User manual

A Debian Maintenance Notes
A. Debian Maintenance Notes
A.1. Debian Package Management
Debian uses following utilities for the package management
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:
• dpkg - the main package management program.
• APT - the Advanced Package Tool. It provides the apt-get program. apt-get allows a simple
way to retrieve and install packages from multiple sources using the command line. Unlike
dpkg, apt-get does not understand .deb files, it works with the packages proper name and
can only install .deb archives from a source specified in /etc/apt/sources.list. apt-get
will call dpkg directly after downloading the .deb archives from the configured sources.
• aptitude - a package manager for Debian GNU/Linux systems that provides a frontend to the
apt package management infrastructure. aptitude is a text-based interface using the curses
library, it can be used to perform management tasks in a fast and easy way.
To find a package execute:
apt-cache search pkg name
To view info such as version, dependencies, installed size etc. execute:
apt-cache show pkg name
To install packages execute:
apt-get install pkg1 pkg2 ... (su rights needed)
To update the list of package known by your system execute:
apt-get update (su rights needed)
To upgrade all the packages on your system
apt-get upgrade (su rights needed)
To remove packages from your system execute:
apt-get remove pkg1 pkg2 ... (su rights needed)
To install a package that is not contained in the repository download the *.deb file and execute:
dpkg -i pkg file name (su rights needed)
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for detailed information visit http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-pkgtools.en.html
May 2014 OnRISC User Manual 71