mailto(apt@packages.debian.org) manpage(apt-get)(8)(4 Dec 1998)(apt)() manpagename(apt-get)(APT package handling utility -- command-line interface) manpagesynopsis() apt-get [options] [command] [package ...] manpagedescription() apt-get is the command-line tool for handling packages, and may be considered the user's "back-end" to apt(8). em(command) is one of: itemize( it() update it() upgrade it() dselect-upgrade it() dist-upgrade it() install package1 [package2] [...] it() remove package1 [package2] [...] it() source package1 [package2] [...] it() check it() clean it() autoclean ) Unless the -h, or --help option is given one of the above commands must be present. startdit() dit(bf(update)) bf(update) is used to resynchronize the package overview files from their sources. The overviews of available packages are fetched from the location(s) specified in bf(/etc/apt/sources.list). For example, when using a Debian archive, this command retrieves and scans the bf(Packages.gz) files, so that information about new and updated packages is available. An bf(update) should always be performed before an bf(upgrade) bf(dist-upgrade). Please be aware that the overall progress meter will be incorrect as the size of the package files cannot be known in advance. dit(bf(upgrade)) bf(upgrade) is used to install the newest versions of all packages currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in bf(/etc/apt/sources.list). Packages currently installed with new versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no circumstances are currently installed packages removed, or packages not already installed retrieved and installed. New versions of currently installed packages that cannot be upgraded without changing the install status of another package will be left at their current version. An bf(update) must be performed first so that bf(apt-get) knows that new versions of packages are available. dit(bf(dselect-upgrade)) bf(dselect-upgrade) is used in conjunction with the traditional Debian GNU/Linux packaging front-end, bf(dselect (8)). bf(dselect-upgrade) follows the changes made by bf(dselect) to the em(Status) field of available packages, and performs the actions necessary to realize that state (for instance, the removal of old and the installation of new packages). dit(bf(dist-upgrade)) bf(dist-upgrade),in addition to performing the function of bf(upgrade), also intelligently handles changing dependencies with new versions of packages; bf(apt-get) has a "smart" conflict resolution system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important packages at the expense of less important ones if necessary. The bf(/etc/apt/sources.list) file contains a list of locations from which to retrieve desired package files. dit(bf(install)) bf(install) is followed by one or more em(packages) desired for installation. Each em(package) is a package name, not a fully qualified filename (for instance, in a Debian GNU/Linux system, em(ldso) would be the argument provided, not em(ldso_1.9.6-2.deb)). All packages required by the package(s) specified for installation will also be retrieved and installed. The bf(/etc/apt/sources.list) file is used to locate the desired packages. If a hyphen is appended to the package name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be removed if it is installed. This latter feature may be used to override decisions made by apt-get's conflict resolution system. If no package matches the given expression and the expression contains one of '.', '?' or '*' then it is assumed to be a POSIX regex and it is applied to all package names in the database. Any matches are then installed (or removed). Note that matching is done by substring so 'lo*' matches 'how-lo' and 'lowest'. If this is undesired prefix with a '^' character. dit(bf(remove)) bf(remove) is identical to bf(install) except that packages are removed instead of installed. If a plus sign is appended to the package name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be installed. dit(bf(source)) bf(source) causes apt-get to fetch source packages. APT will examine the available packages to decide which source package to fetch. It will then find and download into the current directory the newest available version of that source package. Source packages are tracked separately from binary packages via bf(deb-src) type lines in the bf(/etc/apt/sources.list) file. This probably will mean that you will not get the same source as the package you have installed or as you could install. If the --compile options is specified then the package will be compiled to a binary .deb using dpkg-buildpackage, if --download-only is specified then the source package will not be unpacked. dit(bf(check)) bf(check) is a diagnostic tool; it updates the package cache and checks for broken packages. dit(bf(clean)) bf(clean) clears out the local repository of retrieved package files. It removes everything but the lock file from bf(/var/cache/apt/archives/) and bf(/var/cache/apt/archives/partial/). When APT is used as a bf(dselect(8)) method, bf(clean) is run automatically. Those who do not use dselect will likely want to run code(apt-get clean) from time to time to free up disk space. dit(bf(autoclean)) Like bf(clean), bf(autoclean) clears out the local repository of retrieved package files. The difference is that it only removes package files that can no longer be downloaded, and are largely useless. This allows a cache to be maintained over a long period without it growing out of control. enddit() manpageoptions() All command line options may be set using the configuration file, the descriptions indicate the configuration option to set. For boolean options you can override the config file by using something like bf(-f-), bf(--no-f), bf(-f=no) or several other variations. startdit() dit(bf(-d, --download-only)) Download only; package files are only retrieved, not unpacked or installed. See bf(APT::Get::Download-Only). dit(bf(-f, --fix-broken)) Fix; attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in place. This option may be used alone or in conjunction with any of the command actions, and is sometimes necessary when running APT for the first time; APT itself does not allow broken package dependencies to exist on a system. It is possible that a system's dependency structure can be so corrupt as to require manual intervention (which usually means using dselect or dpkg --remove to eliminate some of the offending packages). Use of this option together with -m may produce an error in some situations. See bf(APT::Get::Fix-Broken). dit(bf(-h, --help)) Help; display a helpful usage message and exits. dit(bf(-v, --version)) Show the program version. dit(bf(-m, --ignore-missing, --fix-missing)) Ignore missing packages; If packages cannot be retrieved or fail the integrity check after retrieval (corrupted package files), hold back those packages and handle the result. Use of this option together with -f may produce an error in some situations. See bf(ignore-missing). dit(bf(--no-download)) Disables downloading of packages. This is best used with --ignore-missing to force APT to use only the .debs it has already downloaded. dit(bf(-q, --quiet)) Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress indicators. More q's will produce more quiet up to a maximum of 2. You can also use bf(-q=#) to set the quiet level, overriding the configuration file. Note that quiet level 2 implies -y, you should never use -qq without a no-action modifier such as -d, --print-uris or -s as APT may decided to do something you did not expect. See bf(quiet) dit(bf(-s, --simulate, --just-print, --dry-run, --recon, --no-act)) No action; perform a simulation of events that would occur but do not actually change the system. See bf(APT::Get::Simulate). Simulate prints out a series of lines each one representing a dpkg operation, Configure (Conf), Remove (Remv), Unpack (Inst). Square brackets indicate broken packages with and empty set of square brackets meaning breaks that are of no consequence (rare). dit(bf(-y, --yes, --assume-yes)) Automatic yes to prompts; assume "yes" as answer to all prompts and run non-interactively. If an undesirable situation, such as changing a held package or removing an essential package occurs then bf(apt-get) will abort. See bf(APT::Get::Assume-Yes). dit(bf(-u, --show-upgraded)) Show upgraded packages; Print out a list of all packages that are to be upgraded. See bf(APT::Get::Show-Upgraded). dit(bf(-b, --compile, --build)) Compile source packages after downloading them. dit(bf(--ignore-hold)) Ignore package Holds; This causes bf(apt-get) to ignore a hold placed on a package. This may be useful in conjunction with bf(dist-upgrade) to override a large number of undesired holds. See bf(APT::Ignore-Hold). dit(bf(--no-upgrade)) Do not upgrade packages; When used in conjunction with bf(install) bf(no-upgrade) will prevent packages listed from being upgraded if they are already installed. See bf(APT::Get::no-upgrade). dit(bf(--force-yes)) Force yes; This is a dangerous option that will cause apt to continue without prompting if it is doing something potentially harmful. It should not be used except in very special situations. Using bf(force-yes) can potentially destroy your system! See bf(APT::Get::force-yes). dit(bf(--print-uris)) Instead of fetching the files to install their URIs are printed. Each URI will have the path, the destination file name, the size and the expected md5 hash. Note that the file name to write to will not always match the file name on the remote site! This also works with the bf(source) command See bf(APT::Get::Print-URIs). dit(bf(--purge)) Use purge instead of remove for anything that would be removed. dit(bf(--reinstall)) Re-Install packages that are already installed and at the newest version. dit(bf(--list-cleanup)) This option defaults to on, use bf(--no-list-cleanup) to turn it off. When on apt-get will automatically manage the contents of /var/state/apt/lists to ensure that obsolete files are erased. The only reason to turn it off is if you frequently change your source list. See bf(APT::Get::List-Cleanup) dit(bf(--trivial-only)) Only perform operations are 'trivial'. Logically this can be considered related to --assume-yes, where --assume-yes will answer yes to any prompt, --trivial-only will answer no. See bf(APT::Get::Trivial-Only) dit(bf(--no-remove)) If any packages are to be removed apt-get immediately aborts without prompting. See bf(APT::Get::No-Remove) dit(bf(--diff-only), bd(--tar-only)) Download only the diff or tar file of a source archive. dit(bf(-c, --config-file)) Configuration File; Specify a configuration file to use. bf(apt-get) will read the default configuration file and then this configuration file. See bf(apt.conf(5)) for syntax information. dit(bf(-o, --option)) Set a Configuration Option; This will set an arbitrary configuration option. The syntax is verb(-o Foo::Bar=bar) enddit() manpagefiles() itemize( it() /etc/apt/sources.list locations to fetch packages from it() /var/cache/apt/archives/ storage area for retrieved package files it() /var/cache/apt/archives/partial/ storage area for package files in transit it() /var/state/apt/lists/ storage area for state information for each package resource specified in the source list it() /var/state/apt/lists/partial/ storage area for state information in transit ) manpageseealso() apt-cache(8), dpkg(8), dselect(8), sources.list(5), apt.conf(5), The APT Users Guide in /usr/doc/apt/ manpagediagnostics() apt-get returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error. manpagebugs() See http://bugs.debian.org/apt. If you wish to report a bug in bf(apt-get), please see bf(/usr/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt) or the bf(bug(1)) command. manpageauthor() apt-get was written by the APT team <apt@packages.debian.org>.