APTITUDE

APTITUDE

NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION COMMAND-LINE ACTIONS OPTIONS INTERACTIVE USAGE SEE ALSO AUTHOR

NAME

aptitude - high-level interface to the package manager.

SYNOPSIS

aptitude [ -S__ ''fname'' __? [ -u?

aptitude [__ ''options'' __? [ update | upgrade?

aptitude [__ ''options'' __? [ remove | hold? packages...

aptitude [__ ''options'' __? search patterns...

aptitude [__ ''options'' __? download packages...

DESCRIPTION

aptitude is a text-based interface to the Debian GNU/Linux package system.

It allows the user to view the list of packages and to perform package management tasks such as installing, upgrading, and removing packages. Actions may be performed from an

COMMAND-LINE ACTIONS

The first argument which does not begin with a hyphen (

The following actions are available:

install

Install one or more packages. The packages should be listed after the /usr/share/doc/aptitude/README__)

Appending

As a special case,

NOTE: The

remove, purge, hold

These commands are the same as

(for instance,

markauto, unmarkauto

Mark packages as automatically installed or manually installed, respectively. You may specify packages using the same syntax as before, including specifying actions to be performed. For instance,

update

Update the list of available packages from the master servers. (this is equivalent to

upgrade

Upgrades installed packages to their most recent version. Installed packages will not be removed unless they are unused; packages which are not currently installed will not be installed.

If a package cannot be upgraded without violating these constraints, it will be kept back.

forget-new

Forgets which packages are

search

Searches for packages matching one or more expressions. The expressions should be listed after the /usr/share/doc/aptitude/README__.

clean

Removes all downloaded and cached packages.

autoclean

Removes any cached packages which are no longer downloadable.

download

Downloads the .deb file for the most recent version of the given package to the current directory.

The following hyphened arguments function as actions for the interactive mode of the program; however, they are only used internally. Generally, you shouldn't need to set these yourself.

-S fname

Loads the extended state information from fname.

-u

Begins updating the package lists when the program starts. You cannot use this option and -i at the same time.

-i

Displays a download screen when the program starts (equivalent to starting the program and then pressing 'g') You cannot use this option and -u at the same time.

OPTIONS

The following options may be specified to modify the behavior of the above commands. Note that not every command will pay attention to every option (indeed; many options are nonsensical for one or more commands)

Many of these options have an associated configuration file directive; placing this directive in /etc/apt/apt.conf or /.aptitude/config will cause aptitude to always act as if the option had been provided.

-h, --help

Display a brief help message.

--version

Display the version of aptitude and some information about its compilation environment.

-s, --simulate

Print the actions that would be performed, but don't actually perform them. This does not require root privileges.

Configuration Item: Aptitude::!CmdLine?::Simulate.

-d, --download-only

Do not install or remove any packages; only download them.

Configuration Item: Aptitude::!CmdLine?::Download-Only

-P, --prompt

Always display a prompt, even if no additional actions are to be undertaken.

Configuration Item: Aptitude::!CmdLine?::Always-Prompt

-y, --assume-yes

Assume

Configuration Item: Aptitude::!CmdLine?::Assume-Yes

-F format, --display-format format

Specify the format which should be used to display output from the search command. For instance, '%p %V %v' will display a package's name, followed by its currently installed version and its available version. (see the section __

Configuration Item: Aptitude::!CmdLine?::Package-Display-Format

-w width, --width width

Specify the display width which should be used for output from the search command. (by default, the terminal width is used)

Configuration Item: Aptitude::!CmdLine?::Package-Display-Width

-f

Aggressively try to fix dependencies of broken packages.

Configuration Item: Aptitude::!CmdLine?::Fix-Broken

--with-recommends, --with-suggests

Treat recommends or suggests, respectively, as dependencies when installing new packages. (this overrides settings in /etc/apt/apt.conf and /.aptitude/config)

Configuration Item: Aptitude::Recommends-Important

--without-recommends, --without-suggests

Do not treat recommends or suggests, respectively, as dependencies when installing packages.

Configuration Item: Aptitude::Suggests-Important

INTERACTIVE USAGE

In interactive mode, aptitude makes the following keys and commands available:

q

Quit the current context, saving changes.

x

Quit the current context, discarding changes.

?

Display an online help screen.

Up, j

Move the selection one item up.

Down, k

Move the selection one item down.

^

Move the selection to the parent of the current item.

Enter

Expand or collapse a group of packages.

[[

Expand an entire tree of packages.

]

Collapse an entire tree of packages.

Enter, i

Display information about a package.

+

Cancel a package's removal, or request that it be installed or upgraded.

-

Cancel the installation of a package, or request that it be removed.

=

Place a package on hold (or remove the

_

Request that a package and all its conffiles be removed (

u

Update the lists of available packages.

g

Perform all pending installations, removals, and upgrades.

Control-u

Undo the last action or set of actions.

/

Perform a search

n

Repeat the last search

v

Show the available versions of a package

SEE ALSO

apt-get(1)?, apt(8), /usr/share/doc/aptitude/README.

AUTHOR

This manual page was written by Daniel Burrows