Wednesday, June 26, 2013

APT for Debian Linux


APT (Advanced Packaging tool) help
apt is the packaging tool used in debian based applications and does a great job in maintaining the repository. It is very important to understand and be comfortable with this packaging tool if you are a command line freak in Debian based world. Here are some command examples of different pieces in apt you may use in the daily worl. This is not the complete list of commands. There are more to it....make sure you read complete manual to get totally comfortable.

Why APT?
APT has proven its worth over the years. It is fast, responsive and stable, but most importantly, it is reliable. Should you lose Internet connection while updating your system or break the current operating, APT will gracefully pick up where you left the next time. Quite a few other management tools tend to remain in a broken state when the update process gets interrupted.

APT will manage the software dependencies in a smart way, both when installing and removing software. This includes maintaining a higher level revision control and topological sorting, in order to make sure your system will remain in a consistent state after numerous updates and uninstallations.

APT has many other smart features, all of which make it a very useful candidate for software management. It is not without a reason among the most popular choices in many Linux distributions.

Search for a package
You wish to know the name of the package you need to use for installation, here's how you do it
apt-cache search vlc

To know more information about a package
apt-cache show vlc

Install a package
apt-get install <<>>

To upgrade your distro
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

To clean up cache
sudo apt-get clean && sudo apt-get autoclean

To remove a specific package 
apt-get remove <<package name>>

To do a auto remove of all packages, if some of them were not removed properly
apt-get autoremove

Do an update or upgrade
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

A nice website to read about apt, if you want to know more http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/aptitude.html

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