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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><title>aptitude</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="aptitude.css" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.79.1" /><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="aptitude user's manual" /><link rel="up" href="rn01.html" title="Command-line reference" /><link rel="prev" href="rn01.html" title="Command-line reference" /><link rel="next" href="rn01re02.html" title="aptitude-create-state-bundle" /><link rel="preface" href="pr01.html" title="Introduction" /><link rel="chapter" href="ch01.html" title="Chapter 1. Getting started" /><link rel="chapter" href="ch02.html" title="Chapter 2. aptitude reference guide" /><link rel="chapter" href="ch03.html" title="Chapter 3. aptitude frequently asked questions" /><link rel="chapter" href="ch04.html" title="Chapter 4. Credits" /><link rel="reference" href="rn01.html" title="Command-line reference" /><link rel="refentry" href="rn01re01.html" title="aptitude" /><link rel="refentry" href="rn01re02.html" title="aptitude-create-state-bundle" /><link rel="refentry" href="rn01re03.html" title="aptitude-run-state-bundle" /><link rel="section" href="rn01re01.html#idm8352" title="Description" /><link rel="section" href="rn01re01.html#idm8357" title="Command-line actions" /><link rel="section" href="rn01re01.html#idm8899" title="Options" /><link rel="section" href="rn01re01.html#idm9679" title="Environment" /><link rel="section" href="rn01re01.html#idm9722" title="Files" /><link rel="section" href="rn01re01.html#idm9744" title="See also" /></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">aptitude</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="rn01.html"><img src="images/prev.gif" alt="Prev" /></a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Command-line reference</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="rn01re02.html"><img src="images/next.gif" alt="Next" /></a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="refentry"><a id="idm8243"></a><div class="titlepage"></div><div class="refnamediv"><h2>Name</h2><p>aptitude — high-level interface to the package manager</p></div><div class="refsynopsisdiv"><h2>Synopsis</h2><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">aptitude</code> [<em class="replaceable"><code>options</code></em>...] { autoclean | clean | forget-new | keep-all | update }</p></div><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">aptitude</code> [<em class="replaceable"><code>options</code></em>...] { full-upgrade | safe-upgrade } [<em class="replaceable"><code>packages</code></em>...]</p></div><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">aptitude</code> [<em class="replaceable"><code>options</code></em>...] { build-dep | build-depends | changelog | download | forbid-version | hold | install | markauto | purge | reinstall | remove | show | showsrc | source | unhold | unmarkauto | versions } <em class="replaceable"><code>packages</code></em>... </p></div><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">aptitude</code> extract-cache-subset <em class="replaceable"><code>output-directory</code></em> <em class="replaceable"><code>packages</code></em>... </p></div><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">aptitude</code> [<em class="replaceable"><code>options</code></em>...] search <em class="replaceable"><code>patterns</code></em>... </p></div><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">aptitude</code> [<em class="replaceable"><code>options</code></em>...] { add-user-tag | remove-user-tag } <em class="replaceable"><code>tag</code></em> <em class="replaceable"><code>packages</code></em>... </p></div><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">aptitude</code> [<em class="replaceable"><code>options</code></em>...] { why | why-not } [<em class="replaceable"><code>patterns</code></em>...] <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em> </p></div><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">aptitude</code> [-S <em class="replaceable"><code>fname</code></em>] [ --autoclean-on-startup | --clean-on-startup | -i | -u ]</p></div><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">aptitude</code> help </p></div></div><div class="refsect1"><a id="idm8352"></a><h2>Description</h2><p>
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> is a text-based interface to the Debian GNU/Linux
package system.
</p><p>
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 a visual interface or from the command-line.
</p></div><div class="refsect1"><a id="idm8357"></a><h2>Command-line actions</h2><p>
The first argument which does not begin with a hyphen (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">-</code></span>”</span>)
is considered to be an action that the program should
perform. If an action is not specified on the command-line,
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will start up in visual mode.
</p><p>
The following actions are available:
</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><a id="cmdlineInstall"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">install</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Install one or more packages. The packages should be
listed after the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">install</span>”</span> command; if a
package name contains a tilde character
(<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">~</code></span>”</span>) or a question mark
(<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">?</code></span>”</span>), it will be treated
as a search pattern and every package matching the pattern
will be installed (see the section <a class="link" href="ch02s04.html" title="Search patterns"><span class="quote">“<span class="quote">Search
Patterns</span>”</span></a> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference
manual).
</p><p>
To select a particular version of the package, append <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">=<em class="replaceable"><code>version</code></em></code></span>”</span>
to the package name: for instance, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude install
apt=0.3.1</code></span>”</span>. Similarly, to select a
package from a particular archive, append <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">/<em class="replaceable"><code>archive</code></em></code></span>”</span>
to the package name: for instance, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude install
apt/experimental</code></span>”</span>. You cannot specify both an archive and a version for a package.
</p><p><a id="parOverrideSpecifiers"></a>
Not every package listed on the command line has to be
installed; you can tell <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> to do something
different with a package by appending an <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">override
specifier</span>”</span> to the name of the package. For
example, <code class="literal">aptitude remove wesnoth+</code> will
install <code class="literal">wesnoth</code>, not remove it. The
following override specifiers are available:
</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em><code class="literal">+</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Install <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>.
</p><p>
If the package was not installed, it is marked as manually
installed, and the dependencies newly installed are marked
with the automatic flag. If the package or the dependencies
were already installed, the automatic flag is preserved. See
the <a class="link" href="ch02s02s06.html" title="Managing automatically installed packages">section about automatic
installations</a> in the documentation for more
information.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em><code class="literal">+M</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Install <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em> and
immediately mark it as <a class="link" href="ch02s02s06.html" title="Managing automatically installed packages">automatically
installed</a> (note that if nothing depends on
<em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>, this will cause
it to be immediately removed).
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em><code class="literal">-</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Remove <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em><code class="literal">_</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Purge <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>: remove it
and all its associated configuration and data files.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em><code class="literal">=</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Place <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em> on hold:
cancel any active installation, upgrade, or removal,
and prevent this package from being automatically
upgraded in the future.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em><code class="literal">:</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Keep <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em> at its
current version: cancel any installation, removal,
or upgrade. Unlike <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">hold</span>”</span> (above) this
does not prevent automatic upgrades in the future.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em><code class="literal">&M</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Mark <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em> as having
been <a class="link" href="ch02s02s06.html" title="Managing automatically installed packages">automatically installed</a>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em><code class="literal">&m</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Mark <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em> as having
been <a class="link" href="ch02s02s06.html" title="Managing automatically installed packages">manually installed</a>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em><code class="literal">&BD</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Install the build-dependencies of a
<em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>.
</p></dd></dl></div><p>
As a special case, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">install</code></span>”</span> with no
arguments will act on any stored/pending actions.
</p><div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><table border="0" summary="Note"><tr><td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Note]" src="images/note.png" /></td><th align="left">Note</th></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
Once you enter <strong class="userinput"><code>Y</code></strong> at the final
confirmation prompt, the
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">install</code></span>”</span> command will
modify <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span>'s stored information about what
actions to perform. Therefore, if you issue (e.g.) the
command <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude install foo
bar</code></span>”</span> on packages previously uninstalled,
and then the installation fails once <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> has started
downloading and installing packages, you will need to run
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude remove foo bar</code></span>”</span> to go
back to the previous state (and possibly undo installations or
upgrades to other packages that were affected by the
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">install</code></span>”</span> action).
</p></td></tr></table></div></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">remove</code>, <code class="literal">purge</code>, <code class="literal">reinstall</code></span></dt><dd><p>
These commands are the same as
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">install</code></span>”</span>, but apply the
named action to all packages given on the command line for
which it is not <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#parOverrideSpecifiers">overridden</a>.
</p><p>
For instance, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude remove
'~ndeity'</code></span>”</span> will remove all packages
whose name contains <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">deity</code></span>”</span>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">build-depends</code>, <code class="literal">build-dep</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Satisfy the build-dependencies of a package. Each package
name may be a source package, in which case the build
dependencies of that source package are installed;
otherwise, binary packages are found in the same way as
for the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">install</code></span>”</span> command,
and the build-dependencies of the source packages that
build those binary packages are satisfied.
</p><p>
If the command-line parameter
<code class="literal">--arch-only</code> is present, only
architecture-dependent build dependencies (i.e., not
<code class="literal">Build-Depends-Indep</code> or
<code class="literal">Build-Conflicts-Indep</code>) will be
obeyed.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">markauto</code>, <code class="literal">unmarkauto</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Mark packages as automatically installed or manually
installed, respectively. Packages are specified in
exactly the same way as for the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">install</code></span>”</span> command.
For instance, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude markauto
'~slibs'</code></span>”</span> will mark all packages in
the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">libs</code></span>”</span> section as
having been automatically installed.
</p><p>
For more information on automatically installed
packages, see the section <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s02s06.html" title="Managing automatically installed packages">Managing Automatically
Installed Packages</a></span>”</span> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span>
reference manual.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">hold</code>, <code class="literal">unhold</code>, <code class="literal">keep</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Mark packages to be on hold, remove this property, or set to keep in
the current state. Packages are specified in exactly the same way
as for the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">install</code></span>”</span> command. For
instance, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude hold '~e^dpkg$'</code></span>”</span>
will mark all packages coming from the source package
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">dpkg</code></span>”</span> to be on hold.
</p><p>
The difference between <code class="literal">hold</code> and
<code class="literal">keep</code> is that <code class="literal">hold</code> will cause a
package to be ignored by future <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageSafeUpgrade"><code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code></a>
or <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageFullUpgrade"><code class="literal">full-upgrade</code></a>
commands, while <code class="literal">keep</code> merely cancels any scheduled
actions on the package. <code class="literal">unhold</code> will allow a
package to be upgraded by future <code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code> or
<a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageFullUpgrade"><code class="literal">full-upgrade</code></a>
commands, without otherwise altering its state.
</p></dd><dt><a id="manpageKeepAll"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">keep-all</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Cancels all scheduled actions on all packages; any
packages whose sticky state indicates an installation,
removal, or upgrade will have this sticky state cleared.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineForgetNew"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">forget-new</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Forgets all internal information about what packages are
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">new</span>”</span> (equivalent to pressing
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><span class="keycap"><strong>f</strong></span></span>”</span> when in visual mode).
</p><p>
This command accepts package names or patterns as arguments. If the
string contains a tilde character
(<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">~</code></span>”</span>) or a question mark
(<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">?</code></span>”</span>), it will be treated as a
search pattern and every package matching the pattern will be
considered (see the section <a class="link" href="ch02s04.html" title="Search patterns"><span class="quote">“<span class="quote">Search Patterns</span>”</span></a> in
the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference manual).
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">forbid-version</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Forbid a package from being upgraded to a particular version, while
allowing automatic upgrades to future versions. This is useful for
example to avoid a known broken version of a package, without having
to set and clear manual holds.
</p><p>
By default, <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will select the forbidden version to be the
one which the package would normally be upgraded (the candidate
version). This may be overridden by appending
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">=<em class="replaceable"><code>version</code></em></code></span>”</span>
to the package name: for instance, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude
forbid-version vim=1.2.3.broken-4</code></span>”</span>.
</p><p>
To revert the action, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude install
<em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em></code></span>”</span> will remove the
ban. To remove the forbidden version without installing the
candidate version, the current version should be appended:
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">install
<em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em><code class="literal">=<em class="replaceable"><code>version</code></em></code></span>”</span>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">update</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Updates the list of available packages from the <code class="systemitem">apt</code>
sources (this is equivalent to <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">apt-get
update</code></span>”</span>)
</p></dd><dt><a id="manpageSafeUpgrade"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Upgrades installed packages to their most recent version.
Installed packages will not be removed unless they are
unused (see the section <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s02s06.html" title="Managing automatically installed packages">Managing Automatically Installed
Packages</a></span>”</span> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference
manual). Packages which are not currently installed may
be installed to resolve dependencies unless the <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineOptionNoNewInstalls"><code class="literal">--no-new-installs</code></a>
command-line option is supplied.
</p><p>
If no <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>s are listed on
the command line, <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will attempt to upgrade every
package that can be upgraded. Otherwise, <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will
attempt to upgrade only the packages which it is
instructed to upgrade. The
<em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>s can be extended with
suffixes in the same manner as arguments to
<code class="literal">aptitude install</code>, so you can also give
additional instructions to <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> here; for instance,
<code class="literal">aptitude safe-upgrade bash dash-</code> will
attempt to upgrade the <code class="systemitem">bash</code>
package and remove the <code class="systemitem">dash</code>
package.
</p><p>
It is sometimes necessary to remove one package in order
to upgrade another; this command is not able to upgrade
packages in such situations. Use the <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageFullUpgrade"><code class="literal">full-upgrade</code></a>
command to upgrade as many packages as possible.
</p></dd><dt><a id="manpageFullUpgrade"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">full-upgrade</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Upgrades installed packages to their most recent version,
removing or installing packages as necessary. It also installs new
Essential or Required packages. This command is less conservative
than <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageSafeUpgrade"><code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code></a>
and thus more likely to perform unwanted actions.
However, it is capable of upgrading packages that <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageSafeUpgrade"><code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code></a>
cannot upgrade.
</p><p>
If no <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>s are listed on
the command line, <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will attempt to upgrade every
package that can be upgraded. Otherwise, <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will
attempt to upgrade only the packages which it is
instructed to upgrade. The
<em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>s can be extended with
suffixes in the same manner as arguments to
<code class="literal">aptitude install</code>, so you can also give
additional instructions to <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> here; for instance,
<code class="literal">aptitude full-upgrade bash dash-</code> will
attempt to upgrade the <code class="systemitem">bash</code>
package and remove the <code class="systemitem">dash</code>
package.
</p><div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><table border="0" summary="Note"><tr><td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Note]" src="images/note.png" /></td><th align="left">Note</th></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
This command was originally named
<code class="literal">dist-upgrade</code> for historical reasons,
and <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> still recognizes
<code class="literal">dist-upgrade</code> as a synonym for
<code class="literal">full-upgrade</code>.
</p></td></tr></table></div></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineSearch"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">search</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Searches for packages matching one of the patterns
supplied on the command line. All packages which
match any of the given patterns will be displayed; for
instance, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude search
'~N' edit</code></span>”</span> will list all <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">new</span>”</span> packages and all packages whose name contains <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">edit</span>”</span>. For more information on
search patterns, see the section <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s04.html" title="Search patterns">Search
Patterns</a></span>”</span> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference
manual.
</p><div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><table border="0" summary="Note"><tr><td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Note]" src="images/note.png" /></td><th align="left">Note</th></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
In the example above, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude search
'~N' edit</code></span>”</span> has two arguments after
<code class="literal">search</code> and thus is searching for
<span class="emphasis"><em>two</em></span> patterns:
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">~N</code></span>”</span> and
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">edit</code></span>”</span>. As described in
the <a class="link" href="ch02s04.html" title="Search patterns">search pattern
reference</a>, a <span class="emphasis"><em>single</em></span> pattern
composed of two sub-patterns separated by a space (such
as <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">~N edit</code></span>”</span>) matches
only if <span class="emphasis"><em>both</em></span> patterns match. Thus,
the command <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude search '~N
edit'</code></span>”</span> will only show
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">new</span>”</span> packages whose name contains
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">edit</span>”</span>.
</p></td></tr></table></div><p>
Unless you pass the <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineOptionFormat"><code class="literal">-F</code></a> option, the output of
<code class="literal">aptitude search</code> will look something
like this:
</p><pre class="screen">i apt - Advanced front-end for dpkg
pi apt-build - frontend to apt to build, optimize and in
cp apt-file - APT package searching utility -- command-
ihA raptor-utils - Raptor RDF Parser utilities</pre><p>
Each search result is listed on a separate line. The
first character of each line indicates the current state
of the package: the most common states are
<code class="literal">p</code>, meaning that no trace of the package
exists on the system, <code class="literal">c</code>, meaning that
the package was deleted but its configuration files remain
on the system, <code class="literal">i</code>, meaning that the
package is installed, and <code class="literal">v</code>, meaning
that the package is virtual. The second character
indicates the stored action (if any; otherwise a blank
space is displayed) to be performed on the package, with
the most common actions being <code class="literal">i</code>,
meaning that the package will be installed,
<code class="literal">d</code>, meaning that the package will be
deleted, and <code class="literal">p</code>, meaning that the
package and its configuration files will be removed. If
the third character is <code class="literal">A</code>, the package
was automatically installed.
</p><p>
For a complete list of the possible state and action
flags, see the section <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s02s02.html" title="Accessing package information">Accessing Package
Information</a></span>”</span> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference
guide. To customize the output of
<code class="literal">search</code>, see the command-line options
<a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineOptionFormat"><code class="literal">-F</code></a>
and <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineOptionSort"><code class="literal">--sort</code></a>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">show</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Displays detailed information about one or more packages. If a
package name contains a tilde character
(<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">~</code></span>”</span>) or a question mark
(<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">?</code></span>”</span>), it will be treated as a
search pattern and all matching packages will be displayed (see the
section <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s04.html" title="Search patterns">Search
Patterns</a></span>”</span> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference manual).
</p><p>
If the verbosity level is 1 or greater (i.e., at least one <code class="literal">-v</code>
is present on the command-line), information about all
versions of the package is displayed. Otherwise, information about
the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">candidate version</span>”</span> (the version
that <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude install</code></span>”</span>
would download) is displayed.
</p><p>
You can display information about a different version of
the package by appending
<code class="literal">=<em class="replaceable"><code>version</code></em></code> to
the package name; you can display the version from a
particular archive or release by appending
<code class="literal">/<em class="replaceable"><code>archive</code></em></code> or
<code class="literal">/<em class="replaceable"><code>release</code></em></code> to
the package name: for instance,
<code class="literal">/unstable</code> or <code class="literal">/sid</code>.
If either of these is present, then only the version you
request will be displayed, regardless of the verbosity
level.
</p><p>
If the verbosity level is 1 or greater, the package's
architecture, compressed size, filename, and md5sum fields
will be displayed. If the verbosity level is 2 or
greater, the select version or versions will be displayed
once for each archive in which they are found.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">showsrc</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Displays detailed information about one or more source packages.
</p><p>
This is a thin wrapper over
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">apt</span>(8)</span>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">source</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Downloads one or more source packages.
</p><p>
This is a thin wrapper over
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">apt</span>(8)</span>.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineVersions"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">versions</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Displays the versions of the packages listed on the
command-line.
</p><pre class="screen">$ aptitude versions wesnoth
p 1:1.4.5-1 100
p 1:1.6.5-1 unstable 500
p 1:1.7.14-1 experimental 1</pre><p>
Each version is listed on a separate line. The leftmost
three characters indicate the current state, planned state
(if any), and whether the package was automatically
installed; for more information on their meanings, see
<a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineSearch">the documentation of
<code class="literal">aptitude search</code></a>. To the right
of the version number you can find the releases from which
the version is available, and the pin priority of the
version.
</p><p>
If a package name contains a tilde character
(<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">~</code></span>”</span>) or a question mark
(<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">?</code></span>”</span>), it will be treated
as a search pattern and all matching
<span class="emphasis"><em>versions</em></span> will be displayed (see the
section <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s04.html" title="Search patterns">Search
Patterns</a></span>”</span> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference
manual). This means that, for instance, <code class="literal">aptitude
versions '~i'</code> will display all the versions that
are currently installed on the system and nothing else,
not even other versions of the same packages.
</p><pre class="screen">$ aptitude versions '~nexim4-daemon-light'
Package exim4-daemon-light:
i 4.71-3 100
p 4.71-4 unstable 500
Package exim4-daemon-light-dbg:
p 4.71-4 unstable 500</pre><p>
If the input is a search pattern, or if more than one
package's versions are to be displayed, <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will
automatically group the output by package, as shown above.
You can disable this via <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineGroupBy">--group-by</a>=none</code>,
in which case <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will display a single list of all
the versions that were found and automatically include the
package name in each output line:
</p><pre class="screen">$ aptitude versions --group-by=none '~nexim4-daemon-light'
i exim4-daemon-light 4.71-3 100
p exim4-daemon-light 4.71-4 unstable 500
p exim4-daemon-light-dbg 4.71-4 unstable 500</pre><p>
To disable the package name, pass
<code class="literal"><a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineShowPackageNames">--show-package-names</a>=never</code>:
</p><pre class="screen">$ aptitude versions --show-package-names=never --group-by=none '~nexim4-daemon-light'
i 4.71-3 100
p 4.71-4 unstable 500
p 4.71-4 unstable 500</pre><p>
In addition to the above options, the information printed
for each version can be controlled by the command-line
option <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineOptionFormat"><code class="literal">-F</code></a>.
The order in which versions are displayed can be
controlled by the command-line option <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineOptionSort"><code class="literal">--sort</code></a>.
To prevent <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> from formatting the output into
columns, use <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineOptionDisableColumns"><code class="literal">--disable-columns</code></a>.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineAddOrRemoveUserTags"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">add-user-tag</code>, <code class="literal">remove-user-tag</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Adds a user tag to or removes a user tag from the selected
group of packages. If a package name contains a tilde
(<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">~</code></span>”</span>) or question mark
(<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">?</code></span>”</span>), it is treated as a
search pattern and the tag is added to or removed from all
the packages that match the pattern (see the section
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s04.html" title="Search patterns">Search
Patterns</a></span>”</span> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference
manual).
</p><p>
User tags are arbitrary strings associated with a package.
They can be used with the <a class="link" href="ch02s04s05.html#searchUserTag"><code class="literal">?user-tag(<em class="replaceable"><code>tag</code></em>)</code></a>
search term, which will select all the packages that have
a user tag matching <em class="replaceable"><code>tag</code></em>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">why</code>, <code class="literal">why-not</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Explains the reason that a particular package should or
cannot be installed on the system.
</p><p>
This command searches for packages that require or
conflict with the given package. It displays a sequence
of dependencies leading to the target package, along with
a note indicating the installed state of each package in
the dependency chain:
</p><pre class="screen">$ aptitude why kdepim
i nautilus-data Recommends nautilus
i A nautilus Recommends desktop-base (>= 0.2)
i A desktop-base Suggests gnome | kde | xfce4 | wmaker
p kde Depends kdepim (>= 4:3.4.3)</pre><p>
The command <code class="literal">why</code> finds a dependency
chain that installs the package named on the command line,
as above. Note that the dependency that <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> produced
in this case is only a suggestion. This is because no
package currently installed on this computer depends on or
recommends the <code class="systemitem">kdepim</code> package; if
a stronger dependency were available, <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> would have
displayed it.
</p><p>
In contrast, <code class="literal">why-not</code> finds a
dependency chain leading to a conflict
with the target package:
</p><pre class="screen">$ aptitude why-not textopo
i ocaml-core Depends ocamlweb
i A ocamlweb Depends tetex-extra | texlive-latex-extra
i A texlive-latex-extra Conflicts textopo</pre><p>
If one or more <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>s are present (in
addition to the mandatory last argument, which should be a valid
<em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em> name), then <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will begin
its search at these patterns. That is, the first package in the
chain it prints to explain why <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em> is
or is not installed, will be a package matching the pattern in
question. The patterns are considered to be package names unless
they contain a tilde character (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">~</code></span>”</span>)
or a question mark (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">?</code></span>”</span>), in which
case they are treated as search patterns (see the section
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s04.html" title="Search patterns">Search
Patterns</a></span>”</span> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference manual).
</p><p>
If no patterns are present, then <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will search
for dependency chains beginning at manually installed
packages. This effectively shows the packages that have
caused or would cause a given package to be installed.
</p><div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><table border="0" summary="Note"><tr><td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Note]" src="images/note.png" /></td><th align="left">Note</th></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
<code class="literal">aptitude why</code> does not perform full
dependency resolution; it only displays direct
relationships between packages. For instance, if A
requires B, C requires D, and B and C conflict,
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude why-not D</code></span>”</span>
will not produce the answer <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">A depends on B, B
conflicts with C, and D depends on C</span>”</span>.
</p></td></tr></table></div><p>
By default <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> outputs only the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">most
installed, strongest, tightest, shortest</span>”</span>
dependency chain. That is, it looks for a chain that only
contains packages which are installed or will be
installed; it looks for the strongest possible
dependencies under that restriction; it looks for chains
that avoid ORed dependencies and Provides; and it looks
for the shortest dependency chain meeting those criteria.
These rules are progressively weakened until a match is
found.
</p><p>
If the verbosity level is 1 or more, then
<span class="emphasis"><em>all</em></span> the explanations <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> can
find will be displayed, in inverse order of relevance. If
the verbosity level is 2 or more, a truly excessive amount
of debugging information will be printed to standard
output.
</p><p>
This command returns 0 if successful, 1 if no explanation
could be constructed, and -1 if an error occurred.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">clean</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Removes all previously downloaded <code class="literal">.deb</code> files from the package cache
directory (usually <code class="filename">/var/cache/apt/archives</code>).
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">autoclean</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Removes any cached packages which can no longer be
downloaded. This allows you to prevent a cache from
growing out of control over time without completely
emptying it.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">changelog</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Downloads and displays the Debian changelog for each of
the given source or binary packages.
</p><p>
By default, the changelog for the version which would be
installed with <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude
install</code></span>”</span> is downloaded. You can select a
particular version of a package by appending
<code class="literal">=<em class="replaceable"><code>version</code></em></code> to
the package name; you can select the version from a
particular archive or release by appending
<code class="literal">/<em class="replaceable"><code>archive</code></em></code> or
<code class="literal">/<em class="replaceable"><code>release</code></em></code> to
the package name (for instance,
<code class="literal">/unstable</code> or <code class="literal">/sid</code>).
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">download</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Downloads the <code class="literal">.deb</code> file for the given
package to the current directory.
</p><p>
This is a thin wrapper over
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">apt</span>(8)</span>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">extract-cache-subset</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Copy the <code class="systemitem">apt</code> configuration directory
(<code class="literal">/etc/apt</code>) and a subset of the package
database to the specified directory. If no packages are
listed, the entire package database is copied; otherwise
only the entries corresponding to the named packages are
copied. Each package name may be a search pattern, and
all the packages matching that pattern will be selected
(see the section <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s04.html" title="Search patterns">Search Patterns</a></span>”</span>
in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference manual). Any existing package
database files in the output directory will be
overwritten.
</p><p>
Dependencies in binary package stanzas will be rewritten
to remove references to packages not in the selected set.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">help</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Displays a brief summary of the available commands and
options.
</p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect1"><a id="idm8899"></a><h2>Options</h2><p>
The following options may be used to modify the behavior of
the actions described above. Note that while all options
will be accepted for all commands, some options don't apply
to particular commands and will be ignored by those
commands.
</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--add-user-tag <em class="replaceable"><code>tag</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
For <code class="literal">full-upgrade</code>,
<code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code>, <code class="literal">forbid-version</code>,
<code class="literal">hold</code>, <code class="literal">install</code>,
<code class="literal">keep-all</code>, <code class="literal">markauto</code>,
<code class="literal">unmarkauto</code>, <code class="literal">purge</code>,
<code class="literal">reinstall</code>, <code class="literal">remove</code>,
<code class="literal">unhold</code>, and <code class="literal">unmarkauto</code>: add
the user tag <em class="replaceable"><code>tag</code></em> to all packages that are
installed, removed, or upgraded by this command as if with the <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineAddOrRemoveUserTags"><code class="literal">add-user-tag</code></a>
command.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--add-user-tag-to <em class="replaceable"><code>tag</code></em>,<em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
For <code class="literal">full-upgrade</code>,
<code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code>, <code class="literal">forbid-version</code>,
<code class="literal">hold</code>, <code class="literal">install</code>,
<code class="literal">keep-all</code>, <code class="literal">markauto</code>,
<code class="literal">unmarkauto</code>, <code class="literal">purge</code>,
<code class="literal">reinstall</code>, <code class="literal">remove</code>,
<code class="literal">unhold</code>, and <code class="literal">unmarkauto</code>: add
the user tag <em class="replaceable"><code>tag</code></em> to all packages that
match <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> as if with the <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineAddOrRemoveUserTags"><code class="literal">add-user-tag</code></a>
command. The pattern is a search pattern as described in the
section <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s04.html" title="Search patterns">Search
Patterns</a></span>”</span> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference manual.
</p><p>
For instance, <code class="literal">aptitude safe-upgrade
--add-user-tag-to "new-installs,?action(install)"</code>
will add the tag <code class="literal">new-installs</code> to all
the packages installed by the <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageSafeUpgrade"><code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code></a>
command.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--allow-new-upgrades</code></span></dt><dd><p>
When the safe resolver is being used (i.e., <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineSafeResolver"><code class="literal">--safe-resolver</code></a>
was passed, the action is <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageSafeUpgrade"><code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code></a>,
or <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configAlways-Use-Safe-Resolver"><code class="literal">Aptitude::Always-Use-Safe-Resolver</code></a>
is set to <code class="literal">true</code>), allow the dependency
resolver to install upgrades for packages regardless of
the value of <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configSafe-Resolver-No-New-Upgrades"><code class="literal">Aptitude::Safe-Resolver::No-New-Upgrades</code></a>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--allow-new-installs</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Allow the <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageSafeUpgrade"><code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code></a>
command to install new packages; when the safe resolver is
being used (i.e., <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineSafeResolver"><code class="literal">--safe-resolver</code></a>
was passed, the action is <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageSafeUpgrade"><code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code></a>,
or <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configAlways-Use-Safe-Resolver"><code class="literal">Aptitude::Always-Use-Safe-Resolver</code></a>
is set to <code class="literal">true</code>), allow the dependency
resolver to install new packages. This option takes
effect regardless of the value of <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configSafe-Resolver-No-New-Installs"><code class="literal">Aptitude::Safe-Resolver::No-New-Installs</code></a>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--allow-untrusted</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Install packages from untrusted sources without prompting.
You should only use this if you know what you are doing,
as it could easily compromise your system's security.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineOptionDisableColumns"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">--disable-columns</code></span></dt><dd><p>
This option causes <code class="literal">aptitude search</code> and
<code class="literal">aptitude versions</code> to
output their results without any special formatting. In
particular: normally <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will add whitespace or
truncate search results in an attempt to fit its results
into vertical <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">columns</span>”</span>. With this flag,
each line will be formed by replacing any format escapes
in the format string with the corresponding text; column
widths will be ignored.
</p><p>
For instance, the first few lines of output from <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude search -F '%p %V' --disable-columns libedataserver</code></span>”</span> might be:
</p><pre class="screen">disksearch 1.2.1-3
hp-search-mac 0.1.3
libbsearch-ruby 1.5-5
libbsearch-ruby1.8 1.5-5
libclass-dbi-abstractsearch-perl 0.07-2
libdbix-fulltextsearch-perl 0.73-10</pre><p>
As in the above example,
<code class="literal">--disable-columns</code> is often useful in
combination with a custom display format set using the
command-line option <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineOptionFormat"><code class="literal">-F</code></a>.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option
<code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Disable-Columns">Aptitude::CmdLine::Disable-Columns</a></code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-D</code>, <code class="literal">--show-deps</code></span></dt><dd><p>
For commands that will install or remove packages
(<code class="literal">install</code>, <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageFullUpgrade"><code class="literal">full-upgrade</code></a>,
etc), show brief explanations of automatic installations
and removals.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Show-Deps">Aptitude::CmdLine::Show-Deps</a></code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-d</code>, <code class="literal">--download-only</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Download packages to the package cache as necessary, but
do not install or remove anything. By default, the
package cache is stored in
<code class="filename">/var/cache/apt/archives</code>.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Download-Only">Aptitude::CmdLine::Download-Only</a></code>.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineOptionFormat"></a><span class="term">
<code class="literal">-F</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>format</code></em>, <code class="literal">--display-format</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>format</code></em>
</span></dt><dd><p>
Specify the format which should be used to display
output from the <code class="literal">search</code> and
<code class="literal">versions</code> commands.
For instance, passing <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">%p %v %V</code></span>”</span>
for <em class="replaceable"><code>format</code></em> will display a package's name,
followed by its currently installed version and its
candidate version (see the section <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s01.html#secDisplayFormat" title="Customizing how packages are displayed">Customizing how packages are displayed</a></span>”</span> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference manual for more information).
</p><p>
The command-line option <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineOptionDisableColumns"><code class="literal">--disable-columns</code></a>
is often useful in combination with <code class="literal">-F</code>.
</p><p>
For <code class="literal">search</code>, this corresponds to the configuration option <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Package-Display-Format">Aptitude::CmdLine::Package-Display-Format</a></code>;
for <code class="literal">versions</code>, this corresponds to the
configuration option <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Version-Display-Format">Aptitude::CmdLine::Version-Display-Format</a></code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-f</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Try hard to fix the dependencies of broken packages, even
if it means ignoring the actions requested on the command
line.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration item <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Fix-Broken">Aptitude::CmdLine::Fix-Broken</a></code>.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineFullResolver"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">--full-resolver</code></span></dt><dd><p>
When package dependency problems are encountered, use the
default <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">full</span>”</span> resolver to solve them.
Unlike the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">safe</span>”</span> resolver activated by <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineSafeResolver"><code class="literal">--safe-resolver</code></a>,
the full resolver will happily remove packages to fulfill
dependencies. It can resolve more situations than the
safe algorithm, but its solutions are more likely to be
undesirable.
</p><p>
This option can be used to force the use of the full
resolver even when <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configAlways-Use-Safe-Resolver"><code class="literal">Aptitude::Always-Use-Safe-Resolver</code></a>
is true.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineGroupBy"></a><span class="term">
<code class="literal">--group-by</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>grouping-mode</code></em>
</span></dt><dd><p>
Control how the <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineVersions"><code class="literal">versions</code></a>
command groups its output. The following values are
recognized:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">archive</code> to group packages by the
archive they occur in
(<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">stable</code></span>”</span>,
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">unstable</code></span>”</span>, etc). If
a package occurs in several archives, it will be
displayed in each of them.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">auto</code> to group versions by their
package unless there is exactly one argument and it is
not a search pattern.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">none</code> to display all the versions in
a single list without any grouping.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">package</code> to group versions by their
package.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">source-package</code> to group versions by
their source package.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">source-version</code> to group versions by
their source package and source version.
</p></li></ul></div><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option
<code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Versions-Group-By">Aptitude::CmdLine::Versions-Group-By</a></code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term">
<code class="literal">-h</code>, <code class="literal">--help</code>
</span></dt><dd><p>
Display a brief help message. Identical to the <code class="literal">help</code> action.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineOptionLogFile"></a><span class="term">
<code class="literal">--log-file=<em class="replaceable"><code>file</code></em></code>
</span></dt><dd><p>
If <em class="replaceable"><code>file</code></em> is a nonempty string,
log messages will be written to it, except that if
<em class="replaceable"><code>file</code></em> is
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">-</code></span>”</span>, the messages will be
written to standard output instead. If this option
appears multiple times, the last occurrence is the one
that will take effect.
</p><p>
This does not affect the log of installations that
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> has performed
(<code class="filename">/var/log/aptitude</code>); the log messages
written using this configuration include internal program
events, errors, and debugging messages. See the
command-line option <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineOptionLogLevel"><code class="literal">--log-level</code></a>
to get more control over what gets logged.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configLoggingFile"><code class="literal">Aptitude::Logging::File</code></a>.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineOptionLogLevel"></a><span class="term">
<code class="literal">--log-level=<em class="replaceable"><code>level</code></em></code>, <code class="literal">--log-level=<em class="replaceable"><code>category</code></em>:<em class="replaceable"><code>level</code></em></code>
</span></dt><dd><p>
<code class="literal">--log-level=<em class="replaceable"><code>level</code></em></code>
causes <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> to only log messages whose level is
<em class="replaceable"><code>level</code></em> or higher. For instance,
setting the log level to <code class="literal">error</code> will
cause only messages at the log levels
<code class="literal">error</code> and <code class="literal">fatal</code> to
be displayed; all others will be hidden. Valid log levels
(in descending order) are <code class="literal">off</code>,
<code class="literal">fatal</code>, <code class="literal">error</code>,
<code class="literal">warn</code>, <code class="literal">info</code>,
<code class="literal">debug</code>, and <code class="literal">trace</code>.
The default log level is <code class="literal">warn</code>.
</p><p>
<code class="literal">--log-level=<em class="replaceable"><code>category</code></em>:<em class="replaceable"><code>level</code></em></code>
causes messages in <em class="replaceable"><code>category</code></em> to
only be logged if their level is
<em class="replaceable"><code>level</code></em> or higher.
</p><p>
<code class="literal">--log-level</code> may appear multiple times
on the command line; the most specific setting is the one
that takes effect, so if you pass
<code class="literal">--log-level=aptitude.resolver:fatal</code> and
<code class="literal">--log-level=aptitude.resolver.hints.match:trace</code>,
then messages in
<code class="literal">aptitude.resolver.hints.parse</code> will only
be printed if their level is <code class="literal">fatal</code>, but
all messages in
<code class="literal">aptitude.resolver.hints.match</code> will be
printed. If you set the level of the same category two or
more times, the last setting is the one that will take
effect.
</p><p>
This does not affect the log of installations that
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> has performed
(<code class="filename">/var/log/aptitude</code>); the log messages
written using this configuration include internal program
events, errors, and debugging messages. See the
command-line option <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineOptionLogLevel"><code class="literal">--log-file</code></a>
to change where log messages go.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration group <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configLoggingLevels"><code class="literal">Aptitude::Logging::Levels</code></a>.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineOptionLogResolver"></a><span class="term">
<code class="literal">--log-resolver</code>
</span></dt><dd><p>
Set some standard log levels related to the resolver, to
produce logging output suitable for processing with
automated tools. This is equivalent to the command-line
options
<code class="literal">--log-level=aptitude.resolver.search:trace
--log-level=aptitude.resolver.search.tiers:info</code>.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineOptionNoNewInstalls"></a><span class="term">
<code class="literal">--no-new-installs</code>
</span></dt><dd><p>
Prevent <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageSafeUpgrade"><code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code></a>
from installing any new packages; when the safe resolver
is being used (i.e., <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineSafeResolver"><code class="literal">--safe-resolver</code></a>
was passed or <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configAlways-Use-Safe-Resolver"><code class="literal">Aptitude::Always-Use-Safe-Resolver</code></a>
is set to <code class="literal">true</code>), forbid the dependency
resolver from installing new packages. This option takes
effect regardless of the value of <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configSafe-Resolver-No-New-Installs"><code class="literal">Aptitude::Safe-Resolver::No-New-Installs</code></a>.
</p><p>
This mimics the historical behavior of <span class="command"><strong>apt-get
upgrade</strong></span>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--no-new-upgrades</code></span></dt><dd><p>
When the safe resolver is being used (i.e., <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineSafeResolver"><code class="literal">--safe-resolver</code></a>
was passed or <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configAlways-Use-Safe-Resolver"><code class="literal">Aptitude::Always-Use-Safe-Resolver</code></a>
is set to <code class="literal">true</code>), forbid the dependency
resolver from installing upgrades for packages
regardless of the value of <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configSafe-Resolver-No-New-Upgrades"><code class="literal">Aptitude::Safe-Resolver::No-New-Upgrades</code></a>.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineOptionNoShowResolverActions"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">--no-show-resolver-actions</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Do not display the actions performed by the
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">safe</span>”</span> resolver, overriding any configuration
option or earlier
<a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineOptionShowResolverActions"><code class="literal">--show-resolver-actions</code></a>.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineOptionSort"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">-O</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>order</code></em>, <code class="literal">--sort</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>order</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
Specify the order in which output from the <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineSearch"><code class="literal">search</code></a> and <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineVersions"><code class="literal">versions</code></a>
commands should be displayed. For instance, passing <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">installsize</code></span>”</span>
for <em class="replaceable"><code>order</code></em> will list packages in
order according to their size when installed (see the section <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s01.html#secSortingPolicy" title="Customizing how packages are sorted">Customizing how packages are sorted</a></span>”</span> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference manual for more information).
</p><p>
Prepending the order keyword with a tilde character
(<code class="literal">~</code>) reverses the order from ascending
to descending.
</p><p>
The default sort order is <code class="literal">name,version</code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-o</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>key</code></em><code class="literal">=</code><em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
Set a configuration file option directly; for
instance, use <code class="literal">-o
Aptitude::Log=/tmp/my-log</code> to log <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span>'s
actions to <code class="filename">/tmp/my-log</code>. For more
information on configuration file options, see the
section <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html" title="Configuration file reference">Configuration file
reference</a></span>”</span> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference manual.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-P</code>, <code class="literal">--prompt</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Always display a prompt before downloading, installing or
removing packages, even when no actions other than those
explicitly requested will be performed.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Always-Prompt">Aptitude::CmdLine::Always-Prompt</a></code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--purge-unused</code></span></dt><dd><p>
If <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configDelete-Unused">Aptitude::Delete-Unused</a></code>
is set to <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">true</code></span>”</span> (its
default), then in addition to removing each package that
is no longer required by any installed package, <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span>
will also purge them, removing their configuration files
and perhaps other important data. For more information
about which packages are considered to be
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">unused</span>”</span>, see the section <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s02s06.html" title="Managing automatically installed packages">Managing Automatically Installed
Packages</a></span>”</span> in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference
manual. <span class="emphasis"><em>THIS OPTION CAN CAUSE DATA LOSS! DO
NOT USE IT UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!</em></span>
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option
<code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configPurge-Unused">Aptitude::Purge-Unused</a></code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-q[<span class="optional">=<em class="replaceable"><code>n</code></em></span>]</code>, <code class="literal">--quiet[<span class="optional">=<em class="replaceable"><code>n</code></em></span>]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Suppress all incremental progress indicators, thus making
the output loggable. This may be supplied multiple times
to make the program quieter, but unlike <span class="command"><strong>apt-get</strong></span>,
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> does not enable <code class="literal">-y</code> when <code class="literal">-q</code>
is supplied more than once.
</p><p>
The optional <code class="literal">=<em class="replaceable"><code>n</code></em></code>
may be used to directly set the amount of quietness (for
instance, to override a setting in <code class="filename">/etc/apt/apt.conf</code>);
it causes the program to behave as if <code class="literal">-q</code>
had been passed exactly <em class="replaceable"><code>n</code></em>
times.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-R</code>, <code class="literal">--without-recommends</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Do <span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> treat recommendations as
dependencies when installing new packages (this overrides settings in <code class="filename">/etc/apt/apt.conf</code> and <code class="filename">~/.aptitude/config</code>).
Packages previously installed due to recommendations
will not be removed.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the pair of configuration options <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configAptInstall-Recommends">APT::Install-Recommends</a></code> and <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configApt-AutoRemove-RecommendsImportant">APT::AutoRemove::RecommendsImportant</a></code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-r</code>, <code class="literal">--with-recommends</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Treat recommendations as dependencies when installing
new packages (this overrides settings in <code class="filename">/etc/apt/apt.conf</code> and <code class="filename">~/.aptitude/config</code>).
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configAptInstall-Recommends">APT::Install-Recommends</a></code>
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--remove-user-tag <em class="replaceable"><code>tag</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
For <code class="literal">full-upgrade</code>,
<code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code>
<code class="literal">forbid-version</code>,
<code class="literal">hold</code>, <code class="literal">install</code>,
<code class="literal">keep-all</code>, <code class="literal">markauto</code>,
<code class="literal">unmarkauto</code>, <code class="literal">purge</code>,
<code class="literal">reinstall</code>, <code class="literal">remove</code>,
<code class="literal">unhold</code>, and
<code class="literal">unmarkauto</code>: remove the user tag
<em class="replaceable"><code>tag</code></em> from all packages that are
installed, removed, or upgraded by this command as if with
the <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineAddOrRemoveUserTags"><code class="literal">add-user-tag</code></a>
command.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--remove-user-tag-from <em class="replaceable"><code>tag</code></em>,<em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
For <code class="literal">full-upgrade</code>,
<code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code>
<code class="literal">forbid-version</code>,
<code class="literal">hold</code>, <code class="literal">install</code>,
<code class="literal">keep-all</code>, <code class="literal">markauto</code>,
<code class="literal">unmarkauto</code>, <code class="literal">purge</code>,
<code class="literal">reinstall</code>, <code class="literal">remove</code>,
<code class="literal">unhold</code>, and
<code class="literal">unmarkauto</code>: remove the user tag
<em class="replaceable"><code>tag</code></em> from all packages that
match <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> as if with the
<a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineAddOrRemoveUserTags"><code class="literal">remove-user-tag</code></a>
command. The pattern is a search pattern as described in
the section <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><a class="link" href="ch02s04.html" title="Search patterns">Search Patterns</a></span>”</span>
in the <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> reference manual.
</p><p>
For instance, <code class="literal">aptitude safe-upgrade
--remove-user-tag-from
"not-upgraded,?action(upgrade)"</code> will remove the
<code class="literal">not-upgraded</code> tag from all packages that
the <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageSafeUpgrade"><code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code></a>
command is able to upgrade.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-s</code>, <code class="literal">--simulate</code></span></dt><dd><p>
In command-line mode, print the actions that would
normally be performed, but don't actually perform them.
This does not require <code class="systemitem">root</code> privileges. In the visual
interface, always open the cache in read-only mode
regardless of whether you are <code class="systemitem">root</code>.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configSimulate">Aptitude::Simulate</a></code>.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineSafeResolver"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">--safe-resolver</code></span></dt><dd><p>
When package dependency problems are encountered, use a
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">safe</span>”</span> algorithm to solve them. This
resolver attempts to preserve as many of your choices as
possible; it will never remove a package or install a
version of a package other than the package's default
candidate version. It is the same algorithm used in <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageSafeUpgrade"><code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code></a>;
indeed, <code class="literal">aptitude --safe-resolver
full-upgrade</code> is equivalent to <code class="literal">aptitude
safe-upgrade</code>. Because
<code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code> always uses the safe
resolver, it does not accept the
<code class="literal">--safe-resolver</code> flag.
</p><p>
This option is equivalent to setting the configuration
variable <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configAlways-Use-Safe-Resolver"><code class="literal">Aptitude::Always-Use-Safe-Resolver</code></a>
to <code class="literal">true</code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--schedule-only</code></span></dt><dd><p>
For commands that modify package states, schedule
operations to be performed in the future, but don't
perform them. You can execute scheduled actions by
running <code class="literal">aptitude install</code> with no
arguments. This is equivalent to making the corresponding
selections in <a class="link" href="ch01s01.html" title="Using aptitude">visual
mode</a>, then exiting the program normally.
</p><p>
For instance, <code class="literal">aptitude --schedule-only install
evolution</code> will schedule the
<code class="literal">evolution</code> package for later
installation.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineShowPackageNames"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">--show-package-names</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>when</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
Controls when the <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineVersions"><code class="literal">versions</code></a>
command shows package names. The following settings are
allowed:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">always</code>: display package names every
time that <code class="literal">aptitude versions</code> runs.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">auto</code>: display package names when
<code class="literal">aptitude versions</code> runs if the
output is not grouped by package, and either there is
a pattern-matching argument or there is more than one
argument.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">never</code>: never display package names
in the output of <code class="literal">aptitude versions</code>.
</p></li></ul></div><p>
This option corresponds to the configuration item <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Versions-Show-Package-Names"><code class="literal">Aptitude::CmdLine::Versions-Show-Package-Names</code></a>.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineOptionShowResolverActions"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">--show-resolver-actions</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Display the actions performed by the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">safe</span>”</span>
resolver and by <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageSafeUpgrade"><code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code></a>.
</p><p>
When executing the command <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#manpageSafeUpgrade"><code class="literal">safe-upgrade</code></a>
or when the option <a class="link" href="rn01re01.html#cmdlineSafeResolver">--safe-resolver</a> is
present, <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will display a summary of the actions
performed by the resolver before printing the installation
preview. This is equivalent to the configuration option <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configSafe-Resolver-Show-Resolver-Actions"><code class="literal">Aptitude::Safe-Resolver::Show-Resolver-Actions</code></a>.
</p></dd><dt><a id="cmdlineOptionShowSummary"></a><span class="term"><code class="literal">--show-summary[<span class="optional">=<em class="replaceable"><code>MODE</code></em></span>]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Changes the behavior of <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude
why</code></span>”</span> to summarize each dependency chain
that it outputs, rather than displaying it in long form.
If this option is present and
<em class="replaceable"><code>MODE</code></em> is not
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">no-summary</code></span>”</span>, chains that
contain Suggests dependencies will not be displayed:
combine <code class="literal">--show-summary</code> with
<code class="literal">-v</code> to see a summary of all the reasons
for the target package to be installed.
</p><p>
<em class="replaceable"><code>MODE</code></em> can be any one of the
following:
</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">no-summary</code>: don't show a summary
(the default behavior if
<code class="literal">--show-summary</code> is not present).
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">first-package</code>: display the first
package in each chain. This is the default value of
<em class="replaceable"><code>MODE</code></em> if it is not present.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">first-package-and-type</code>: display the
first package in each chain, along with the strength
of the weakest dependency in the chain.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">all-packages</code>: briefly display each
chain of dependencies leading to the target package.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">all-packages-with-dep-versions</code>:
briefly display each chain of dependencies leading to
the target package, including the target version of
each dependency.
</p></li></ol></div><p>
This option corresponds to the configuration item <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Show-Summary"><code class="literal">Aptitude::CmdLine::Show-Summary</code></a>;
if <code class="literal">--show-summary</code> is present on the
command-line, it will override <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Show-Summary"><code class="literal">Aptitude::CmdLine::Show-Summary</code></a>.
</p><div class="example"><a id="idm9505"></a><p class="title"><strong>Example 12. Usage of <code class="literal">--show-summary</code></strong></p><div class="example-contents"><p>
<code class="literal">--show-summary</code> used with
<code class="literal">-v</code> to display all the reasons a
package is installed:
</p><pre class="screen">$ aptitude -v --show-summary why foomatic-db
Packages requiring foomatic-db:
cupsys-driver-gutenprint
foomatic-db-engine
foomatic-db-gutenprint
foomatic-db-hpijs
foomatic-filters-ppds
foomatic-gui
kde
printconf
wine
$ aptitude -v --show-summary=first-package-and-type why foomatic-db
Packages requiring foomatic-db:
[Depends] cupsys-driver-gutenprint
[Depends] foomatic-db-engine
[Depends] foomatic-db-gutenprint
[Depends] foomatic-db-hpijs
[Depends] foomatic-filters-ppds
[Depends] foomatic-gui
[Depends] kde
[Depends] printconf
[Depends] wine
$ aptitude -v --show-summary=all-packages why foomatic-db
Packages requiring foomatic-db:
cupsys-driver-gutenprint D: cups-driver-gutenprint D: cups R: foomatic-filters R: foomatic-db-engine D: foomatic-db
foomatic-filters-ppds D: foomatic-filters R: foomatic-db-engine D: foomatic-db
kde D: kdeadmin R: system-config-printer-kde D: system-config-printer R: hal-cups-utils D: cups R: foomatic-filters R: foomatic-db-engine D: foomatic-db
wine D: libwine-print D: cups-bsd R: cups R: foomatic-filters R: foomatic-db-engine D: foomatic-db
foomatic-db-engine D: foomatic-db
foomatic-db-gutenprint D: foomatic-db
foomatic-db-hpijs D: foomatic-db
foomatic-gui D: python-foomatic D: foomatic-db-engine D: foomatic-db
printconf D: foomatic-db
$ aptitude -v --show-summary=all-packages-with-dep-versions why foomatic-db
Packages requiring foomatic-db:
cupsys-driver-gutenprint D: cups-driver-gutenprint (>= 5.0.2-4) D: cups (>= 1.3.0) R: foomatic-filters (>= 4.0) R: foomatic-db-engine (>= 4.0) D: foomatic-db (>= 20090301)
foomatic-filters-ppds D: foomatic-filters R: foomatic-db-engine (>= 4.0) D: foomatic-db (>= 20090301)
kde D: kdeadmin (>= 4:3.5.5) R: system-config-printer-kde (>= 4:4.2.2-1) D: system-config-printer (>= 1.0.0) R: hal-cups-utils D: cups R: foomatic-filters (>= 4.0) R: foomatic-db-engine (>= 4.0) D: foomatic-db (>= 20090301)
wine D: libwine-print (= 1.1.15-1) D: cups-bsd R: cups R: foomatic-filters (>= 4.0) R: foomatic-db-engine (>= 4.0) D: foomatic-db (>= 20090301)
foomatic-db-engine D: foomatic-db
foomatic-db-gutenprint D: foomatic-db
foomatic-db-hpijs D: foomatic-db
foomatic-gui D: python-foomatic (>= 0.7.9.2) D: foomatic-db-engine D: foomatic-db (>= 20090301)
printconf D: foomatic-db
</pre><p>
<code class="literal">--show-summary</code> used to list a chain on one line:
</p><pre class="screen">$ aptitude --show-summary=all-packages why aptitude-gtk libglib2.0-data
Packages requiring libglib2.0-data:
aptitude-gtk D: libglib2.0-0 R: libglib2.0-data</pre></div></div><br class="example-break" /></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-t</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>release</code></em>, <code class="literal">--target-release</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>release</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
Set the release from which packages should be
installed. For instance, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude -t
experimental ...</code></span>”</span> will install
packages from the experimental distribution unless you
specify otherwise.
</p><p>
This will affect the default candidate version of packages
according to the rules described in
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">apt_preferences</span>(5)</span>.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration item <code class="literal">APT::Default-Release</code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-V</code>, <code class="literal">--show-versions</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Show which versions of packages will be installed.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Show-Versions">Aptitude::CmdLine::Show-Versions</a></code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-v</code>, <code class="literal">--verbose</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Causes some commands (for instance, <code class="literal">show</code>) to display extra information. This may be supplied multiple times to get more and more information.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Verbose">Aptitude::CmdLine::Verbose</a></code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--version</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Display the version of <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> and some information
about how it was compiled.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--visual-preview</code></span></dt><dd><p>
When installing or removing packages from the command
line, instead of displaying the usual prompt, start up the
visual interface and display its preview screen.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-W</code>, <code class="literal">--show-why</code></span></dt><dd><p>
In the preview displayed before packages are installed or
removed, show which manually installed package requires
each automatically installed package. For instance:
</p><pre class="screen">$ aptitude --show-why install mediawiki
...
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libapache2-mod-php5{a} (for mediawiki) mediawiki php5{a} (for mediawiki)
php5-cli{a} (for mediawiki) php5-common{a} (for mediawiki)
php5-mysql{a} (for mediawiki)</pre><p>
When combined with <code class="literal">-v</code> or a non-zero
value for <a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Verbose"><code class="literal">Aptitude::CmdLine::Verbose</code></a>,
this displays the entire chain of dependencies that lead
each package to be installed. For instance:
</p><pre class="screen">$ aptitude -v --show-why install libdb4.2-dev
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libdb4.2{a} (libdb4.2-dev D: libdb4.2) libdb4.2-dev
The following packages will be REMOVED:
libdb4.4-dev{a} (libdb4.2-dev C: libdb-dev P<- libdb-dev)</pre><p>
This option will also describe why packages are being
removed, as shown above. In this example,
<code class="systemitem">libdb4.2-dev</code> conflicts with
<code class="systemitem">libdb-dev</code>, which is provided by
<code class="systemitem">libdb-dev</code>.
</p><p>
This argument corresponds to the configuration option
<code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Show-Why">Aptitude::CmdLine::Show-Why</a></code>
and displays the same information that is computed by
<code class="literal">aptitude why</code> and <code class="literal">aptitude
why-not</code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-w</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>width</code></em>, <code class="literal">--width</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>width</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
Specify the display width which should be used for output from the
<code class="literal">search</code> and <code class="literal">versions</code> commands
(in the command line).
</p><p>
By default and when the output is seen directly in a terminal, the
terminal width is used. When the output is redirected or piped, a
very large "unlimited" line width is used, and this option is
ignored.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Package-Display-Width">Aptitude::CmdLine::Package-Display-Width</a></code>
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-y</code>, <code class="literal">--assume-yes</code></span></dt><dd><p>
When a yes/no prompt would be presented, assume that
the user entered <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">yes</span>”</span>. In particular,
suppresses the prompt that appears when installing,
upgrading, or removing packages. Prompts for <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">dangerous</span>”</span> actions, such as removing
essential packages, will still be displayed. This
option overrides <code class="literal">-P</code>.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Assume-Yes">Aptitude::CmdLine::Assume-Yes</a></code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-Z</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Show how much disk space will be used or freed by the
individual packages being installed, upgraded, or
removed.
</p><p>
This corresponds to the configuration option <code class="literal"><a class="link" href="ch02s05s05.html#configCmdLine-Show-Size-Changes">Aptitude::CmdLine::Show-Size-Changes</a></code>.
</p></dd></dl></div><p>
The following options apply to the visual mode of the
program, but are primarily for internal use; you generally
won't need to use them yourself.
</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--autoclean-on-startup</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Deletes old downloaded files when the program starts
(equivalent to starting the program and immediately
selecting
<span class="guimenu">Actions</span> → <span class="guimenuitem">Clean
obsolete files</span>). You cannot
use this option and
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">--clean-on-startup</code></span>”</span>,
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">-i</code></span>”</span>, or
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">-u</code></span>”</span> at the same time.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">--clean-on-startup</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Cleans the package cache when the program starts
(equivalent to starting the program and immediately
selecting
<span class="guimenu">Actions</span> → <span class="guimenuitem">Clean
package cache</span>). You cannot use
this option and
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">--autoclean-on-startup</code></span>”</span>,
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">-i</code></span>”</span>, or
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">-u</code></span>”</span> at the same time.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-i</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Displays a download preview when the program starts
(equivalent to starting the program and immediately
pressing <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><span class="keycap"><strong>g</strong></span></span>”</span>). You cannot
use this option and
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">--autoclean-on-startup</code></span>”</span>,
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">--clean-on-startup</code></span>”</span>, or
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">-u</code></span>”</span> at the same time.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-S</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>fname</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
Loads the extended state information from <em class="replaceable"><code>fname</code></em> instead of the
standard state file.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">-u</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Begins updating the package lists as soon as the program
starts. You cannot use this option and
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">--autoclean-on-startup</code></span>”</span>,
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">--clean-on-startup</code></span>”</span>, or
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">-i</code></span>”</span> at the same time.
</p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect1"><a id="idm9679"></a><h2>Environment</h2><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">HOME</code></span></dt><dd><p>
If <code class="filename">$HOME/.aptitude</code> exists, <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will store
its configuration file in <code class="filename">$HOME/.aptitude/config</code>.
Otherwise, it will look up the current user's home directory
using <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">getpwuid</span>(2)</span>
and place its configuration file there.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">PAGER</code></span></dt><dd><p>
If this environment variable is set, <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will use it
to display changelogs when <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><code class="literal">aptitude
changelog</code></span>”</span> is invoked. If not set, it
defaults to <code class="literal">more</code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">TMP</code></span></dt><dd><p>
If <code class="literal">TMPDIR</code> is unset, <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will store
its temporary files in <code class="literal">TMP</code> if that
variable is set. Otherwise, it will store them in
<code class="filename">/tmp</code>.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">TMPDIR</code></span></dt><dd><p>
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will store its temporary files in the directory
indicated by this environment variable. If
<code class="literal">TMPDIR</code> is not set, then
<code class="literal">TMP</code> will be used; if
<code class="literal">TMP</code> is also unset, then <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> will
use <code class="filename">/tmp</code>.
</p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect1"><a id="idm9722"></a><h2>Files</h2><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="filename">/var/lib/aptitude/pkgstates</code></span></dt><dd><p>
The file in which stored package states and some package
flags are stored.
</p></dd></dl></div><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term">
<code class="filename">/etc/apt/apt.conf</code>,
<code class="filename">/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/*</code>,
<code class="filename">~/.aptitude/config</code>
</span></dt><dd><p>
The configuration files for <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span>.
<code class="filename">~/.aptitude/config</code> overrides
<code class="filename">/etc/apt/apt.conf</code>. See
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">apt.conf</span>(5)</span>
for documentation of the format and contents of these
files.
</p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect1"><a id="idm9744"></a><h2>See also</h2><p>
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">apt-get</span>(8)</span>, <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">apt</span>(8)</span>, <code class="filename">/usr/share/doc/aptitude/html/<em class="replaceable"><code>lang</code></em>/index.html</code> from the package aptitude-doc-<em class="replaceable"><code>lang</code></em>
</p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="rn01.html"><img src="images/prev.gif" alt="Prev" /></a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="rn01.html"><img src="images/up.gif" alt="Up" /></a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="rn01re02.html"><img src="images/next.gif" alt="Next" /></a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Command-line reference </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html"><img src="images/home.gif" alt="Home" /></a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> aptitude-create-state-bundle</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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