Questions tagged [aptitude]

Alternative package manager for Debian and derivatives which offers an ncurses based text-mode user interface (TUI) and mighty search patterns besides a command-line interface similar to `apt-get`'s command-line interface.

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How do I check package version using apt-get / aptitude?

Before I install a package, I'd like to know what version I would get. How do I check the version before installing using apt-get or aptitude on Debian or Ubuntu?
user4069
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What is the real difference between "apt-get" and "aptitude"? (How about "wajig"?)

I know that both apt-get and aptitude are command line package management interfaces on Debian derived Linux, with different options, but I'm still somewhat confused. Under the hood, aren't they using the same APT system? Why does Debian maintain…
Kevin Cantu
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Can I rollback an apt-get upgrade if something goes wrong?

Is there a way, before starting an aptitude upgrade or apt-get upgrade, to set up something so that you can "easily" rollback your system to the "apt" state it was before the actual upgrade, if something goes wrong? That is, for example, reinstall…
Totor
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How does apt-get really work?

Okay, I understand how I may use apt-get {install|remove} mypackages and apt-get upgrade to install, upgrade, or remove binaries as well as their configuration data files and dependencies (actually, remove will only remove the binaries unless…
user1032531
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search for only installed packages using apt

Using aptitude I can make a search like: aptitude search '~i bash' This seems to be an aptitude specific regex. Is it possible to do the same thing using apt or apt-cache without additional commands? apt search '~i bash' is not working.
Exostor
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How to make apt-get accept new config files in an unattended install of debian from Repo

I am writing a script for a unattended install of a package that is in our repo, it is a software package with one of Debian's marked config files. Is there any option that I can pass to apt-get/aptitude so that it accepts the new config…
Raman
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How to show only installed packages by executing "aptitude search"?

After executing the aptitude search pattern command, I need to see only installed packages in the search result. Is there any way to do that?
B Faley
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Output visual (ASCII) Debian dependency tree to terminal?

I'm not sure if this is more of a SuperUser or UnixLinux question, but I'll try here... Recently, I found this: #710689 - aptitude: use unicode character in the trees - Debian Bug report logs It would be nice when aptitude would use unicode…
sdaau
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What packages are installed by default in Debian? Is there a term for that set? Why some of those packages are `automatically installed` and some not?

Is there a term to refer to the subset of packages that is automatically installed by Debian distribution? I though that it had something to do with packages priorities, but it doesn't seem to be the case, cause there are packages of all the…
Boris Burkov
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How to install some packages from "unstable" Debian on a computer running "stable" Debian?

On a computer running "stable" Debian, when trying to install a package which is in the unstable list on the Debian web site using the aptitude install /unstable command, I get output similar to this: Couldn't find any package whose name or…
Abbafei
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Does Yum have an equivalent to apt / aptitude's DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive?

On Ubuntu you can use something like this: export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive sudo -E apt-get update Which will prevent things that require input (choosing grub versions or conflicts between configuration files, or even prompting for a mysql…
cwd
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How to safely resume an aptitude dist-upgrade after SSH timeout?

I started aptitude dist-upgrade over SSH on my local network. At some point the session timed out but the upgrade was not finished (it was left at one of those accept software agreement screens-- I forget which one so I don't know how far into the…
Eric
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Why do package names contain version numbers?

While working with Ubuntu and other Debian-based distros, I've noticed that packages in the software repos often contain the major version number. For example, Apache: apache2 Tomcat: tomcat7 PHP: php5 Wine: wine1.4 MySQL: mysql-server-5.5 I…
Tom Marthenal
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How can I reliably "hold" a package in Debian?

I have a package in Debian that has been manually patched (not ideal, I know) that I must hold at its current version so upgrades don't overwrite the patched changes (I will manually inspect and apply security updates). As I understand it, there are…
jrdioko
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Configure MC and aptitude color schemes

I'm using Ubuntu, and I'm having trouble reading text in MC and Aptitude because of the color scheme. Is there any way to change it?
JorgeeFG
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