How to install software packages on Debian-Ubuntu: apt-get
In this tutorial, we shall see how to install software packages under Debian and Ubuntu. In the program, we shall have a look at already-installed packages, search packages, information related to software packages, how to update packages and the software list.
List of installed software packages
To visualize the list of installed packages, we use the following command
~# dpkg-query -W
To visualize an installed package whose name is scilab for example, we use the previous command and a redirection (or pipeline) to the ‘grep’ command. Practically, we have:
~# dpkg-query -W | grep -i scilab
scilab 4.0-2
scilab-bin 4.0-2
scilab-doc 4.0-2
Description of installed software packages
The description of the set of installed packages is obtained via the command
~# dpkg -l
List of available software packages
The list of available packages is obtained as follows:
~# apt-cache pkgnames
We clearly see that the list is not in alphabetical order. To resolve this issue, we redirect and sort the output:
~# apt-cache pkgnames | sort
Searching a software package: apt-cache search
To search a software package, we proceed as follows:
~# apt-cache search flashplayer
flashplayer-mozilla - Macromedia Flash Player
This command displays software packages containing the expression flashplayer.
Properties and information of a software: apt-cache show
To display information related to a package, for instance the flashplayer-mozilla package, we proceed as follows:
~# apt-cache show flashplayer-mozilla
Package: flashplayer-mozilla
Priority: optional
Section: multiverse/web
Installed-Size: 1528
Maintainer: Christian Marillat <marillat@debian.org>
Architecture: i386
Source: install-flash-player
Version: 6.0.79-0.2
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4-1), libx11-6, libxext6, libxt6, zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.1), mozilla-browser | www-browser
Conflicts: flashplugin
Filename: pool/multiverse/i/install-flash-player/flashplayer-mozilla_6.0.79-0.2_i386.deb
Size: 702000
MD5sum: bfc6eba2b01041876f30c87b930f8d0d
SHA1: f1fa7ab3e931bc411a3713bdaf17c8976dbc24aa
SHA256: 3bd0597a5fc491aa7c2cf2694dd4737f5f1af2e8e9175268062204a6e79db13b
Description: Macromedia Flash Player
The Flash Player lets you experience animation and entertainment in your
Mozilla web browser.
Bugs: mailto:ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com
Origin: Ubuntu
Note that the {exact} name of the package should be entered ! For example,
~# apt-cache show flash
W: the package flash could not be found
E: No package has been found
does not yield any result since flash is not he name of a package.
Installing a software: apt-get install
Assume we want to install firefox. We type:
~# apt-get install firefox
Removing a software: apt-get remove
To uninstall a package, we can proceed in two ways. Either 1) we uninstall only the software or 2) the software and its configuration files. In the first case, assuming we want to uninstall the mplayer software, we type:
~# apt-get remove mplayer
In the second case, if we want to uninstall both ‘mplayer’ and its configuration files, we type:
~# apt-get remove --purge mplayer
Updating the software list: apt-get update
Updating a list of software is not the same as updating the software {per se}. Only the list is actually updated:
~# apt-get update
Updating the software: apt-get upgrade
The upgrade command installs the most recent versions of all packages on the system.
~# apt-get upgrade
To simulate an update installation, i.e. to see which software will be updated, we type:
~# apt-get -s upgrade
Smart software update: apt-get dist-upgrade
The dist-upgrade command has the same effect as the ‘upgrade’ except that a smart management is used in changes of dependencies in new versions: conflict resolution and discarding less important packages for more important ones, for example.
~# apt-get dist-upgrade
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