1APT-GET(8)                            APT                           APT-GET(8)
2
3
4

NAME

6       apt-get - APT package handling utility -- command-line interface
7

SYNOPSIS

9       apt-get [-asqdyfmubV] [-o=config_string] [-c=config_file]
10               [-t=target_release] [-a=architecture] {update | upgrade |
11               dselect-upgrade | dist-upgrade |
12               install pkg [{=pkg_version_number | /target_release}]...  |
13               remove pkg...  | purge pkg...  |
14               source pkg [{=pkg_version_number | /target_release}]...  |
15               build-dep pkg [{=pkg_version_number | /target_release}]...  |
16               download pkg [{=pkg_version_number | /target_release}]...  |
17               check | clean | autoclean | autoremove | {-v | --version} |
18               {-h | --help}}
19

DESCRIPTION

21       apt-get is the command-line tool for handling packages, and may be
22       considered the user's "back-end" to other tools using the APT library.
23       Several "front-end" interfaces exist, such as aptitude(8), synaptic(8)
24       and wajig(1).
25
26       Unless the -h, or --help option is given, one of the commands below
27       must be present.
28
29       update
30           update is used to resynchronize the package index files from their
31           sources. The indexes of available packages are fetched from the
32           location(s) specified in /etc/apt/sources.list. For example, when
33           using a Debian archive, this command retrieves and scans the
34           Packages.gz files, so that information about new and updated
35           packages is available. An update should always be performed before
36           an upgrade or dist-upgrade. Please be aware that the overall
37           progress meter will be incorrect as the size of the package files
38           cannot be known in advance.
39
40       upgrade
41           upgrade is used to install the newest versions of all packages
42           currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in
43           /etc/apt/sources.list. Packages currently installed with new
44           versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no
45           circumstances are currently installed packages removed, or packages
46           not already installed retrieved and installed. New versions of
47           currently installed packages that cannot be upgraded without
48           changing the install status of another package will be left at
49           their current version. An update must be performed first so that
50           apt-get knows that new versions of packages are available.
51
52       dist-upgrade
53           dist-upgrade in addition to performing the function of upgrade,
54           also intelligently handles changing dependencies with new versions
55           of packages; apt-get has a "smart" conflict resolution system, and
56           it will attempt to upgrade the most important packages at the
57           expense of less important ones if necessary. The dist-upgrade
58           command may therefore remove some packages. The
59           /etc/apt/sources.list file contains a list of locations from which
60           to retrieve desired package files. See also apt_preferences(5) for
61           a mechanism for overriding the general settings for individual
62           packages.
63
64       dselect-upgrade
65           dselect-upgrade is used in conjunction with the traditional Debian
66           packaging front-end, dselect(1).  dselect-upgrade follows the
67           changes made by dselect(1) to the Status field of available
68           packages, and performs the actions necessary to realize that state
69           (for instance, the removal of old and the installation of new
70           packages).
71
72       install
73           install is followed by one or more packages desired for
74           installation or upgrading. Each package is a package name, not a
75           fully qualified filename (for instance, in a Debian system,
76           apt-utils would be the argument provided, not
77           apt-utils_2.3.11_amd64.deb). All packages required by the
78           package(s) specified for installation will also be retrieved and
79           installed. The /etc/apt/sources.list file is used to locate the
80           desired packages. If a hyphen is appended to the package name (with
81           no intervening space), the identified package will be removed if it
82           is installed. Similarly a plus sign can be used to designate a
83           package to install. These latter features may be used to override
84           decisions made by apt-get's conflict resolution system.
85
86           A specific version of a package can be selected for installation by
87           following the package name with an equals and the version of the
88           package to select. This will cause that version to be located and
89           selected for install. Alternatively a specific distribution can be
90           selected by following the package name with a slash and the version
91           of the distribution or the Archive name (stable, testing,
92           unstable).
93
94           Both of the version selection mechanisms can downgrade packages and
95           must be used with care.
96
97           This is also the target to use if you want to upgrade one or more
98           already-installed packages without upgrading every package you have
99           on your system. Unlike the "upgrade" target, which installs the
100           newest version of all currently installed packages, "install" will
101           install the newest version of only the package(s) specified. Simply
102           provide the name of the package(s) you wish to upgrade, and if a
103           newer version is available, it (and its dependencies, as described
104           above) will be downloaded and installed.
105
106           Finally, the apt_preferences(5) mechanism allows you to create an
107           alternative installation policy for individual packages.
108
109           If no package matches the given expression and the expression
110           contains one of '.', '?' or '*' then it is assumed to be a POSIX
111           regular expression, and it is applied to all package names in the
112           database. Any matches are then installed (or removed). Note that
113           matching is done by substring so 'lo.*' matches 'how-lo' and
114           'lowest'. If this is undesired, anchor the regular expression with
115           a '^' or '$' character, or create a more specific regular
116           expression.
117
118           Fallback to regular expressions is deprecated in APT 2.0, has been
119           removed in apt(8), except for anchored expressions, and will be
120           removed from apt-get(8) in a future version. Use apt-patterns(5)
121           instead.
122
123       reinstall
124           reinstall is an alias for install --reinstall.
125
126       remove
127           remove is identical to install except that packages are removed
128           instead of installed. Note that removing a package leaves its
129           configuration files on the system. If a plus sign is appended to
130           the package name (with no intervening space), the identified
131           package will be installed instead of removed.
132
133       purge
134           purge is identical to remove except that packages are removed and
135           purged (any configuration files are deleted too).
136
137       source
138           source causes apt-get to fetch source packages. APT will examine
139           the available packages to decide which source package to fetch. It
140           will then find and download into the current directory the newest
141           available version of that source package while respecting the
142           default release, set with the option APT::Default-Release, the -t
143           option or per package with the pkg/release syntax, if possible.
144
145           The arguments are interpreted as binary and source package names.
146           See the --only-source option if you want to change that.
147
148           Source packages are tracked separately from binary packages via
149           deb-src lines in the sources.list(5) file. This means that you will
150           need to add such a line for each repository you want to get sources
151           from; otherwise you will probably get either the wrong (too old/too
152           new) source versions or none at all.
153
154           If the --compile option is specified then the package will be
155           compiled to a binary .deb using dpkg-buildpackage for the
156           architecture as defined by the --host-architecture option. If
157           --download-only is specified then the source package will not be
158           unpacked.
159
160           A specific source version can be retrieved by postfixing the source
161           name with an equals and then the version to fetch, similar to the
162           mechanism used for the package files. This enables exact matching
163           of the source package name and version, implicitly enabling the
164           APT::Get::Only-Source option.
165
166           Note that source packages are not installed and tracked in the dpkg
167           database like binary packages; they are simply downloaded to the
168           current directory, like source tarballs.
169
170       build-dep
171           build-dep causes apt-get to install/remove packages in an attempt
172           to satisfy the build dependencies for a source package. By default
173           the dependencies are satisfied to build the package natively. If
174           desired a host-architecture can be specified with the
175           --host-architecture option instead.
176
177           The arguments are interpreted as binary or source package names.
178           See the --only-source option if you want to change that.
179
180       satisfy
181           satisfy causes apt-get to satisfy the given dependency strings. The
182           dependency strings may have build profiles and architecture
183           restriction list as in build dependencies. They may optionally be
184           prefixed with "Conflicts: " to unsatisfy the dependency string.
185           Multiple strings of the same type can be specified.
186
187           Example: apt-get satisfy "foo" "Conflicts: bar" "baz (>> 1.0) | bar
188           (= 2.0), moo"
189
190           The legacy operator '</>' is not supported, use '<=/>=' instead.
191
192       check
193           check is a diagnostic tool; it updates the package cache and checks
194           for broken dependencies.
195
196       download
197           download will download the given binary package into the current
198           directory.
199
200       clean
201           clean clears out the local repository of retrieved package files.
202           It removes everything but the lock file from
203           /var/cache/apt/archives/ and /var/cache/apt/archives/partial/.
204
205       autoclean (and the auto-clean alias since 1.1)
206           Like clean, autoclean clears out the local repository of retrieved
207           package files. The difference is that it only removes package files
208           that can no longer be downloaded, and are largely useless. This
209           allows a cache to be maintained over a long period without it
210           growing out of control. The configuration option
211           APT::Clean-Installed will prevent installed packages from being
212           erased if it is set to off.
213
214       autoremove (and the auto-remove alias since 1.1)
215           autoremove is used to remove packages that were automatically
216           installed to satisfy dependencies for other packages and are now no
217           longer needed.
218
219       changelog
220           changelog tries to download the changelog of a package and displays
221           it through sensible-pager. By default it displays the changelog for
222           the version that is installed. However, you can specify the same
223           options as for the install command.
224
225       indextargets
226           Displays by default a deb822 formatted listing of information about
227           all data files (aka index targets) apt-get update would download.
228           Supports a --format option to modify the output format as well as
229           accepts lines of the default output to filter the records by. The
230           command is mainly used as an interface for external tools working
231           with APT to get information as well as filenames for downloaded
232           files so they can use them as well instead of downloading them
233           again on their own. Detailed documentation is omitted here and can
234           instead be found in the file
235           /usr/share/doc/apt/acquire-additional-files.md.gz shipped by the
236           apt-doc package.
237

OPTIONS

239       All command line options may be set using the configuration file, the
240       descriptions indicate the configuration option to set. For boolean
241       options you can override the config file by using something like
242       -f-,--no-f, -f=no or several other variations.
243
244       --no-install-recommends
245           Do not consider recommended packages as a dependency for
246           installing. Configuration Item: APT::Install-Recommends.
247
248       --install-suggests
249           Consider suggested packages as a dependency for installing.
250           Configuration Item: APT::Install-Suggests.
251
252       -d, --download-only
253           Download only; package files are only retrieved, not unpacked or
254           installed. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Download-Only.
255
256       -f, --fix-broken
257           Fix; attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in place.
258           This option, when used with install/remove, can omit any packages
259           to permit APT to deduce a likely solution. If packages are
260           specified, these have to completely correct the problem. The option
261           is sometimes necessary when running APT for the first time; APT
262           itself does not allow broken package dependencies to exist on a
263           system. It is possible that a system's dependency structure can be
264           so corrupt as to require manual intervention (which usually means
265           using dpkg --remove to eliminate some of the offending packages).
266           Use of this option together with -m may produce an error in some
267           situations. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Fix-Broken.
268
269       -m, --ignore-missing, --fix-missing
270           Ignore missing packages; if packages cannot be retrieved or fail
271           the integrity check after retrieval (corrupted package files), hold
272           back those packages and handle the result. Use of this option
273           together with -f may produce an error in some situations. If a
274           package is selected for installation (particularly if it is
275           mentioned on the command line) and it could not be downloaded then
276           it will be silently held back. Configuration Item:
277           APT::Get::Fix-Missing.
278
279       --no-download
280           Disables downloading of packages. This is best used with
281           --ignore-missing to force APT to use only the .debs it has already
282           downloaded. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Download.
283
284       -q, --quiet
285           Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress
286           indicators. More q's will produce more quiet up to a maximum of 2.
287           You can also use -q=# to set the quiet level, overriding the
288           configuration file. Note that quiet level 2 implies -y; you should
289           never use -qq without a no-action modifier such as -d, --print-uris
290           or -s as APT may decide to do something you did not expect.
291           Configuration Item: quiet.
292
293       -s, --simulate, --just-print, --dry-run, --recon, --no-act
294           No action; perform a simulation of events that would occur based on
295           the current system state but do not actually change the system.
296           Locking will be disabled (Debug::NoLocking) so the system state
297           could change while apt-get is running. Simulations can also be
298           executed by non-root users which might not have read access to all
299           apt configuration distorting the simulation. A notice expressing
300           this warning is also shown by default for non-root users
301           (APT::Get::Show-User-Simulation-Note). Configuration Item:
302           APT::Get::Simulate.
303
304           Simulated runs print out a series of lines, each representing a
305           dpkg operation: configure (Conf), remove (Remv) or unpack (Inst).
306           Square brackets indicate broken packages, and empty square brackets
307           indicate breaks that are of no consequence (rare).
308
309       -y, --yes, --assume-yes
310           Automatic yes to prompts; assume "yes" as answer to all prompts and
311           run non-interactively. If an undesirable situation, such as
312           changing a held package, trying to install an unauthenticated
313           package or removing an essential package occurs then apt-get will
314           abort. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Assume-Yes.
315
316       --assume-no
317           Automatic "no" to all prompts. Configuration Item:
318           APT::Get::Assume-No.
319
320       --no-show-upgraded
321           Do not show a list of all packages that are to be upgraded.
322           Configuration Item: APT::Get::Show-Upgraded.
323
324       -V, --verbose-versions
325           Show full versions for upgraded and installed packages.
326           Configuration Item: APT::Get::Show-Versions.
327
328       -a, --host-architecture
329           This option controls the architecture packages are built for by
330           apt-get source --compile and how cross-builddependencies are
331           satisfied. By default is it not set which means that the host
332           architecture is the same as the build architecture (which is
333           defined by APT::Architecture). Configuration Item:
334           APT::Get::Host-Architecture.
335
336       -P, --build-profiles
337           This option controls the activated build profiles for which a
338           source package is built by apt-get source --compile and how build
339           dependencies are satisfied. By default no build profile is active.
340           More than one build profile can be activated at a time by
341           concatenating them with a comma. Configuration Item:
342           APT::Build-Profiles.
343
344       -b, --compile, --build
345           Compile source packages after downloading them. Configuration Item:
346           APT::Get::Compile.
347
348       --ignore-hold
349           Ignore package holds; this causes apt-get to ignore a hold placed
350           on a package. This may be useful in conjunction with dist-upgrade
351           to override a large number of undesired holds. Configuration Item:
352           APT::Ignore-Hold.
353
354       --with-new-pkgs
355           Allow installing new packages when used in conjunction with
356           upgrade. This is useful if the update of an installed package
357           requires new dependencies to be installed. Instead of holding the
358           package back upgrade will upgrade the package and install the new
359           dependencies. Note that upgrade with this option will never remove
360           packages, only allow adding new ones. Configuration Item:
361           APT::Get::Upgrade-Allow-New.
362
363       --no-upgrade
364           Do not upgrade packages; when used in conjunction with install,
365           no-upgrade will prevent packages on the command line from being
366           upgraded if they are already installed. Configuration Item:
367           APT::Get::Upgrade.
368
369       --only-upgrade
370           Do not install new packages; when used in conjunction with install,
371           only-upgrade will install upgrades for already installed packages
372           only and ignore requests to install new packages. Configuration
373           Item: APT::Get::Only-Upgrade.
374
375       --allow-downgrades
376           This is a dangerous option that will cause apt to continue without
377           prompting if it is doing downgrades. It should not be used except
378           in very special situations. Using it can potentially destroy your
379           system! Configuration Item: APT::Get::allow-downgrades. Introduced
380           in APT 1.1.
381
382       --allow-remove-essential
383           Force yes; this is a dangerous option that will cause apt to
384           continue without prompting if it is removing essentials. It should
385           not be used except in very special situations. Using it can
386           potentially destroy your system! Configuration Item:
387           APT::Get::allow-remove-essential. Introduced in APT 1.1.
388
389       --allow-change-held-packages
390           Force yes; this is a dangerous option that will cause apt to
391           continue without prompting if it is changing held packages. It
392           should not be used except in very special situations. Using it can
393           potentially destroy your system! Configuration Item:
394           APT::Get::allow-change-held-packages. Introduced in APT 1.1.
395
396       --force-yes
397           Force yes; this is a dangerous option that will cause apt to
398           continue without prompting if it is doing something potentially
399           harmful. It should not be used except in very special situations.
400           Using force-yes can potentially destroy your system! Configuration
401           Item: APT::Get::force-yes. This is deprecated and replaced by
402           --allow-unauthenticated , --allow-downgrades ,
403           --allow-remove-essential , --allow-change-held-packages in 1.1.
404
405       --print-uris
406           Instead of fetching the files to install their URIs are printed.
407           Each URI will have the path, the destination file name, the size
408           and the expected MD5 hash. Note that the file name to write to will
409           not always match the file name on the remote site! This also works
410           with the source and update commands. When used with the update
411           command the MD5 and size are not included, and it is up to the user
412           to decompress any compressed files. Configuration Item:
413           APT::Get::Print-URIs.
414
415       --purge
416           Use purge instead of remove for anything that would be removed. An
417           asterisk ("*") will be displayed next to packages which are
418           scheduled to be purged.  remove --purge is equivalent to the purge
419           command. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Purge.
420
421       --reinstall
422           Re-install packages that are already installed and at the newest
423           version. Configuration Item: APT::Get::ReInstall.
424
425       --list-cleanup
426           This option is on by default; use --no-list-cleanup to turn it off.
427           When it is on, apt-get will automatically manage the contents of
428           /var/lib/apt/lists to ensure that obsolete files are erased. The
429           only reason to turn it off is if you frequently change your sources
430           list. Configuration Item: APT::Get::List-Cleanup.
431
432       -t, --target-release, --default-release
433           This option controls the default input to the policy engine; it
434           creates a default pin at priority 990 using the specified release
435           string. This overrides the general settings in
436           /etc/apt/preferences. Specifically pinned packages are not affected
437           by the value of this option. In short, this option lets you have
438           simple control over which distribution packages will be retrieved
439           from. Some common examples might be -t '2.1*', -t unstable or -t
440           sid. Configuration Item: APT::Default-Release; see also the
441           apt_preferences(5) manual page.
442
443       --trivial-only
444           Only perform operations that are 'trivial'. Logically this can be
445           considered related to --assume-yes; where --assume-yes will answer
446           yes to any prompt, --trivial-only will answer no. Configuration
447           Item: APT::Get::Trivial-Only.
448
449       --mark-auto
450           After successful installation, mark all freshly installed packages
451           as automatically installed, which will cause each of the packages
452           to be removed when no more manually installed packages depend on
453           this package. This is equally to running apt-mark auto for all
454           installed packages. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Mark-Auto.
455
456       --no-remove
457           If any packages are to be removed apt-get immediately aborts
458           without prompting. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Remove.
459
460       --auto-remove, --autoremove
461           If the command is either install or remove, then this option acts
462           like running the autoremove command, removing unused dependency
463           packages. Configuration Item: APT::Get::AutomaticRemove.
464
465       --only-source
466           Only has meaning for the source and build-dep commands. Indicates
467           that the given source names are not to be mapped through the binary
468           table. This means that if this option is specified, these commands
469           will only accept source package names as arguments, rather than
470           accepting binary package names and looking up the corresponding
471           source package. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Only-Source.
472
473       --diff-only, --dsc-only, --tar-only
474           Download only the diff, dsc, or tar file of a source archive.
475           Configuration Item: APT::Get::Diff-Only, APT::Get::Dsc-Only, and
476           APT::Get::Tar-Only.
477
478       --arch-only
479           Only process architecture-dependent build-dependencies.
480           Configuration Item: APT::Get::Arch-Only.
481
482       --indep-only
483           Only process architecture-independent build-dependencies.
484           Configuration Item: APT::Get::Indep-Only.
485
486       --allow-unauthenticated
487           Ignore if packages can't be authenticated and don't prompt about
488           it. This can be useful while working with local repositories, but
489           is a huge security risk if data authenticity isn't ensured in
490           another way by the user itself. The usage of the Trusted option for
491           sources.list(5) entries should usually be preferred over this
492           global override. Configuration Item:
493           APT::Get::AllowUnauthenticated.
494
495       --no-allow-insecure-repositories
496           Forbid the update command to acquire unverifiable data from
497           configured sources. APT will fail at the update command for
498           repositories without valid cryptographically signatures. See also
499           apt-secure(8) for details on the concept and the implications.
500           Configuration Item: Acquire::AllowInsecureRepositories.
501
502       --allow-releaseinfo-change
503           Allow the update command to continue downloading data from a
504           repository which changed its information of the release contained
505           in the repository indicating e.g a new major release. APT will fail
506           at the update command for such repositories until the change is
507           confirmed to ensure the user is prepared for the change. See also
508           apt-secure(8) for details on the concept and configuration.
509
510           Specialist options (--allow-releaseinfo-change-field) exist to
511           allow changes only for certain fields like origin, label, codename,
512           suite, version and defaultpin. See also apt_preferences(5).
513           Configuration Item: Acquire::AllowReleaseInfoChange.
514
515       --show-progress
516           Show user friendly progress information in the terminal window when
517           packages are installed, upgraded or removed. For a machine parsable
518           version of this data see README.progress-reporting in the apt doc
519           directory. Configuration Items: Dpkg::Progress and
520           Dpkg::Progress-Fancy.
521
522       --with-source filename
523           Adds the given file as a source for metadata. Can be repeated to
524           add multiple files. See --with-source description in apt-cache(8)
525           for further details.
526
527       -eany, --error-on=any
528           Fail the update command if any error occured, even a transient one.
529
530       -h, --help
531           Show a short usage summary.
532
533       -v, --version
534           Show the program version.
535
536       -c, --config-file
537           Configuration File; Specify a configuration file to use. The
538           program will read the default configuration file and then this
539           configuration file. If configuration settings need to be set before
540           the default configuration files are parsed specify a file with the
541           APT_CONFIG environment variable. See apt.conf(5) for syntax
542           information.
543
544       -o, --option
545           Set a Configuration Option; This will set an arbitrary
546           configuration option. The syntax is -o Foo::Bar=bar.  -o and
547           --option can be used multiple times to set different options.
548

FILES

550       /etc/apt/sources.list
551           Locations to fetch packages from. Configuration Item:
552           Dir::Etc::SourceList.
553
554       /etc/apt/sources.list.d/
555           File fragments for locations to fetch packages from. Configuration
556           Item: Dir::Etc::SourceParts.
557
558       /etc/apt/apt.conf
559           APT configuration file. Configuration Item: Dir::Etc::Main.
560
561       /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/
562           APT configuration file fragments. Configuration Item:
563           Dir::Etc::Parts.
564
565       /etc/apt/preferences
566           Version preferences file. This is where you would specify
567           "pinning", i.e. a preference to get certain packages from a
568           separate source or from a different version of a distribution.
569           Configuration Item: Dir::Etc::Preferences.
570
571       /etc/apt/preferences.d/
572           File fragments for the version preferences. Configuration Item:
573           Dir::Etc::PreferencesParts.
574
575       /var/cache/apt/archives/
576           Storage area for retrieved package files. Configuration Item:
577           Dir::Cache::Archives.
578
579       /var/cache/apt/archives/partial/
580           Storage area for package files in transit. Configuration Item:
581           Dir::Cache::Archives (partial will be implicitly appended)
582
583       /var/lib/apt/lists/
584           Storage area for state information for each package resource
585           specified in sources.list(5) Configuration Item: Dir::State::Lists.
586
587       /var/lib/apt/lists/partial/
588           Storage area for state information in transit. Configuration Item:
589           Dir::State::Lists (partial will be implicitly appended)
590

SEE ALSO

592       apt-cache(8), apt-cdrom(8), dpkg(1), sources.list(5), apt.conf(5), apt-
593       config(8), apt-secure(8), The APT User's guide in
594       /usr/share/doc/apt-doc/, apt_preferences(5), the APT Howto.
595

DIAGNOSTICS

597       apt-get returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error.
598

BUGS

600       APT bug page[1]. If you wish to report a bug in APT, please see
601       /usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt or the reportbug(1) command.
602

AUTHORS

604       Jason Gunthorpe
605
606       APT team
607

NOTES

609        1. APT bug page
610           http://bugs.debian.org/src:apt
611
612
613
614APT 2.3.11                      08 January 2021                     APT-GET(8)
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