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Comment: Clarify absence of “moo” operation.
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some cleanup
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* 'q' to quit | * 'q' to quit – this also closes the currently open window (‘g’ goes forward, ‘q’ goes back) |
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Personally, I still use {{{apt-cache search foo}}} to perform a search -- the {{{aptitude search foo}}} is slower. But you should try the {{{aptitude search foo}}} way. You should discover that the output is a bit different from {{{apt-cache}}}, in some case, it may be useful to search for a package to see if it already installed. | Personally, I still use {{{apt-cache search foo}}} to perform a search – the {{{aptitude search foo}}} is slower. But you should try the {{{aptitude search foo}}} way. You should discover that the output is a bit different from {{{apt-cache}}}, in some case, it may be useful to search for a package to see if it already installed. |
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http://packages.debian.org/aptitude | [[DebianPkg:aptitude]] |
Translations: English - Français - Italiano
Aptitude is an Ncurses based FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager. Since it is text based, it is run from a terminal or a CLI (command line interface). Aptitude has a number of useful features, including:
- a mutt-like syntax for matching packages in a flexible manner
mark packages as "automatically installed" or "manually installed" so that packages can be auto-removed when no longer required
- colorful preview of actions about to be taken
- dselect-like persistence of user actions
- the ability to retrieve and display the Debian changelog of most packages
AptCLI-like (= apt-get + apt-cache) command line mode ("aptitude install foo")
- Score-based and (usually) smarter dependency resolver than apt-get
aptitude is also non-fattening, naturally cleansing, and housebroken. It does not, however, have Super Cow Powers, meaning that it does not implement the moo operation, verbosely or otherwise.
Run
Enter the following from a terminal:
aptitude
Use
After running it, use:
- F10 to access the menu and use aptitude. This is the main key.
- ? for help
- The 'up', 'down', 'left', 'right' keys to navigate.
- The 'Enter' key to select
- The '+' or '-' key to install/update or remove a package
- The 'g' key to preview/confirm actions
- 'q' to quit – this also closes the currently open window (‘g’ goes forward, ‘q’ goes back)
The common use of aptitude in TUI (text user interface) is; run aptitude; press 'u' (update the lists of available packages); press 'U' (Mark all upgradable packages to be upgraded); (search/select some stuff to install, is optional); press 'g' (to see the pending actions and modify if needed); press 'g' (again, to start the download).
Some time when you need to resolve conflicts, you discover that you made a mistake; you can easily use 'Cancel pending actions' in the 'Actions' menu so that you can re-select.
You can also use aptitude like in the same manner as apt-get:
Update the packages list:
aptitude update
Upgrade the packages:
aptitude upgrade
Install foo:
aptitude install foo
Remove bar:
aptitude remove bar
Purge foo:
aptitude purge foo
Personally, I still use apt-cache search foo to perform a search – the aptitude search foo is slower. But you should try the aptitude search foo way. You should discover that the output is a bit different from apt-cache, in some case, it may be useful to search for a package to see if it already installed.
The manual of aptitude is really a gold mine. I don't want to duplicate this useful informations so please take a look there for further help.
Package
How to upgrade your distribution
Reading and following the instructions found in the release notes when upgrading to a new major release is strongly recommended. Once upon a time using 'dist-upgrade' as described below was feasible. It is no longer the recommended practice (unless you are running sid, in which case you should not need to be reading this.) Likewise dist-upgrade is not necessary for minor release upgrades (e.g. from lenny 5.0.1 to 5.0.2).
- Find out current version of Debian that you are running:
cat /etc/debian_version
Example for upgrading sarge to etch or etch 4.0r1 to 4.0r2 ...etc
aptitude update aptitude dist-upgrade
apt-get to aptitude
Action |
apt-get command |
aptitude command |
Install foo |
apt-get install foo |
aptitude install foo |
Search foo |
apt-cache search foo |
aptitude search foo |
Remove foo |
apt-get remove foo |
aptitude remove foo |
List reverse dependencies |
apt-cache rdepends foo |
aptitude ~D foo |
Print information on priorities for foo |
apt-cache policy foo |
? |
Download foo's sources and build a binary .deb package |
apt-get source --compile foo |
? |
See Also
- Manual : /usr/share/doc/aptitude/README
Online reference manual (html) : http://algebraicthunk.net/~dburrows/projects/aptitude/doc/en/
and ... apt.conf, preferences, sources.list, Aptitude::Parse-Description-Bullets=true, AptitudeTodo
?CategoryQuickPackageManagement