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1 perry 1 APT-CACHE
2 !!!APT-CACHE
3 NAME
4 SYNOPSIS
5 DESCRIPTION
6 OPTIONS
7 FILES
8 SEE ALSO
9 DIAGNOSTICS
10 BUGS
11 AUTHOR
12 ----
13 !!NAME
14
15
16 apt-cache - APT package handling utility -- cache manipulator
17 !!SYNOPSIS
18
19
20 __apt-cache__ [[ __-hvs__ ] [[ __-o=__''config
21 string'' ] [[ __-c=__''file'' ] __[[ add__
22 ''file...'' __] [[ gencaches ] [[ showpkg__
23 ''pkg...'' __] [[ stats ] [[ dump ] [[ dumpavail ] [[ unmet
24 ] [[ search__ ''regex'' __] [[ show__ ''pkg...''
25 __] [[ showpkg__ ''pkg...'' __] [[ depends__
26 ''pkg...'' __] [[ pkgnames__ ''prefix'' __] [[
27 dotty__ ''pkg...'' __] [[ policy__ ''pkgs...''
28 __]__
29 !!DESCRIPTION
30
31
32 __apt-cache__ performs a variety of operations on APT's
33 package cache. __apt-cache__ does not manipulate the
34 state of the system but does provide operations to search
35 and generate interesting output from the package
36 metadata.
37
38
39 Unless the __-h__, or __--help__ option is given one
40 of the commands below must be present.
41
42
43 __add__
44
45
46 add adds the names package index files to the package
47 cache.
48
49
50 __gencaches__
51
52
53 gencaches performs the same opration as __apt-get
54 check__. It builds the source and package caches from the
55 sources in ''sources.list''(5) and from
56 ''/var/lib/dpkg/status''.
57
58
59 __showpkg__
60
61
62 showpkg displays information about the packages listed on
63 the command line. Remaining arguments are package names. The
64 available versions and reverse dependencies of each package
65 listed are listed, as well as forward dependencies for each
66 version. Forward (normal) dependencies are those packages
67 upon which the package in question depends; reverse
68 dependencies are those packages that depend upon the package
69 in question. Thus, forward dependencies must be satisfied
70 for a package, but reverse dependencies need not be. For
71 instance, __apt-cache showpkg libreadline2__ would
72 produce output similar to the following:
73
74
75 Package: libreadline2
76 Versions: 2.1-12(/var/state/apt/lists/foo_Packages),
77 Reverse Depends:
78 libreadlineg2,libreadline2
79 libreadline2-altdev,libreadline2
80 Dependencies:
81 2.1-12 - libc5 (2 5.4.0-0) ncurses3.0 (0 (null))
82 Provides:
83 2.1-12 -
84 Reverse Provides:
85 Thus it may be seen that libreadline2, version 2.1-12, depends on libc5 and ncurses3.0 which must be installed for libreadline2 to work. In turn, libreadlineg2 and libreadline2-altdev depend on libreadline2. If libreadline2 is installed, libc5, ncurses3.0, and ldso must also be installed; libreadlineg2 and libreadline2-altdev do not have to be installed. For the specific meaning of the remainder of the output it is best to consult the apt source code.
86
87
88 __stats__
89
90
91 stats displays some statistics about the cache. No further
92 arguments are expected. Statistics reported
93 are:
94
95
96 Total package names is the number of package names found in
97 the cache.
98
99
100 Normal packages is the number of regular, ordinary package
101 names; these are packages that bear a one-to-one
102 correspondence between their names and the names used by
103 other packages for them in dependencies. The majority of
104 packages fall into this category.
105
106
107 Pure virtual packages is the number of packages that exist
108 only as a virtual package name; that is, packages only
109
110
111 Single virtual packages is the number of packages with only
112 one package providing a particular virtual package. For
113 example, in the Debian GNU/Linux system,
114
115
116 Mixed virtual packages is the number of packages that either
117 provide a particular virtual package or have the virtual
118 package name as the package name. For instance, in the
119 Debian GNU/Linux system, debconf is both an actual package,
120 and provided by the debconf-tiny package.
121
122
123 Missing is the number of package names that were referenced
124 in a dependency but were not provided by any package.
125 Missing packages may be in evidence if a full distribution
126 is not accesssed, or if a package (real or virtual) has been
127 dropped from the distribution. Usually they are referenced
128 from Conflicts statements.
129
130
131 Total distinct versions is the number of package versions
132 found in the cache; this value is therefore at least equal
133 to the number of total package names. If more than one
134 distribution (both
135
136
137 Total dependencies is the number of dependency relationships
138 claimed by all of the packages in the cache.
139
140
141 __dump__
142
143
144 dump shows a short listing of every package in the cache. It
145 is primarily for debugging.
146
147
148 __dumpavail__
149
150
151 dumpavail prints out an available list to stdout. This is
152 suitable for use with dpkg(8) and is used by the
153 dselect(8) method.
154
155
156 __unmet__
157
158
159 unmet displays a summary of all unmet dependencies in the
160 package cache.
161
162
163 __show__
164
165
166 show performs a function similar to __dpkg
167 --print-avail__, it displays the package records for the
168 named packages.
169
170
171 __search__
172
173
174 search performs a full text search on all available package
175 files for the regex pattern given. It searchs the package
176 names and the descriptions for an occurance of the string
177 and prints out the package name and the short description.
178 If __--full__ is given then output identical to show is
179 produced for each matched package and if __--names-only__
180 is given then the long description is not searched, only the
181 package name is.
182
183
184 Seperate arguments can be used to specified multiple search
185 patterns that are and'd together.
186
187
188 __depends__
189
190
191 depends shows a listing of each dependency a package has and
192 all the possible other packages that can fullfill that
193 dependency.
194
195
196 __pkgnames__
197
198
199 This command prints the name of each package in the system.
200 The optional argument is a prefix match to filter the name
201 list. The output is suitable for use in a shell tab complete
202 function and the output is generated extremly quickly. This
203 command is best used with the __--generate__
204 option.
205
206
207 __dotty__
208
209
210 dotty takes a list of packages on the command line and
211 gernerates output suitable for use by dotty from the
3 perry 212 !GraphVis
1 perry 213
214
215 The resulting nodes will have several shapse, normal
216 packages are boxes, pure provides are triangles, mixed
217 provides are diamonds, hexagons are missing packages. Orange
218 boxes mean recursion was stopped [[leaf packages], blue lines
219 are prre-depends, green lines are conflicts.
220
221
222 Caution, dotty cannot graph larger sets of
223 packages.
224
225
226 __policy__
227
228
229 policy is ment to help debug issues relating to the
230 preferences file. With no arguments it will print out the
231 priorities of each source. Otherwise it prints out detailed
232 information about the priority selection of the named
233 package.
234 !!OPTIONS
235
236
237 All command line options may be set using the configuration
238 file, the descriptions indicate the configuration option to
239 set. For boolean options you can override the config file by
240 using something like __-f-__,__--no-f__, __-f=no__
241 or several other variations.
242
243
244 __-p__
245
246
247 __--pkg-cache__
248
249
250 Select the file to store the package cache. The package
251 cache is the primary cache used by all operations.
252 Configuration Item: Dir::Cache::pkgcache.
253
254
255 __-s__
256
257
258 __--src-cache__
259
260
261 Select the file to store the source cache. The source is
262 used only by gencaches and it stores a parsed version of the
263 package information from remote sources. When building the
264 package cache the source cache is used to advoid reparsing
265 all of the package files. Configuration Item:
266 Dir::Cache::srcpkgcache.
267
268
269 __-q__
270
271
272 __--quiet__
273
274
275 Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting
276 progress indicators. More qs will produce more quite up to a
277 maximum of 2. You can also use __-q=#__ to set the quiet
278 level, overriding the configuration file. Configuration
279 Item: quiet.
280
281
282 __-i__
283
284
285 __--important__
286
287
288 Print only important deps; for use with unmet causes only
289 Depends and Pre-Depends relations to be printed.
290 Configuration Item: APT::Cache::Important.
291
292
293 __-f__
294
295
296 __--full__
297
298
299 Print full package records when searching. Configuration
3 perry 300 Item: APT::Cache::!ShowFull.
1 perry 301
302
303 __-a__
304
305
306 __--all-versions__
307
308
309 Print full records for all available versions, this is only
310 applicable to the show command. Configuration Item:
3 perry 311 APT::Cache::!AllVersions.
1 perry 312
313
314 __-g__
315
316
317 __--generate__
318
319
320 Perform automatic package cache regeneration, rather than
321 use the cache as it is. This is the default, to turn it off
322 use __--no-generate__. Configuration Item:
323 APT::Cache::Generate.
324
325
326 __--names-only__
327
328
329 Only search on the package names, not the long description.
3 perry 330 Configuration Item: APT::Cache::!NamesOnly.
1 perry 331
332
333 __--all-names__
334
335
336 Make pkgnames print all names, including virtual packages
337 and missing dependencies. Configuration Item:
3 perry 338 APT::Cache::!AllNames.
1 perry 339
340
341 __--recurse__
342
343
344 Make depends recursive so that all packages mentioned are
345 printed once. Configuration Item:
3 perry 346 APT::Cache::!RecurseDepends.
1 perry 347
348
349 __-h__
350
351
352 __--help__
353
354
355 Show a short usage summary.
356
357
358 __-v__
359
360
361 __--version__
362
363
364 Show the program verison.
365
366
367 __-c__
368
369
370 __--config-file__
371
372
373 Configuration File; Specify a configuration file to use. The
374 program will read the default configuration file and then
375 this configuration file. See ''apt.conf''(5) for syntax
376 information.
377
378
379 __-o__
380
381
382 __--option__
383
384
385 Set a Configuration Option; This will set an arbitary
386 configuration option. The syntax is __-o
387 Foo::Bar=bar__.
388 !!FILES
389
390
391 ''/etc/apt/sources.list''
392
393
394 locations to fetch packages from. Configuration Item:
3 perry 395 Dir::Etc::!SourceList.
1 perry 396
397
398 ''/var/lib/apt/lists/''
399
400
401 storage area for state information for each package resource
402 specified in ''sources.list''(5) Configuration Item:
403 Dir::State::Lists.
404
405
406 ''/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/''
407
408
409 storage area for state information in transit. Configuration
410 Item: Dir::State::Lists (implicit partial).
411 !!SEE ALSO
412
413
414 ''apt.conf''(5), ''sources.list''(5),
4 perry 415 apt-get(8)
1 perry 416 !!DIAGNOSTICS
417
418
419 __apt-cache__ returns zero on normal operation, decimal
420 100 on error.
421 !!BUGS
422
423
424 See the APT bug page
425 /usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt'' or the
426 bug(1) command.
427 !!AUTHOR
428
429
430 APT was written by the APT team
431 ----
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