Debian Package Management

This is a stub. Please feel free to give this article love and attention if you know more about this topic than we have here.

overview

this class should outline the basics of debian package management- searching, installing, updating and removing software.

background

prerequisites

• basic familiarity with commandline and Command Line 2
• basic familiarity with linux

tips for working environment

• keep a web browser pointed to this page
• open several terminal windows
• don't forget to use the "man" command, or -h and --help
• commandline reminders
  • remember to use tab completion.
  • hit tab twice, fast.
  • hit tab again!
  • remember to use the up arrow to re-do a previous command
  • keep hitting tab!

topics covered

apt

apt

available packages

where to get software from, /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://debian.oregonstate.edu/debian sarge main
deb-src http://debian.oregonstate.edu/debian sarge main

lines that begin with "deb-src" are for source packages. unless you're building packages from source, you can usually comment these out. lines that begin with "deb" contain sources of debian packages.

update the list of available packages(do this after changing sources.list):

apt-get update

look in /var/lib/apt/lists, to see all the packaging files:

ls /var/lib/apt/lists/

take a look at what those files contain:

less /var/lib/apt/lists/*Packages

upgrading packages

upgrade packages:

apt-get upgrade

do a more thorough upgrade:

apt-get dist-upgrade

searching

• search for software:

apt-cache search browser
apt-cache search firefox

• display information about a package:

apt-cache show firefox

• show available versions of a package:

apt-cache policy firefox

installing and removing packages

• install a package:

apt-get install firefox

• remove a package:

apt-get remove firefox

maintenance

/var/cache/apt/archives can build up a lot of cruft...

• only clear out package files no longer available:

apt-get autoclean

• clear out all downloaded package files:

apt-get clean

useful commandline arguments

• download only:

apt-get -d install firefox

• display upgraded packages:

apt-get -u dist-upgrade

• automatically proceed (i.e. answer yes; be careful with this!):

apt-get -yud dist-upgrade

pinning

pinning: /etc/apt/preferences

aptitude

aptitude

similar to apt, but more sophisticated. has a text-only menu system.

dpkg

underneath it all, lies dpkg

list status of installed packages:

dpkg -l

another way to list the status of packages:

dpkg --get-selections

list the files in a package:

dpkg -L firefox

find out which package owns a certain file:

dpkg -S /bin/bash

install a package without using apt or aptitude(this does no dependency resolution- so avoid if at all possible):

dpkg -i hackme-script-foo_0.0.1_i386.deb

synaptic

synaptic

it's graphical. point and click your way to carpal tunnel.

other useful tools

• http://packages.debian.org (http://packages.debian.org/PACKAGENAME)
• deborphan
• apt-listchanges
• apt-listbugs
• cron-apt