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What is apt-get?
The apt-get utility is a powerful and free package management command line program, that is used to work with Ubuntu’s APT (Advanced Packaging Tool) library to perform installation of new software packages, removing existing software packages, upgrading of existing software packages and even used to upgrading the entire operating system.
What is apt-cache?
The apt-cache command line tool is used for searching apt software package cache. In simple words, this tool is used to search software packages, collects information of packages and also used to search for what available packages are ready for installation on Debian or Ubuntu based systems.
How Do I List All Available Packages?
To list all the available packages, type the following command:
$ apt-cache pkgnames
esseract-ocr-epo pipenightdreams mumudvb tbb-examples libsvm-java libmrpt-hmtslam0.9 libboost-timer1.50-dev kcm-touchpad g++-4.5-multilib ...
Find Out Package Name and Description of Software
To find out the package name and with it description before installing, use the search flag. Using “search” with apt-cache will display a list of matched packages with short description. Let’s say you would like to find out description of package vsftpd, then command would be.
$ apt-cache search vsftpd vsftpd - lightweight, efficient FTP server written for security ccze - A robust, modular log coloriser ftpd - File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server yasat - simple stupid audit tool
To find and list down all the packages starting with ‘vsftpd‘, you could use the following command.
$ apt-cache pkgnames vsftpd vsttpd
Check Package Information
For example, if you would like to check information of package along with it short description say (version number, check sums, size, installed size, category etc). Use ‘show‘ sub command as shown below.
$ apt-cache show netcat Package: netcat Priority: optional Section: universe/net Installed-Size: 30 Maintainer: Ubuntu DevelopersOriginal-Maintainer: Ruben Molina Architecture: all Version: 1.10-40 Depends: netcat-traditional (>= 1.10-39) Filename: pool/universe/n/netcat/netcat_1.10-40_all.deb Size: 3340 MD5sum: 37c303f02b260481fa4fc9fb8b2c1004 SHA1: 0371a3950d6967480985aa014fbb6fb898bcea3a SHA256: eeecb4c93f03f455d2c3f57b0a1e83b54dbeced0918ae563784e86a37bcc16c9 Description-en: TCP/IP swiss army knife -- transitional package This is a "dummy" package that depends on lenny's default version of netcat, to ease upgrades. It may be safely removed. Description-md5: 1353f8c1d079348417c2180319bdde09 Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug Origin: Ubuntu
Check Dependencies for Specific Packages
Use the showpkg sub command to check the dependencies for particular software packages. whether those dependencies packages are installed or not. For example, use the showpkg command along with package-name.
$ apt-cache showpkg vsftpd
Package: vsftpd
Versions:
2.3.5-3ubuntu1 (/var/lib/apt/lists/in.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_quantal_main_binary-i386_Packages)
Description Language:
File: /var/lib/apt/lists/in.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_quantal_main_binary-i386_Packages
MD5: 81386f72ac91a5ea48f8db0b023f3f9b
Description Language: en
File: /var/lib/apt/lists/in.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_quantal_main_i18n_Translation-en
MD5: 81386f72ac91a5ea48f8db0b023f3f9b
Reverse Depends:
ubumirror,vsftpd
harden-servers,vsftpd
Dependencies:
2.3.5-3ubuntu1 - debconf (18 0.5) debconf-2.0 (0 (null)) upstart-job (0 (null)) libc6 (2 2.15) libcap2 (2 2.10) libpam0g (2 0.99.7.1) libssl1.0.0 (2 1.0.0) libwrap0 (2 7.6-4~) adduser (0 (null)) libpam-modules (0 (null)) netbase (0 (null)) logrotate (0 (null)) ftp-server (0 (null)) ftp-server (0 (null))
Provides:
2.3.5-3ubuntu1 - ftp-server
Reverse Provides:
Check statistics of Cache
The ‘stats‘ sub command will display overall statistics about the cache. For example, the following command will display Total package names is the number of packages have found in the cache.
$ apt-cache stats Total package names: 51868 (1,037 k) Total package structures: 51868 (2,490 k) Normal packages: 39505 Pure virtual packages: 602 Single virtual packages: 3819 Mixed virtual packages: 1052 Missing: 6890 Total distinct versions: 43015 (2,753 k) Total distinct descriptions: 81048 (1,945 k) Total dependencies: 252299 (7,064 k) Total ver/file relations: 45567 (729 k) Total Desc/File relations: 81048 (1,297 k) Total Provides mappings: 8228 (165 k) Total globbed strings: 286 (3,518 ) Total dependency version space: 1,145 k Total slack space: 62.6 k Total space accounted for: 13.3 M APT-GET – 20 Useful Basic Commands for Package Management
Update System Packages
The update command is used to resynchronize the package index files from the their sources specified in /etc/apt/sources.list file. The update command fetched the packages from their locations and update the packages to newer version.
$ sudo apt-get update [sudo] password for tecmint: Ign http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security InRelease Get:1 http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security Release.gpg [933 B] Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security Release [49.6 kB] Ign http://in.archive.ubuntu.com quantal InRelease Ign http://in.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates InRelease Get:3 http://repo.varnish-cache.org precise InRelease [13.7 kB] Ign http://in.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports InRelease Hit http://in.archive.ubuntu.com quantal Release.gpg Get:4 http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/main Sources [34.8 kB] Get:5 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates Release.gpg [933 B] ...
Upgrade Software Packages
The upgrade command is used to upgrade all the currently installed software packages on the system. Under any circumstances currently installed packages are not removed or packages which are not already installed neither retrieved and installed to satisfy upgrade dependencies.
$ sudo apt-get upgrade Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages have been kept back: linux-headers-generic linux-image-generic wine1.5 wine1.5-i386 The following packages will be upgraded: activity-log-manager-common activity-log-manager-control-center adium-theme-ubuntu alacarte alsa-base app-install-data-partner appmenu-gtk appmenu-gtk3 apport apport-gtk apt apt-transport-https apt-utils aptdaemon aptdaemon-data at-spi2-core bamfdaemon base-files bind9-host ...
However, if you want to upgrade, unconcerned of whether software packages will be added or removed to fulfill dependencies, use the ‘dist-upgrade‘ sub command.
$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Install or Upgrade Specific Packages
The install sub command is tracked by one or more packages wish for installation or upgrading.
$ sudo apt-get install netcat Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following extra packages will be installed: netcat-traditional The following NEW packages will be installed: netcat netcat-traditional 0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 328 not upgraded. Need to get 67.1 kB of archives. After this operation, 186 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y Get:1 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/universe netcat-traditional i386 1.10-40 [63.8 kB] Get:2 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/universe netcat all 1.10-40 [3,340 B] Fetched 67.1 kB in 1s (37.5 kB/s) Selecting previously unselected package netcat-traditional. (Reading database ... 216118 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking netcat-traditional (from .../netcat-traditional_1.10-40_i386.deb) ... Selecting previously unselected package netcat. Unpacking netcat (from .../netcat_1.10-40_all.deb) ... Processing triggers for man-db ... Setting up netcat-traditional (1.10-40) ... Setting up netcat (1.10-40) ...
Install Multiple Packages
You can add more than one package name along with the command in order to install multiple packages at the same time. For example, the following command will install packages nethogs and goaccess.
$ sudo apt-get install nethogs goaccess Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done goaccess is already the newest version. nethogs is already the newest version. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 328 not upgraded.
Install Several Packages using Wildcard
With the help of regular expression you can add several packages with one string. For example, we use * wildcard to install several packages that contains the *name* string, name would be package-name.
$ sudo apt-get install '*name*'
Install Packages without Upgrading
Using sub –no-upgrade command will prevent already installed packages from upgrading.
$ sudo apt-get install packageName --no-upgrade Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Skipping vsftpd, it is already installed and upgrade is not set. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 328 not upgraded.
Upgrade Only Specific Packages
The –only-upgrade command do not install new packages but it only upgrade the already installed packages and disables new installation of packages.
$ sudo apt-get install packageName --only-upgrade Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done vsftpd is already the newest version. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 328 not upgraded.
Install Specific Package Version
Let’s say you wish to install only specific version of packages, simply use the = with the package-name and append desired version.
$ sudo apt-get install vsftpd=2.3.5-3ubuntu1 Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done vsftpd is already the newest version. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 328 not upgraded.
Remove Packages Without Configuration
To un-install software packages without removing their configuration files (for later re-use the same configuration). Use the remove command as shown.
$ sudo apt-get remove vsftpd [sudo] password for tecmint: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages will be REMOVED: vsftpd 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 328 not upgraded. After this operation, 364 kB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y (Reading database ... 216156 files and directories currently installed.) Removing vsftpd ... vsftpd stop/waiting Processing triggers for ureadahead ... Processing triggers for man-db ...
Completely Remove Packages
To remove software packages including their configuration files, use the purge sub command as shown below.
$ sudo apt-get purge vsftpd Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages will be REMOVED: vsftpd* 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 328 not upgraded. After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y (Reading database ... 216107 files and directories currently installed.) Removing vsftpd ... Purging configuration files for vsftpd ... Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
Alternatively, you can combine both the commands together as shown below.
$ sudo apt-get remove --purge vsftpd Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages will be REMOVED: vsftpd* 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 328 not upgraded. After this operation, 364 kB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y (Reading database ... 216156 files and directories currently installed.) Removing vsftpd ... vsftpd stop/waiting Purging configuration files for vsftpd ... Processing triggers for ureadahead ... Processing triggers for man-db ...
Can Clean Up Disk Space
The clean command is used to free up the disk space by cleaning retrieved (downloaded) .deb files (packages) from the local repository.
$ sudo apt-get clean
Download Only Source Code of Package
To download only source code of particular package, use the option –download-only source with package-name as shown.
$ sudo apt-get --download-only source vsftpd Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Need to get 220 kB of source archives. Get:1 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main vsftpd 2.3.5-3ubuntu1 (dsc) [1,883 B] Get:2 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main vsftpd 2.3.5-3ubuntu1 (tar) [188 kB] Get:3 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main vsftpd 2.3.5-3ubuntu1 (diff) [30.5 kB] Fetched 220 kB in 4s (49.1 kB/s) Download complete and in download only mode
Download and Unpack a Package
To download and unpack source code of a package to a specific directory, type the following command.
$ sudo apt-get source vsftpd Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Need to get 220 kB of source archives. Get:1 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main vsftpd 2.3.5-3ubuntu1 (dsc) [1,883 B] Get:2 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main vsftpd 2.3.5-3ubuntu1 (tar) [188 kB] Get:3 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main vsftpd 2.3.5-3ubuntu1 (diff) [30.5 kB] Fetched 220 kB in 1s (112 kB/s) gpgv: Signature made Thursday 24 May 2012 02:35:09 AM IST using RSA key ID 2C48EE4E gpgv: Can't check signature: public key not found dpkg-source: warning: failed to verify signature on ./vsftpd_2.3.5-3ubuntu1.dsc dpkg-source: info: extracting vsftpd in vsftpd-2.3.5 dpkg-source: info: unpacking vsftpd_2.3.5.orig.tar.gz dpkg-source: info: unpacking vsftpd_2.3.5-3ubuntu1.debian.tar.gz dpkg-source: info: applying 01-builddefs.patch dpkg-source: info: applying 02-config.patch dpkg-source: info: applying 03-db-doc.patch dpkg-source: info: applying 04-link-local.patch dpkg-source: info: applying 05-whitespaces.patch dpkg-source: info: applying 06-greedy.patch dpkg-source: info: applying 07-utf8.patch dpkg-source: info: applying 08-manpage.patch dpkg-source: info: applying 09-s390.patch dpkg-source: info: applying 10-remote-dos.patch dpkg-source: info: applying 11-alpha.patch dpkg-source: info: applying 09-disable-anonymous.patch dpkg-source: info: applying 12-ubuntu-use-snakeoil-ssl.patch
Download, Unpack and Compile a Package
You can also download, unpack and compile the source code at the same time, using option ‘–compile‘ as shown below.
$ sudo apt-get --compile source goaccess [sudo] password for tecmint: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Need to get 130 kB of source archives. Get:1 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/universe goaccess 1:0.5-1 (dsc) [1,120 B] Get:2 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/universe goaccess 1:0.5-1 (tar) [127 kB] Get:3 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/universe goaccess 1:0.5-1 (diff) [2,075 B] Fetched 130 kB in 1s (68.0 kB/s) gpgv: Signature made Tuesday 26 June 2012 09:38:24 AM IST using DSA key ID A9FD4821 gpgv: Can't check signature: public key not found dpkg-source: warning: failed to verify signature on ./goaccess_0.5-1.dsc dpkg-source: info: extracting goaccess in goaccess-0.5 dpkg-source: info: unpacking goaccess_0.5.orig.tar.gz dpkg-source: info: unpacking goaccess_0.5-1.debian.tar.gz dpkg-buildpackage: source package goaccess dpkg-buildpackage: source version 1:0.5-1 dpkg-buildpackage: source changed by Chris Taylor <ctaylor @debian.org> dpkg-buildpackage: host architecture i386 dpkg-source --before-build goaccess-0.5 dpkg-checkbuilddeps: Unmet build dependencies: debhelper (>= 9) autotools-dev libncurses5-dev libglib2.0-dev libgeoip-dev autoconf dpkg-buildpackage: warning: build dependencies/conflicts unsatisfied; aborting dpkg-buildpackage: warning: (Use -d flag to override.) ...
Download a Package Without Installing
Using download option, you can download any given package without installing it. For example, the following command will only download nethogs package to current working directory.
$ sudo apt-get download nethogs Get:1 Downloading nethogs 0.8.0-1 [27.1 kB] Fetched 27.1 kB in 3s (7,506 B/s)
Check Change Log of Package
The changelog flag downloads a package change-log and shows the package version that is installed.
$ sudo apt-get changelog vsftpd vsftpd (2.3.5-3ubuntu1) quantal; urgency=low
* Merge from Debian testing (LP: #1003644). Remaining changes: + debian/vsftpd.upstart: migrate vsftpd to upstart. + Add apport hook (LP: #513978): - debian/vsftpd.apport: Added. - debian/control: Build-depends on dh-apport. - debian/rules: Add --with apport. + Add debian/watch file. + debian/patches/09-disable-anonymous.patch: Disable anonymous login by default. (LP: #528860) * debian/patches/12-ubuntu-us-snakeoil-ssl.patch: Use snakeoil SSL certificates and key.
-- Andres Rodriguez <andreserl @ubuntu.com> Wed, 23 May 2012 16:59:36 -0400 ...
Check Broken Dependencies
The check command is a diagnostic tool. It used to update package cache and checks for broken dependencies.
$ sudo apt-get check [sudo] password for tecmint: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done
Search and Build Dependencies
This build-dep command searches the local repositories in the system and install the build dependencies for package. If the package does not exists in the local repository it will return an error code.
$ sudo apt-get build-dep netcat The following NEW packages will be installed: debhelper dh-apparmor html2text po-debconf quilt 0 upgraded, 5 newly installed, 0 to remove and 328 not upgraded. Need to get 1,219 kB of archives. After this operation, 2,592 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y Get:1 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main html2text i386 1.3.2a-15build1 [91.4 kB] Get:2 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main po-debconf all 1.0.16+nmu2ubuntu1 [210 kB] Get:3 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main dh-apparmor all 2.8.0-0ubuntu5 [9,846 B] Get:4 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main debhelper all 9.20120608ubuntu1 [623 kB] Get:5 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main quilt all 0.60-2 [285 kB] Fetched 1,219 kB in 4s (285 kB/s) ...
Auto clean Apt-Get Cache
The autoclean command deletes all .deb files from /var/cache/apt/archives to free-up significant volume of disk space.
$ sudo apt-get autoclean Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done
Auto remove Installed Packages
The autoremove sub command is used to auto remove packages that were certainly installed to satisfy dependencies for other packages and but they were now no longer required. For example, the following command will remove an installed package with its dependencies.
$ sudo apt-get autoremove vsftpd Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Package 'vsftpd' is not installed, so not removed 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 328 not upgraded.
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