doc/apt-cache.8.yo

   1 mailto(apt@packages.debian.org)
   2 manpage(apt-cache)(8)(4 Dec 1998)(apt)()
   3 manpagename(apt-cache)(APT package handling utility -- cache manipulator)
   4
   5 manpagesynopsis()
   6 apt-cache command [argument ...]
   7
   8 manpagedescription()
   9 bf(apt-cache) performs a variety of operations on APT's package cache.
  10 bf(apt-cache) is seldom called directly; instead its operations are
  11 performed automatically by the other bf(apt) utilities.
  12
  13 em(command) is one of:
  14 itemize(
  15   it() add file1 [file2] [...]
  16   it() gencaches
  17   it() showpkg package1 [package2] [...]
  18   it() stats
  19   it() dump
  20   it() dumpavail
  21   it() unmet
  22   it() check
  23   it() search
  24   it() show
  25   it() showpkg
  26   it() depends
  27   it() pkgnames
  28 )
  29
  30 Unless the -h, or --help option is given one of the above commands
  31 must be present.
  32
  33 startdit()
  34 dit(bf(add))
  35 bf(add) adds the names package index files to the package cache.
  36
  37 dit(bf(gencaches))
  38 bf(gencaches) performs the same opration as bf(apt-get check). It builds
  39 the source and package caches from thes sources in bf(/etc/apt/sources.list)
  40 and from bf(/var/lib/dpkg/status).
  41
  42 dit(bf(showpkg))
  43 bf(showpkg) displays information about the packages listed on the
  44 command line. Remaining arguments are package names. The available versions
  45 and reverse dependencies of each package listed are listed, as well as
  46 forward dependencies for each version. Forward (normal) dependencies
  47 are those packages upon which the package in question depends; reverse
  48 dependencies are those packages that depend upon the package in
  49 question. Thus, forward dependencies must be satisfied for a package,
  50 but reverse dependencies need not be.
  51 For instance, bf(apt-cache showpkg libreadline2) would produce output similar
  52 to the following:
  53
  54 verb(
  55 Package: libreadline2
  56
  57 Versions:
  58
  59 2.1-12(/var/state/apt/lists/debian.midco.net_debian_dists_slink_main_binary-i386_Packages),
  60
  61 Reverse Depends:
  62
  63   libreadlineg2,libreadline2
  64
  65   libreadline2-altdev,libreadline2
  66 Dependencies:
  67
  68 2.1-12 - libc5 (2 5.4.0-0) ncurses3.0 (0 (null)) ldso (2 1.9.0-1)
  69
  70 Provides:
  71
  72 2.1-12 -
  73
  74 Reverse Provides:
  75 )
  76
  77 Thus it may be seen that libreadline2, version 2.1-8, depends on libc5,
  78 ncurses3.0, and ldso, which must be installed for libreadline2 to work. In
  79 turn, libreadlineg2 and libreadline2-altdev depend on libreadline2. If
  80 libreadline2 is installed, libc5, ncurses3.0, and ldso must also be
  81 installed; libreadlineg2 and libreadline2-altdev do not have to be
  82 installed. For the specific meaning of the remainder of the output it
  83 is best to consult the apt source code.
  84
  85 dit(bf(stats))
  86 bf(stats) displays some statistics about bf(cache).
  87 No further arguments are expected. Statistics reported are:
  88 itemize(
  89    it() bf(Total package names) is the number of package names found in the cache.
  90
  91    it() bf(Normal packages) is the number of regular, ordinary package names; these
  92    are packages that bear a one-to-one correspondence between their names and
  93    the names used by other packages for them in dependencies. The majority of
  94    packages fall into this category.
  95
  96    it() bf(Pure virtual packages) is the number of packages that exist only as
  97    a virtual package name; that is, packages only "provide" the virtual
  98    package name, and no package actually uses the name. For instance,
  99    "mail-transport-agent" in the Debian GNU/Linux system is a pure virtual
 100    package; several packages provide "mail-transport-agent", but there is no
 101    package named "mail-transport-agent".
 102
 103    it() bf(Single virtual packages) is the number of packages with only one
 104    package providing a particular virtual package. For example, in the
 105    Debian GNU/Linux system, "X11-text-viewer" is a virtual package, but only
 106    one package, xless, provides "X11-text-viewer".
 107
 108    it() bf(Mixed virtual packages) is the number of packages that either provide
 109    a particular virtual package or have the virtual package name as the
 110    package name. For instance, in the Debian GNU/Linux system, e2fsprogs is
 111    both an actual package, and provided by the e2compr package.
 112
 113    it() bf(Missing) is the number of package names that were referenced in a
 114    dependency but were not provided by any package. Missing packages may be
 115    in evidence if a full distribution is not accesssed, or if a package
 116    (real or virtual) has been dropped from the distribution.
 117
 118    it() bf(Total distinct) versions is the number of package versions found in
 119    the cache; this value is therefore at least equal to the number of total
 120    package names. If more than one distribution (both "stable" and "unstable",
 121    for instance), is being accessed, this value can be considerably larger
 122    than the number of total package names.
 123
 124    it() bf(Total dependencies) is the number of dependency relationships claimed
 125    by all of the packages in the cache.
 126 )
 127
 128 dit(bf(dump))
 129 bf(dump) shows a short listing of every package in the cache. It is primarily
 130 for debugging.
 131
 132 dit(bf(dumpavail))
 133 bf(dumpavail) prints out an available list to stdout. This is suitable for use
 134 with bf(dpkg) and is used by the bf(dselect) method.
 135
 136 dit(bf(unmet))
 137 bf(unmet) displays a summary of all unmet dependencies in the package cache.
 138
 139 dit(bf(check))
 140 bf(check) is a random function for testing certain aspects of the cache.
 141 Do not use it.
 142
 143 dit(bf(showpkg))
 144 bf(showpkg) displays a listing of the given package cache structure and some
 145 related information about it. The list is meant primarily for debugging.
 146
 147 dit(bf(show))
 148 bf(show) performs a function similar to dpkg --print-avail, it displays
 149 the package records for the named packages.
 150
 151 dit(bf(search))
 152 bf(search) performs a full text search on all available package files for
 153 the pattern given. It searchs the package names and the descriptions for
 154 an occurance of the string and prints out the package name and the short
 155 description. If --full is given then output identical to bf(show) is produced
 156 for each matched package and if --names-only is given then the long
 157 description is not searched, only the package name is.
 158
 159 dit(bf(depends))
 160 bf(depends) shows a listing of each dependency a package has and all
 161 the possible other packages that can fullfill that dependency.
 162
 163 dit(bf(pkgnames))
 164 This command prints the name of each package in the system. The optional
 165 argument is a prefix match to filter the name list. The output is suitable
 166 for use in a shell tab complete function and the output is generated extremly
 167 quickly. This command is best used with the bf(--no-generate) option.
 168
 169 enddit()
 170
 171 manpageoptions()
 172 All command line options may be set using the configuration file, the
 173 descriptions indicate the configuration option to set. For boolean
 174 options you can override the config file by using something like bf(-f-),
 175 bf(--no-f), bf(-f=no) or several other variations.
 176
 177 startdit()
 178 dit(bf(-h, --help))
 179 Show a short usage summary.
 180
 181 dit(bf(-v, --version))
 182 Show the program verison.
 183
 184 dit(bf(-p --pkg-cache))
 185 Select the file to store the package cache. The package cache is the primary
 186 cache used by all operations.
 187 Configuration Item: bf(Dir::Cache::pkgcache).
 188
 189 dit(bf(-s --src-cache))
 190 Select the file to store the source cache. The source is used only by
 191 bf(gencaches) and it stores a parsed version of the package information from
 192 remote sources. When building the package cache the source cache is used
 193 to advoid reparsing all of the package files.
 194 Configuration Item: bf(Dir::Cache::srcpkgcache).
 195
 196 dit(bf(-q, --quiet))
 197 Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress indicators.
 198 More qs will produce more quite up to a maximum of 2. You can also use
 199 bf(-q=#) to set the quiet level, overriding the configuration file.
 200 Configuration Item: bf(quiet).
 201
 202 dit(bf(-i --important))
 203 Print only important deps; for use with unmet causes only em(Depends) and
 204 em(Pre-Depends) relations to be printed.
 205 Configuration Item: bf(APT::Cache::Important).
 206
 207 dit(bf(-f --full))
 208 Print full package records when searching. Configuration Item: bf(APT::Cache::ShowFull).
 209
 210 dit(bf(-a --all-versions))
 211 Print full records for all available versions, this is only applicable to the
 212 show command. Configuration Item: bf(APT::Cache::AllVersions)
 213
 214 dit(bf(-g --no-generate))
 215 Do not perform automatic package cache regeneration, use the cache as it is.
 216 Configuration Item: bf(APT::Cache::NoGenerate).
 217
 218 dit(bf(--names-only))
 219 Only search on the package names, not the long description.
 220 Configuration Item: bf(APT::Cache::NamesOnly).
 221
 222 dit(bf(--all-names))
 223 Make bf(pkgnames) print all names, including virtual packages and missing
 224 dependencies. Configuration Item: bf(APT::Cache::AllNames).
 225
 226 dit(bf(-c, --config-file))
 227 Configuration File; Specify a configuration file to use. bf(apt-get) will
 228 read the default configuration file and then this configuration file. See
 229 bf(apt.conf(5)) for syntax information.
 230
 231 dit(bf(-o, --option))
 232 Set a Configuration Option; This will set an arbitary configuration option.
 233 The syntax is
 234 verb(-o Foo::Bar=bar)
 235 enddit()
 236
 237 manpagefiles()
 238 itemize(
 239   it() /etc/apt/sources.list
 240   locations to fetch packages from
 241
 242   it() /var/state/apt/lists/
 243   storage area for state information for each package resource specified in
 244
 245   it() /var/state/apt/lists/partial/
 246   storage area for state information in transit
 247 )
 248
 249 manpageseealso()
 250 apt-get(8),
 251 sources.list(5),
 252 apt.conf(5)
 253
 254 manpagediagnostics()
 255 apt-cache returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error.
 256
 257 manpagebugs()
 258 See http://bugs.debian.org/apt.  If you wish to report a
 259 bug in bf(apt-cache), please see bf(/usr/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt)
 260 or the bf(bug(1)) command.
 261
 262 manpageauthor()
 263 apt-get was written by the APT team <apt@packages.debian.org>.