aptitude-common 0.7.4-2ubuntu2 / usr / share / aptitude / help.txt

                             Aptitude On-Line Help

  Use the arrow keys and PageUp/PageDown to view this help; type "q"
to leave it.

  The following keys are available by default in the aptitude information
screens.  Other keys are available; consult the README for a list of these.

  "Q":          Quit.
  "q":          Close the current view (Quit if all closed).
  "?":          Display this screen.

  "f":          Clear the list of "new" packages ('f' for "forget").

  Up or "k":    Move the selection up.
  Down or "j":  Move the selection down.
  Page-Up or
  Control-b:    Move the selection up by a screenful of packages.
  Page-Down or
  Control-f:    Move the selection down by a screenful of packages.
  Home or
  Control-a:    Move the selection to the first package in the list.
  End or
  Control-e:    Move the selection to the last package in the list.
  "^":          Move the selection to the parent of the current item.
  Enter:        Expand or collapse a group of packages.
  "[":          Expand a group of packages and all its subgroups.
  "]":          Collapse a group of packages and all its subgroups.

  Control-t:    Activate or deactivate the menu.
  "F6":         Move to the next tab of the main display.
  "F7":         Move to the previous tab of the main display.

  Enter:        View information about a package.
  "C":          View a package's changelog.
  "+":          Install or upgrade a package, or remove its held state.
  "-":          Remove a package.
  "_":          Purge package, remove it and all its config and data files.
  "=":          Hold a package in its current version to prevent upgrades.
  ":":          Keep a package at its current version.  Unlike hold, this
                will not prevent future upgrades.
  "L":          Request that a package be reinstalled.
  "M":          Mark a package as being automatically installed.
                Automatically installed packages are removed if no
                manually installed package requires them.
  "m":          Mark a package as being manually installed.
  "F":          Forbid a package from being automatically upgraded to
                a particular version; newer versions will be automatically
                installed.

  "u":          Update the lists of available packages.
  "U":          Mark all upgradable packages to be upgraded.
  "g":          Perform all pending installations, removals, and upgrades.

  Control-u:    Undo the last action or set of actions.
  "/":          Perform a search.  By default, the string is used to match the
                name of packages, but patterns can be used and combined for more
                complex searches (installed, section, maintainer...).  For more
                information, see the man page and the User's Manual section
                "Search patterns" (under Help menu or in the doc packages).
  "\":          Perform a backwards search.
  "n":          Repeat the last search.
  "N":          Repeat the last search, but in the opposite direction.
  "l":          Limit display, filter the current package list to show only
                packages which match a search pattern (see above).
  "b":          Search for the next broken package.

  "v":          Show the available versions of a package.
  "d":          Show the dependencies of a package.
  "r":          Show the packages depending on a given package.

  "D":          Display or hide the package information area.
  "a":          Scroll the package information area up.
  "z":          Scroll the package information area down.
  "i":          Cycle through the package information views.

  ",":          View the previous dependency solution.
  ".":          View the next dependency solution, generating a new solution
                if necessary.
  "<":          View the first dependency solution.
  ">":          View the last dependency solution.

    In the interactive resolver:
  "a":          Approve an action, causing it to always be chosen over
                alternatives, or cancel an approval.
  "r":          Reject an action, causing it to never be chosen, or
                cancel a rejection.


  Packages in the package list are displayed like this by default:
idA   libsmbclient                             -2220kB 3.0.25a-1  3.0.25a-2

  The three characters on the left-hand side of the display determine the
current state of the package.  The first letter is the "state" flag,
the second letter is the "action" flag, and the third letter is the
"automatic" flag.  They are followed by the package name, the change
in disk space attributed to it, and finally the current and available
versions of the package.


  The "state" flag is one of the following:

   v - virtual
   B - broken
   u - "unpacked"
   C - half-configured
   H - half-installed
   W - waiting for updates triggered in other packages
   T - pending updates triggered by other packages
   c - removed, but config-files still present (ie, not purged)
   p - purged, removed with config-files not present
   i - installed
   E - internal error (should not happen)

  The "action" flag is one of the following:

   h - hold
   p - purge
   d - delete (remove)
   B - broken
   i - install
   r - reinstall
   u - upgrade
   w - downgrade
   F - the available upgrade has been forbidden via "F"

  If present, the "automatic" flag is "A", indicating that the package
was automatically installed and will be removed when nothing depends
on it.


  So, in the example above, libsmbclient is an automatically installed
package.  It could be upgraded from version 3.0.25a-1 to version
3.0.25a-2, but instead it will be deleted, freeing up 2220 kilobytes
of disk space.