<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?> <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [ <!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent"> %aptent; <!ENTITY % aptverbatiment SYSTEM "apt-verbatim.ent"> %aptverbatiment; <!ENTITY % aptvendor SYSTEM "apt-vendor.ent"> %aptvendor; ]> <refentry> <refentryinfo> &apt-author.moconnor; &apt-author.team; &apt-email; &apt-product; <!-- The last update date --> <date>2015-09-25T00:00:00Z</date> </refentryinfo> <refmeta> <refentrytitle>apt-mark</refentrytitle> <manvolnum>8</manvolnum> <refmiscinfo class="manual">APT</refmiscinfo> </refmeta> <!-- Man page title --> <refnamediv> <refname>apt-mark</refname> <refpurpose>show, set and unset various settings for a package</refpurpose> </refnamediv> &synopsis-command-apt-mark; <refsect1><title>Description</title> <para><command>apt-mark</command> can be used as a unified frontend to set various settings for a package like marking a package as being automatically/manually installed or changing <command>dpkg</command> selections such as hold, install, deinstall and purge which are respected e.g. by <command>apt-get dselect-upgrade</command> or <command>aptitude</command>. </para> </refsect1><refsect1><title>Automatically and manually installed packages</title> <para> When you request that a package is installed, and as a result other packages are installed to satisfy its dependencies, the dependencies are marked as being automatically installed, while package you installed explicitely is marked as manually installed. Once a automatically installed package is no longer depended on by any manually installed package it is considered no longer needed and e.g. <command>apt-get</command> or <command>aptitude</command> will at least suggest removing them. </para> <variablelist> <varlistentry><term><option>auto</option></term> <listitem><para><literal>auto</literal> is used to mark a package as being automatically installed, which will cause the package to be removed when no more manually installed packages depend on this package. </para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry><term><option>manual</option></term> <listitem><para><literal>manual</literal> is used to mark a package as being manually installed, which will prevent the package from being automatically removed if no other packages depend on it. </para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry><term><option>showauto</option></term> <listitem><para><literal>showauto</literal> is used to print a list of automatically installed packages with each package on a new line. All automatically installed packages will be listed if no package is given. If packages are given only those which are automatically installed will be shown. </para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry><term><option>showmanual</option></term> <listitem><para><literal>showmanual</literal> can be used in the same way as <literal>showauto</literal> except that it will print a list of manually installed packages instead. </para></listitem> </varlistentry> </variablelist> <refsect2><title>Options</title> <variablelist> <varlistentry> <term><option>-f=&synopsis-param-filename;</option></term> <term><option>--file=&synopsis-param-filename;</option></term> <listitem><para> Read/Write package stats from the filename given with the parameter &synopsis-param-filename; instead of from the default location, which is <filename>extended_status</filename> in the directory defined by the Configuration Item: <literal>Dir::State</literal>. </para></listitem> </varlistentry> </variablelist> </refsect2> </refsect1><refsect1><title>Prevent changes for a package</title> <variablelist> <varlistentry><term><option>hold</option></term> <listitem><para><literal>hold</literal> is used to mark a package as held back, which will prevent the package from being automatically installed, upgraded or removed. </para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry><term><option>unhold</option></term> <listitem><para><literal>unhold</literal> is used to cancel a previously set hold on a package to allow all actions again. </para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry><term><option>showhold</option></term> <listitem><para><literal>showhold</literal> is used to print a list of packages on hold in the same way as for the other show commands. </para></listitem> </varlistentry> </variablelist> </refsect1><refsect1><title>Shedule packages for install, remove and purge</title> <para> Some frontends like <command>apt-get dselect-upgrade</command> can be used to apply previously sheduled changes to the install state of packages. Such changes can be sheduled with the <option>install</option>, <option>remove</option> (also known as <option>deinstall</option>) and <option>purge</option> commands. Packages with a specific selection can be displayed with <option>showinstall</option>, <option>showremove</option> and <option>showpurge</option> respectively. More information about these so called dpkg selections can be found in &dpkg;. </para> </refsect1> <refsect1><title>Options</title> <variablelist> &apt-commonoptions; </variablelist> </refsect1> <refsect1><title>Files</title> <variablelist> &file-extended_states; </variablelist> </refsect1> <refsect1><title>See Also</title> <para><phrase>&apt-get;,&aptitude;,&apt-conf;</phrase></para> </refsect1> <refsect1><title>Diagnostics</title> <para><command>apt-mark</command> returns zero on normal operation, non-zero on error.</para> </refsect1> &manbugs; </refentry>