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== Manual Use as root == | == Manual use as root == |
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You can also use aptitude like in the same manner as apt-get: | You can also use aptitude in the same manner as apt-get: |
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Personally, I still use {{{apt-cache search foo}}} to perform a search – {{{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 is already installed. | Personally, I still use {{{apt-cache search foo}}} to perform a search – {{{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 cases, it may be useful to search for a package to see if it is already installed. |
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Using {{{full-upgrade}}} in the regular course of events no longer the recommended practice (unless you are running sid, in which case you should not need to be reading this.) | Using {{{full-upgrade}}} in the regular course of events is no longer the recommended practice (unless you are running sid, in which case you should not need to be reading this.) |
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* Find out current version of Debian that you are running: | * Find out the current version of Debian that you are running: |
Contents
Introduction
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
The name of its primary command is aptitude, as is the name of its primary Debian package. The manual for the latest aptitude version is usually available here (in English). If you have package=aptitude-doc-en installed (other languages are available), you can find an HTML manual for your current version here (change path for other languages as appropriate).
Interactive Use
To run interactively, enter the following from a terminal:
aptitude
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.
When reviewing pending actions:
- 'a' explicitly accepts an action (use again to unaccept)
- 'r' rejects an action
- 'g' again goes ahead with pending actions
See Accessing package information for understanding the letters in the package synopsis line (e.g., 'i' means "will be installed", 'p' means "not installed", etc.)
Manual use as root
You can also use aptitude in the same manner as apt-get:
Update the packages list :
# aptitude update
Upgrade the packages :
# aptitude safe-upgrade
Install foo :
# aptitude install foo
Remove bar :
# aptitude remove bar
Purge foo :
# aptitude purge foo
functions for every users
Search for packaging containing foo :
$ aptitude search foo
Personally, I still use apt-cache search foo to perform a search – 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 cases, it may be useful to search for a package to see if it is already installed.
showing if a specific package is installed :
$ aptitude show foo
How to upgrade your distribution
Upgrading from one stable release to the next (e.g. Lenny to Squeeze) is done by following the release notes for your architecture. For most people with 32 bit systems that means the Release Notes for Intel x86. For most with 64 bit systems that means the Release Notes for AMD64.
Using full-upgrade in the regular course of events is no longer the recommended practice (unless you are running sid, in which case you should not need to be reading this.)
Minor release upgrades (e.g. from lenny 5.0.1 to 5.0.2) and security updates are done with safe-upgrade.
- Find out the current version of Debian that you are running:
$ cat /etc/debian_version
Example for upgrading from, e.g., etch 4.0r1 to 4.0r2 ...etc., or applying security upgrades:
# aptitude update # aptitude safe-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 search ~Dfoo |
Print information on priorities for foo |
apt-cache policy foo |
aptitude versions foo |
Download foo's sources and build a binary .deb package |
apt-get source --compile foo |
? |
Advanced search patterns
Looking for packages installed from anything else than stable:
aptitude search '?narrow(?installed, !?archive(stable))'
Looking for packages installed from testing (assuming you have sources lists with stable and testing repositories):
aptitude search '?narrow(?installed, ?archive(testing) !?archive(stable))'
See Also
aptitude manuals
- if locally installed
presuming you also installed aptitude-doc-en (other languages are available), an HTML manual for your version should be @ /usr/share/doc/aptitude/html/en/index.html (change path for your language as appropriate)
a text manual for your version should be @ /usr/share/doc/aptitude/README
the most up-to-date HTML manual is usually available online
- if locally installed
and ... apt.conf, preferences, sources.list, Aptitude::Parse-Description-Bullets=true, AptitudeTodo
?CategoryQuickPackageManagement