doc/apt-get.8.sgml

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   2 <!doctype refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN" [
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   4 <!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent">
   5 %aptent;
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   8
   9 <refentry>
  10  &apt-docinfo;
  11
  12  <refmeta>
  13    <refentrytitle>apt-get</>
  14    <manvolnum>8</>
  15  </refmeta>
  16
  17  <!-- Man page title -->
  18  <refnamediv>
  19     <refname>apt-get</>
  20     <refpurpose>APT package handling utility -- command-line interface</>
  21  </refnamediv>
  22
  23  <!-- Arguments -->
  24  <refsynopsisdiv>
  25    <cmdsynopsis>
  26       <command>apt-config</>
  27       <arg><option>-hvs</></arg>
  28       <arg><option>-o=<replaceable/config string/</></arg>
  29       <arg><option>-c=<replaceable/file/</></arg>
  30       <group choice=req>
  31          <arg>update</>
  32          <arg>upgrade</>
  33          <arg>dselect-upgrade</>
  34          <arg>install <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  35          <arg>remove <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  36          <arg>source <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  37          <arg>build-dep <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>pkg</replaceable></arg></arg>
  38          <arg>check</>
  39          <arg>clean</>
  40          <arg>autoclean</>
  41       </group>
  42    </cmdsynopsis>
  43  </refsynopsisdiv>
  44
  45  <RefSect1><Title>Description</>
  46    <para>
  47    <command/apt-get/ is the command-line tool for handling packages, and may be
  48    considered the user's "back-end" to other tools using the APT library.
  49    <para>
  50    Unless the <option/-h/, or <option/--help/ option is given one of the
  51    above commands must be present.
  52
  53    <VariableList>
  54      <VarListEntry><Term>update</Term>
  55      <ListItem><Para>
  56      <literal/update/ is used to resynchronize the package index files from
  57      their sources. The indexes of available packages are fetched from the
  58      location(s) specified in <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</>.
  59      For example, when using a Debian archive, this command retrieves and
  60      scans the <filename>Packages.gz</> files, so that information about new
  61      and updated packages is available. An <literal/update/ should always be
  62      performed before an <literal/upgrade/ or <literal/dist-upgrade/. Please
  63      be aware that the overall progress meter will be incorrect as the size
  64      of the package files cannot be known in advance.
  65      </VarListEntry>
  66
  67      <VarListEntry><Term>upgrade</Term>
  68      <ListItem><Para>
  69      <literal/upgrade/ is used to install the newest versions of all packages
  70      currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in
  71      <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</>. Packages currently installed with
  72      new versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no circumstances
  73      are currently installed packages removed, or packages not already installed
  74      retrieved and installed. New versions of currently installed packages that
  75      cannot be upgraded without changing the install status of another package
  76      will be left at their current version. An <literal/update/ must be
  77      performed first so that <command/apt-get/ knows that new versions of packages are
  78      available.
  79      </VarListEntry>
  80
  81      <VarListEntry><Term>dselect-upgrade</Term>
  82      <ListItem><Para>
  83      is used in conjunction with the traditional Debian GNU/Linux packaging
  84      front-end, &dselect;. <literal/dselect-upgrade/
  85      follows the changes made by &dselect; to the <literal/Status/
  86      field of available packages, and performs the actions necessary to realize
  87      that state (for instance, the removal of old and the installation of new
  88      packages).
  89      </VarListEntry>
  90
  91      <VarListEntry><Term>dist-upgrade</Term>
  92      <ListItem><Para>
  93      <literal/dist-upgrade/, in addition to performing the function of
  94      <literal/upgrade/, also intelligently handles changing dependencies
  95      with new versions of packages; <command/apt-get/ has a "smart" conflict
  96      resolution system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important
  97      packages at the expense of less  important ones if necessary.
  98      The <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</> file contains a list of locations
  99      from which to retrieve desired package files.
 100      </VarListEntry>
 101
 102      <VarListEntry><Term>install</Term>
 103      <ListItem><Para>
 104      <literal/install/ is followed by one or more packages desired for
 105      installation. Each package is a package name, not a fully qualified
 106      filename (for instance, in a Debian GNU/Linux system, libc6 would be the
 107      argument provided, not em(libc6_1.9.6-2.deb)). All packages required
 108      by the package(s) specified for installation will also be retrieved and
 109      installed. The <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</> file is used to locate
 110      the desired packages. If a hyphen is appended to the package name (with
 111      no intervening space), the identified package will be removed if it is
 112      installed. Similarly a plus sign can be used to designate a package to
 113      isntall. These latter feature may be used to override decisions made by
 114      apt-get's conflict resolution  system.
 115      <para>
 116      A specific version of a package can be selected for installation by
 117      following the package name with an equals and the version of the package
 118      to select. This will cause that version to be located and selected for
 119      install. Alternatively a specific distribution can be selected by
 120      following the package name with a slash and the version of the
 121      distribution or the Archive name (stable, frozen, unstable).
 122      <para>
 123      Both of the version selection mechansims can downgrade packages and must
 124      be used with care.
 125      <para>
 126      If no package matches the given expression and the expression contains one
 127      of '.', '?' or '*' then it is assumed to be a POSIX regex and it is applied
 128      to all package names in the database. Any matches are then installed (or
 129      removed). Note that matching is done by substring so 'lo.*' matches 'how-lo'
 130      and 'lowest'. If this is undesired prefix with a '^' character.
 131      </VarListEntry>
 132
 133      <VarListEntry><Term>remove</Term>
 134      <ListItem><Para>
 135      <literal/remove/ is identical to bf(install) except that packages are
 136      removed instead of installed. If a plus sign is appended to the package
 137      name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be
 138      installed.
 139      </VarListEntry>
 140
 141      <VarListEntry><Term>source</Term>
 142      <ListItem><Para>
 143      <literal/source/ causes <command/apt-get/ to fetch source packages. APT
 144      will examine the available packages to decide which source package to
 145      fetch. It will then find and download into the current directory the
 146      newest available version of that source package. Source packages are
 147      tracked separately from binary packages via <literal/deb-src/ type lines
 148      in the &sources-list; file. This probably will mean that you will not
 149      get the same source as the package you have installed or as you could
 150      install. If the --compile options is specified then the package will be
 151      compiled to a binary .deb using dpkg-buildpackage, if --download-only is
 152      specified then the source package will not be unpacked.
 153      <para>
 154      A specific source version can be retrieved by postfixing the source name
 155      with an equals and then the version to fetch, similar to the mechanism
 156      used for the package files. This enables exact matching of the source
 157      package name and version, implicitly enabling the
 158      <literal/APT::Get::Only-Source/ option.
 159
 160      <para>
 161      Note that source packages are not tracked like binary packages, they
 162      exist only in the current directory and are similar to downloading source
 163      tar balls.
 164      </VarListEntry>
 165
 166      <VarListEntry><Term>build-dep</Term>
 167      <ListItem><Para>
 168      <literal/build-dep/ causes apt-get to install/remove packages in an
 169      attempt to satisfy the build dependencies for a source packages. Right
 170      now virtual package build depends choose a package at random.
 171      </VarListEntry>
 172
 173      <VarListEntry><Term>check</Term>
 174      <ListItem><Para>
 175      <literal/check/ is a diagnostic tool; it updates the package cache and checks
 176      for broken dependencies.
 177      </VarListEntry>
 178
 179      <VarListEntry><Term>clean</Term>
 180      <ListItem><Para>
 181      <literal/clean/ clears out the local repository of retrieved package
 182      files. It removes everything but the lock file from
 183      <filename>&cachedir;/archives/</> and
 184      <filename>&cachedir;/archive/partial/</>. When APT is used as a
 185      &dselect; method, <literal/clean/ is run automatically.
 186      Those who do not use dselect will likely want to run <literal/apt-get clean/
 187      from time to time to free up disk space.
 188      </VarListEntry>
 189
 190      <VarListEntry><Term>autoclean</Term>
 191      <ListItem><Para>
 192      Like <literal/clean/, <literal/autoclean/ clears out the local
 193      repository of retrieved package files. The difference is that it only
 194      removes package files that can no longer be downloaded, and are largely
 195      useless. This allows a cache to be maintained over a long period without
 196      it growing out of control. The configuration option
 197      <literal/APT::Clean-Installed/ will prevent installed packages from being
 198      erased if it is set off.
 199      </VarListEntry>
 200    </VariableList>
 201  </RefSect1>
 202
 203  <RefSect1><Title>Options</>
 204    &apt-cmdblurb;
 205
 206    <VariableList>
 207      <VarListEntry><term><option/-d/</><term><option/--download-only/</>
 208      <ListItem><Para>
 209      Download only; package files are only retrieved, not unpacked or installed.
 210      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Download-Only/.
 211      </VarListEntry>
 212
 213      <VarListEntry><term><option/-f/</><term><option/--fix-broken/</>
 214      <ListItem><Para>
 215      Fix; attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in
 216      place. This option, when used with install/remove, can omit any packages
 217      to permit APT to deduce a likely soltion. Any Package that are specified
 218      must completly correct the problem. The option is sometimes necessary when
 219      running APT for the first time; APT itself does not allow broken package
 220      dependencies to exist on a system. It is possible that a system's
 221      dependency structure can be so corrupt as to require manual intervention
 222      (which usually means using &dselect; or <command/dpkg --remove/ to eliminate some of
 223      the offending packages). Use of this option together with <option/-m/ may produce an
 224      error in some situations.
 225      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Fix-Broken/.
 226      </VarListEntry>
 227
 228      <VarListEntry><term><option/-m/</><term><option/--ignore-missing/</>
 229                    <term><option/--fix-missing/</>
 230      <ListItem><Para>
 231      Ignore missing packages; If packages cannot be retrieved or fail the
 232      integrity check after retrieval (corrupted package files), hold back
 233      those packages and handle the result. Use of this option together with
 234      <option/-f/ may produce an error in some situations. If a package is
 235      selected for installation (particularly if it is mentioned on the
 236      command line) and it could not be downloaded then it will be silently
 237      held back.
 238      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Fix-Missing/.
 239      </VarListEntry>
 240
 241      <VarListEntry><term><option/--no-download/</>
 242      <ListItem><Para>
 243      Disables downloading of packages. This is best used with
 244      <option/--ignore-missing/ to force APT to use only the .debs it has
 245      already downloaded.
 246      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Download/.
 247      </VarListEntry>
 248
 249      <VarListEntry><term><option/-q/</><term><option/--quiet/</>
 250      <ListItem><Para>
 251      Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress indicators.
 252      More q's will produce more quiet up to a maximum of 2. You can also use
 253      <option/-q=#/ to set the quiet level, overriding the configuration file.
 254      Note that quiet level 2 implies <option/-y/, you should never use -qq
 255      without a no-action modifier such as -d, --print-uris or -s as APT may
 256      decided to do something you did not expect.
 257      Configuration Item: <literal/quiet/.
 258      </VarListEntry>
 259
 260      <VarListEntry><term><option/-s/</>
 261                    <term><option/--simulate/</>
 262                    <term><option/--just-print/</>
 263                    <term><option/--dry-run/</>
 264                    <term><option/--recon/</>
 265                    <term><option/--no-act/</>
 266      <ListItem><Para>
 267      No action; perform a simulation of events that would occur but do not
 268      actually change the system.
 269      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Simulate/.
 270      <para>
 271      Simulate prints out
 272      a series of lines each one representing a dpkg operation, Configure (Conf),
 273      Remove (Remv), Unpack (Inst). Square brackets indicate broken packages with
 274      and empty set of square brackets meaning breaks that are of no consequence
 275      (rare).
 276      </VarListEntry>
 277
 278      <VarListEntry><term><option/-y/</><term><option/--yes/</>
 279                    <term><option/--assume-yes/</>
 280      <ListItem><Para>
 281      Automatic yes to prompts; assume "yes" as answer to all prompts and run
 282      non-interactively. If an undesirable situation, such as changing a held
 283      package or removing an essential package occurs then <literal/apt-get/
 284      will abort.
 285      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Assume-Yes/.
 286      </VarListEntry>
 287
 288      <VarListEntry><term><option/-u/</><term><option/--show-upgraded/</>
 289      <ListItem><Para>
 290      Show upgraded packages; Print out a list of all packages that are to be
 291      upgraded.
 292      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Show-Upgraded/.
 293      </VarListEntry>
 294
 295      <VarListEntry><term><option/-b/</><term><option/--compile/</>
 296                    <term><option/--build/</>
 297      <ListItem><Para>
 298      Compile source packages after downloading them.
 299      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Compile/.
 300      </VarListEntry>
 301
 302      <VarListEntry><term><option/--ignore-hold/</>
 303      <ListItem><Para>
 304      Ignore package Holds; This causes <command/apt-get/ to ignore a hold
 305      placed on a package. This may be useful in conjunction with
 306      <literal/dist-upgrade/ to override a large number of undesired holds.
 307      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Ignore-Hold/.
 308      </VarListEntry>
 309
 310      <VarListEntry><term><option/--no-upgrade/</>
 311      <ListItem><Para>
 312      Do not upgrade packages; When used in conjunction with <literal/install/
 313      <literal/no-upgrade/ will prevent packages listed from being upgraded
 314      if they are already installed.
 315      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Upgrade/.
 316      </VarListEntry>
 317
 318      <VarListEntry><term><option/--force-yes/</>
 319      <ListItem><Para>
 320      Force yes; This is a dangerous option that will cause apt to continue
 321      without prompting if it is doing something potentially harmful. It
 322      should not be used except in very special situations. Using
 323      <literal/force-yes/ can potentially destroy your system!
 324      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::force-yes/.
 325      </VarListEntry>
 326
 327      <VarListEntry><term><option/--print-uris/</>
 328      <ListItem><Para>
 329      Instead of fetching the files to install their URIs are printed. Each
 330      URI will have the path, the destination file name, the size and the expected
 331      md5 hash. Note that the file name to write to will not always match
 332      the file name on the remote site! This also works with the /source/
 333      command. Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Print-URIs/.
 334      </VarListEntry>
 335
 336      <VarListEntry><term><option/--purge/</>
 337      <ListItem><Para>
 338      Use purge instead of remove for anything that would be removed.
 339      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Purge/.
 340      </VarListEntry>
 341
 342      <VarListEntry><term><option/--reinstall/</>
 343      <ListItem><Para>
 344      Re-Install packages that are already installed and at the newest version.
 345      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::ReInstall/.
 346      </VarListEntry>
 347
 348      <VarListEntry><term><option/--list-cleanup/</>
 349      <ListItem><Para>
 350      This option defaults to on, use <literal/--no-list-cleanup/ to turn it
 351      off. When on <command/apt-get/ will automatically manage the contents of
 352      <filename>&statedir;/lists</> to ensure that obsolete files are erased.
 353      The only  reason to turn it off is if you frequently change your source
 354      list.
 355      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::List-Cleanup/.
 356      </VarListEntry>
 357
 358      <VarListEntry><term><option/-t/</>
 359                    <term><option/--target-release/</>
 360                    <term><option/--default-release/</>
 361      <ListItem><Para>
 362      This option controls the default input to the policy engine, it creates
 363      a default pin at priority 990 using the specified release string. The
 364      preferences file may further override this setting. In short, this option
 365      lets you have simple control over which distribution packages will be
 366      retrieved from. Some common examples might me
 367      <option>-t '2.1*'</> or <option>-t unstable</>.
 368      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Default-Release/
 369      </VarListEntry>
 370
 371      <VarListEntry><term><option/--trivial-only/</>
 372      <ListItem><Para>
 373      Only perform operations are 'trivial'. Logically this can be considered
 374      related to <option/--assume-yes/, where <option/--assume-yes/ will answer
 375      yes to any prompt, <option/--trivial-only/ will answer no.
 376      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Trivial-Only/.
 377      </VarListEntry>
 378
 379      <VarListEntry><term><option/--no-remove/</>
 380      <ListItem><Para>
 381      If any packages are to be removed apt-get immediately aborts without
 382      prompting.
 383      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Remove/
 384      </VarListEntry>
 385
 386      <VarListEntry><term><option/--only-source/</>
 387      <ListItem><Para>
 388      Only has meaning for the <literal/source/ command. indicates that the
 389      given source names are not to be mapped through the binary table.
 390      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Only-Source/
 391      </VarListEntry>
 392
 393      <VarListEntry><term><option/--diff-only/</><term><option/--tar-only/</>
 394      <ListItem><Para>
 395      Download only the diff or tar file of a source archive.
 396      Configuration Item: <literal/APT::Get::Diff-Only/ and
 397      <literal/APT::Get::Tar-Only/
 398      </VarListEntry>
 399    </VariableList>
 400  </RefSect1>
 401
 402  <RefSect1><Title>Files</>
 403    <variablelist>
 404      <VarListEntry><term><filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</></term>
 405      <ListItem><Para>
 406      locations to fetch packages from.
 407      Configuration Item: <literal/Dir::Etc::SourceList/.
 408      </VarListEntry>
 409
 410      <VarListEntry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/</></term>
 411      <ListItem><Para>
 412      storage area for retrieved package files
 413      Configuration Item: <literal/Dir::Cache::Archives/.
 414      </VarListEntry>
 415
 416      <VarListEntry><term><filename>&cachedir;/archives/partial/</></term>
 417      <ListItem><Para>
 418      storage area for package files in transit
 419      Configuration Item: <literal/Dir::Cache::Archives/ (implicit partial).
 420      </VarListEntry>
 421
 422      <VarListEntry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/</></term>
 423      <ListItem><Para>
 424      storage area for state information for each package resource specified in
 425      &sources-list;
 426      Configuration Item: <literal/Dir::State::Lists/.
 427      </VarListEntry>
 428
 429      <VarListEntry><term><filename>&statedir;/lists/partial/</></term>
 430      <ListItem><Para>
 431      storage area for state information in transit.
 432      Configuration Item: <literal/Dir::State::Lists/ (implicit partial).
 433      </VarListEntry>
 434    </variablelist>
 435  </RefSect1>
 436
 437  <RefSect1><Title>See Also</>
 438    <para>
 439    &apt-cache;, &dpkg;, &dselect;, &sources-list;, &apt-conf;, The
 440    APT users guide in &docdir;.
 441  </RefSect1>
 442
 443  <RefSect1><Title>Diagnostics</>
 444    <para>
 445    <command/apt-get/ returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error.
 446  </RefSect1>
 447
 448  &manbugs;
 449  &manauthor;
 450
 451 </refentry>