upgrade</literal> performs the function of
+ upgrade but will remove currently installed packages if this is
+ needed to upgrade the system as a whole.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term><option>install</option></term>
- <listitem>
- <para><literal>install</literal> is followed by one or more
- package names desired for installation or upgrading.
- </para>
-
- <para>A specific version of a package can be selected for installation by
- following the package name with an equals and the version of the package
- to select. This will cause that version to be located and selected for
- install. Alternatively a specific distribution can be selected by
- following the package name with a slash and the version of the
- distribution or the Archive name (stable, testing, unstable).</para>
- </listitem>
+ <varlistentry><term><option>install</option>, <option>remove</option>, <option>purge</option> (&apt-get;)</term>
+ <listitem><para>Performs the requested action on one or more packages
+ specified via ®ex;, &glob; or exact match. The requested action
+ can be overidden for specific packages by append a plus (+) to the
+ package name to install this package or a minus (-) to remove it.
+ </para><para>
+ A specific version of a package can be selected for installation by
+ following the package name with an equals (=) and the version of the
+ package to select. Alternatively the version from a specific release can be
+ selected by following the package name with a forward slash (/) and
+ codename (&stable-codename;, &testing-codename;, sid …) or suite name (stable,
+ testing, unstable). This will also select versions from this release
+ for dependencies of this package if needed to satisfy the request.
+ </para><para>
+ Removing a package removes all packaged data, but leaves usually
+ small (modified) user configuration files behind, in case the
+ remove was an accident. Just issuing an installtion request for the
+ accidently removed package will restore it funcation as before in
+ that case. On the other hand you can get right of these leftovers
+ via calling <command>purge</command> even on already removed
+ packages. Note that this does not effect any data or configuration
+ stored in your home directory.
+ </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term><option>remove</option></term>
- <listitem><para><literal>remove</literal> is identical to <literal>install</literal> except that packages are
- removed instead of installed. Note that removing a package leaves its
- configuration files on the system. If a plus sign is appended to the package
- name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be
- installed instead of removed.</para></listitem>
+ <varlistentry><term><option>autoremove</option> (&apt-get;)</term>
+ <listitem><para>
+ <literal>autoremove</literal> is used to remove packages that were
+ automatically installed to satisfy dependencies for other packages
+ and are now no longer needed as dependencies changed or the package(s)
+ needing them were removed in the meantime.
+ </para><para>
+ Try to ensure that the list does not include applications you have
+ grown to like even through they there once installed just as a
+ dependency of another package. You can mark such a package as manually
+ installed by using &apt-mark;. Packages which you have installed explicitly
+ via <command>install</command> are never proposed for automatic removal as well.
+ </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term><option>edit-sources</option></term>
- <listitem><para><literal>edit-sources</literal> lets you edit
- your sources.list file and provides basic sanity checks.
+ <varlistentry><term><option>search</option> (&apt-cache;)</term>
+ <listitem><para><option>search</option> can be used to search for the given
+ ®ex; term(s) in the list of the available packages and display
+ matches. This can e.g. be useful if you are looking for packages
+ having a specific feature. If you are looking for a package
+ including a specific file try &apt-file;.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term><option>update</option></term>
- <listitem><para><literal>update</literal> is used to
- resynchronize the package index files from their sources.
+ <varlistentry><term><option>show</option> (&apt-cache;)</term>
+ <listitem><para>Show information about the given package(s) including
+ its dependencies, installation and download size, sources the
+ package is available from, the description of the packages content
+ and many more. It can e.g. be helpful to look at this information
+ before allowing &apt; to remove a package or while searching for
+ new packages to install.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry><term><option>upgrade</option></term>
- <listitem><para><literal>upgrade</literal> is used to install the
- newest versions of all packages currently installed on the system
- from the sources enumerated in
- <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename>. New packages will be
- installed, but existing packages will never be removed.
+
+ <varlistentry><term><option>list</option> (work-in-progress)</term>
+ <listitem><para><option>list</option> is somewhat similar to <command>dpkg-query --list</command>
+ in that it can display a list of packages satisfying certain
+ criteria. It supports &glob; patterns for matching package names as
+ well as options to list installed (<option>--installed</option>),
+ upgradeable (<option>--upgradeable</option>) or all available
+ (<option>--all-versions</option>) versions.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry><term><option>full-upgrade</option></term>
- <listitem><para><literal>full-upgrade</literal> performs the
- function of upgrade but may also remove installed packages
- if that is required in order to resolve a package conflict.
+ <varlistentry><term><option>edit-sources</option> (work-in-progress)</term>
+ <listitem><para><literal>edit-sources</literal> lets you edit
+ your &sources-list; files in your preferred texteditor while also
+ providing basic sanity checks.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
-
- <refsect1><title>options</title>
- &apt-cmdblurb;
-
- <variablelist>
-
- &apt-commonoptions;
-
- </variablelist>
- </refsect1>
- <refsect1><title>Script usage</title>
+ <refsect1><title>Script usage and Differences to other APT tools</title>
<para>
The &apt; commandline is designed as a end-user tool and it may
- change the output between versions. While it tries to not break
- backward compatibility there is no guarantee for it either.
- All features of &apt; are available in &apt-cache; and &apt-get;
- via APT options. Please prefer using these commands in your scripts.
- </para>
- </refsect1>
-
- <refsect1><title>Differences to &apt-get;</title>
- <para>The <command>apt</command> command is meant to be pleasant for
- end users and does not need to be backward compatible like
- &apt-get;. Therefore some options are different:
-
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>The option <literal>DPkg::Progress-Fancy</literal> is enabled.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>The option <literal>APT::Color</literal> is enabled.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>A new <literal>list</literal> command is available
- similar to <literal>dpkg --list</literal>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>The option <literal>upgrade</literal> has
- <literal>--with-new-pkgs</literal> enabled by default.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
-
+ change behaviour between versions. While it tries to not break
+ backward compatibility there is no guarantee for it either if it
+ seems benefitial for interactive use.
+ </para><para>
+ All features of &apt; are available in dedicated APT tools like &apt-get;
+ and &apt-cache; as well. &apt; just changes the default value of some
+ options (see &apt-conf; and specifically the Binary scope). So prefer using
+ these commands (potentially with some additional options enabled) in your
+ scripts as they keep backward compatibility as much as possible.
+ </para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1><title>See Also</title>
<para>&apt-get;, &apt-cache;, &sources-list;,
- &apt-conf;, &apt-config;,
+ &apt-conf;, &apt-config;,
The APT User's guide in &guidesdir;, &apt-preferences;, the APT Howto.</para>
</refsect1>
projects / apt.git / blobdiff