Linux in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition By Ellen Siever, Stephen Spainhour, Jessica P. Hekman, & Stephen Figgins 3rd Edition August 2000 0-596-00025-1, Order Number: 0251 800 pages, $34.95

Chapter 5
Red Hat and Debian Package Managers

Contents:
The Red Hat Package Manager
The Debian Package Manager

This chapter describes the two major Linux packaging systems, the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) and the Debian GNU/Linux Package Manager.

When you want to install applications on your Linux system, most often you'll find a binary or a source package containing the application you want, instead of (or in addition to) a .tar.gz file. A package is a file containing the files necessary to install an application. But note that while the package contains the files you need for installation, the application might require the presence of other files or packages that are not included, such as particular libraries (and even specific versions of the libraries), in order to be able to run. Such requirements are known as dependencies.

Package management systems offer many benefits. As a user, you may find you want to query the package database to find out what packages are installed on the system and their versions. As a system administrator, you need tools to install and manage the packages on your system. And, if you are also a developer, you need to know how to build a package for distribution.

Among other things, package managers:

• Provide tools for installing, updating, removing, and managing the software on your system.

• Let you install new or upgraded software directly across a network.

• Tell you what software package a particular file belongs to or what files a package contains.

• Maintain a database of packages on the system and their state, so you can find out what packages or versions are installed on your system.

• Provide dependency checking, so you don't mess up your system with incompatible software.

• Provide PGP, MD5, or other signature verification tools.

• Provide tools for building packages.

Any user can list or query packages. However, installing, upgrading, or removing packages generally requires superuser privileges. This is because the packages normally are installed in systemwide directories that are writable only by root. Sometimes you can specify an alternate directory, to install, for example, a package into your home directory or into a project directory where you have write permission.

Both RPM and the Debian Package Manager back up old files before installing an updated package. Not only does this let you go back if there is a problem, but also if you've made changes (to configuration files, for example), they aren't completely lost.

The Red Hat Package Manager

The Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) is a freely available packaging system for software distribution and installation. In addition to Red Hat and Red Hat-based distributions, both SuSE and Caldera are among the Linux distributions that use RPM.

Using RPM is straightforward. A single command, rpm, has options to perform all the package functions. For example, to find out if the Emacs editor is installed on your system, you could say:

% rpm -q emacs
emacs-20.4-4

In addition, the GNOME-RPM program provides an X-based graphical frontend to RPM (that can be run even if you are not running GNOME). This section describes the rpm command and then the gnorpm command that runs GNOME-RPM.

The rpm Command

RPM packages are built, installed, and queried with the rpm command. RPM package names usually end with a .rpm extension. rpm has a set of modes, each with its own options. The format of the rpm command is:

rpm [options] [packages]

With a few exceptions, as noted in the lists of options that follow, the first option specifies the rpm mode (e.g., install, query, update, build, etc.), and any remaining options affect that mode.

In the option descriptions that refer to packages, you'll sometimes see them specified as package-name and sometimes as package-file. The package name is the name of the program or application, such as gif2png. The package file is the name of the RPM file: gif2png-2.2.5-1.i386.rpm.

RPM provides a configuration file for specifying frequently used options. The system configuration file is usually /etc/rpmrc, and users can set up their own $HOME/.rpmrc file. You can use the --showrc option to show the values RPM will use for all the options that may be set in an rpmrc file:

rpm --showrc

The rpm command includes FTP and HTTP clients, so you can specify an ftp:// or http:// URL to install or query a package across the Internet. You can use an FTP or HTTP URL wherever package-file is specified in the commands presented here.

Any user can query the RPM database. Most of the other functions require superuser privileges.

General options

The following options can be used with all modes:

--dbpath path

Use path as the path to the RPM database.

--ftpport port

Use port as the FTP port.

--ftpproxy host

Use host as a proxy server for all transfers. Specified if you are FTPing through a firewall system that uses a proxy.

--help

Print a long usage message (running rpm with no options gives a shorter usage message).

--justdb

Update only the database; don't change any files.

--pipe command

Pipe the rpm output to command.

--quiet

Display only error messages.

--rcfile filename

Use filename as the configuration file instead of the system configuration file /etc/rpmrc or $HOME/.rpmrc.

--root dir

Perform all operations within directory dir.

--version

Print the version number of rpm.

-vv

Print debugging information.

Install, upgrade, and freshen options

Install or upgrade an RPM package. The syntax of the install command is:

rpm -i [install-options] package_file ... 
rpm --install [install-options] package_file ... 

To install a new version of a package and remove an existing version at the same time, use the upgrade command instead:

rpm -U [install-options] package_file ... 
rpm --upgrade [install-options] package_file ... 

One feature of -U is that if the package doesn't already exist on the system, it acts like -i and installs it. To prevent that behavior, you can freshen a package instead; in that case, rpm upgrades the package only if an earlier version is already installed. The freshen syntax is:

rpm -F [install-options] package_file ...
rpm --freshen [install-options] package_file ...

Installation and upgrade options are:

--allfiles

Install or upgrade all files.

--badreloc

Used with --relocate to force relocation even if the package is not relocatable.

--excludedocs

Don't install any documentation files.

--excludepath path

Don't install any file whose filename begins with path.

--force

Force the installation. Equivalent to using --replacepkgs, --replacefiles, and --oldpackage.

-h, --hash

Print 50 hash marks as the package archive is unpacked. Use with --version for a nicer display.

--ignorearch

Install even if the binary package is intended for a different architecture.

--ignoreos

Install binary package even if the operating systems don't match.

--ignoresize

Don't check disk space availability before installing.

--includedocs

Install documentation files. This is needed only if excludedocs: 1 is specified in an rpmrc file.

--nodeps

Don't check whether this package depends on the presence of other packages.

--noorder

Don't reorder packages to satisfy dependencies before installing.

--noscripts

Don't execute any preinstall or postinstall scripts.

--notriggers

Don't execute any scripts triggered by package installation.

--oldpackage

Allow an upgrade to replace a newer package with an older one.

--percent

Print percent-completion messages as files are unpacked.

--prefix path

Set the installation prefix to path for relocatable packages.

--replacefiles

Install the packages even if they replace files from other installed packages.

--replacepkgs

Install the packages even if some of them are already installed.

--test

Go through the installation to see what it would do, but don't actually install the package.

Query options

The syntax for the query command is:

rpm -q[information-options] [package-options]
rpm --query[information-options] [package-options]

There are two subsets of query options: package selection options that determine what packages to query and information selection options that determine what information to provide.

Package selection options

package_name

Query the installed package package_name.

-a, --all

Query all installed packages.

-f file, --file file

Find out what package owns file.

-g group, --group group

Find out what packages have group group.

-p package_file

Query the uninstalled package package_file.

--querybynumber num

Query the numth database entry. Primarily useful for debugging.

-qf, --queryformat num

Specify the format for displaying the query output, using tags to represent different types of data (e.g., NAME, FILENAME, DISTRIBUTION). The format specification is a variation of the standard printf formatting. (Use --querytags in the section "Miscellaneous options" to view a list of available tags.

--specfile specfile

Query specfile as if it were a package.

--triggeredby pkg

List packages that trigger installation of package pkg.

--whatrequires capability

List packages that require the given capability to function.

--whatprovides capability

List packages that provide the given capability.

Information selection options

-c, --configfiles

List configuration files in the package.

--changelog

Display the log of change information for the package.

-d, --docfiles

List documentation files in the package.

--dump

Dump information for each file in the package. This option must be used with at least one of -l, -c, or -d. The output includes the following information in this order:

path size mtime md5sum mode owner group isconfig isdoc rdev symlink

--filesbypkg

List all files in each package.

-i

Display package information, including the name, version, and description.

-l, --list

List all files in the package.

--last

List packages by install time, with the latest packages listed first.

--provides

List the capabilities this package provides.

-R, --requires

List any packages this package depends on.

-s, --state

List each file in the package and its state. The possible states are normal, not installed, or replaced.

--scripts

List any package-specific shell scripts used during installation and uninstallation of the package.

Uninstall options

The syntax for the uninstall command is:

rpm -e package_name
rpm --erase package_name

The uninstall options are:

--allmatches

Remove all versions of the package. Only one package should be specified; otherwise, an error results.

--nodeps

Don't check dependencies before uninstalling the package.

--noscripts

Don't execute any preuninstall or postuninstall scripts.

--notriggers

Don't execute any scripts triggered by the removal of this package.

--test

Don't really uninstall anything; just go through the motions.

Verify options

The syntax for the verify command is:

rpm -V|-y| -- verify[package-selection-options]

Verify mode compares information about the installed files in a package with information about the files that came in the original package and displays any discrepancies. The information compared includes the size, MD5 sum, permissions, type, owner, and group of each file. Uninstalled files are ignored.

The package selection options include those available for query mode, as well as the following:

--nofiles

Ignore missing files.

--nomd5

Ignore MD5 checksum errors.

--nopgp

Ignore PGP checking errors.

The output is formatted as an eight-character string, possibly followed by a "c" to indicate a configuration file, and then the filename. Each of the eight characters in the string represents the result of comparing one file attribute to the value of that attribute from the RPM database. A period (.) indicates that the file passed that test. The following characters indicate failure of the corresponding test:

5	MD5 sum
D	Device
G	Group
L	Symlink
M	Mode (includes permissions and file type)
S	File size
T	Mtime
U	User

Database rebuild options

The syntax of the command to rebuild the RPM database is:

rpm --rebuilddb [options]

You also can build a new database:

rpm --initdb [options]

The options available with the database rebuild mode are the --dbpath and --root options described earlier under "General options".

Signature check options

RPM packages may have a PGP signature built into them. PGP configuration information is read from /etc/rpmrc. The syntax of the signature-check mode is:

rpm --checksig package_file...
rpm -K package_file...

The signature-checking options are:

--nogpg

Don't check any GPG signatures.

--nomd5

Don't check any MD5 signatures.

--nopgp

Don't check any PGP signatures.

Two other options let you add signatures to packages:

--addsign binary-pkgfile...

Generate and append new signatures to those that already exist in the specified binary packages.

--resign binary-pkgfile...

Generate and insert new signatures in the specified binary packages, removing any existing signatures.

Miscellaneous options

Several additional rpm options are available:

--querytags

Print the tags available for use with the --queryformat option in query mode.

--setgids packages

Set file owner and group of the specified packages to those in the database.

--setperms packages

Set file permissions of the specified packages to those in the database.

--showrc

Show the values rpm will use for all options that can be set in an .rpmrc file.

FTP/HTTP options

The following options are available for use with ftp:// and http:// URLs in install, update, and query modes:

--ftpport port

Use port for making an FTP connection on the proxy FTP server instead of the default port. Same as specifying the macro _ftpport.

--ftpproxy host

Use host as the proxy server for FTP transfers through a firewall that uses a proxy. Same as specifying the macro _ftpproxy.

--httpport port

Use port for making an HTTP connection on the proxy HTTP server instead of the default port. Same as specifying the macro _httpport.

--httpproxy host

Use host as a proxy server for HTTP transfers. Same as specifying the macro _httpproxy.

Build options

The syntax for the build options is:

rpm -[b|t]step [build-options] spec-file ...

Specify -b to build a package directly from a spec file or -t to open a tarred gzipped file and use its spec file. Both forms take the following single-character step arguments:

p

Perform the prep stage, unpacking source files and applying patches.

l

Do a list check, expanding macros in the files section of the spec file and verifying that each file exists.

c

Perform the build stage. Done after the prep stage; generally equivalent to doing a make.

i

Perform the install stage. Done after the prep and build stages; generally equivalent to doing a make install.

b

Build a binary package. Done after prep, build, and install.

s

Build a source package. Done after prep, build, and install.

a

Build both binary and source packages. Done after prep, build, and install.

The following additional options can be used when building an rpm file:

--buildarch arch

--buildos os

For use with pre-3.0 versions of RPM. Build the package for architecture arch or the operating system os. Replaced in 3.0 with --target.

--buildroot dir

Override the BuildRoot tag with dir when building the package.

--clean

Clean up (remove) the build files after the package has been made.

--rmsource

Remove the source files and the spec file when the build is done. Can be used as a standalone option with rpm to clean up files separately from creating the packages.

--short-circuit

Can be used with -bc and -bi to skip previous stages.

--sign

Add a PGP signature to the package.

--target platform

When building the package, set the macros _target, _target_arch, and _target_os to the value indicated by platform.

--test

Go through the motions, but don't execute any build stages. Used for testing spec files.

--timecheck

Set the timecheck age (the maximum age in seconds of a file being packaged). Set to 0 to disable.

Two other options can be used standalone with rpm to recompile or rebuild a package:

--rebuild source-pkgfile...

Like --recompile, but also build a new binary package. Remove the build directory, the source files, and the spec file once the build is complete.

--recompile source-pkgfile...

Install the named source package, and prep, compile, and install the package.

RPM examples

Query the RPM database to find Emacs-related packages:

% rpm -q -a | grep emacs

Query an uninstalled package, printing information about the package, and list the files it contains:

% rpm -qpil ~/downloads/bash2-doc-2.03-8.i386.rpm

Install a package (assumes superuser privileges):

% rpm -i sudo-1.5.3-6.i386.rpm

GNOME-RPM

GNOME-RPM is a graphical user frontend to rpm that runs under X. You can run gnorpm even if you are not running GNOME. When you run gnorpm, it opens a window that lets you manage your rpm packages via a graphical interface. The format of the gnorpm command is:

gnorpm [options]

gnorpm options

The gnorpm options are:

--geometry=geom

Specify the geometry of the main window in standard X geometry format (i.e., w×h+x+y).

-i pkgfiles, --install pkgfiles

Install the specified packages.

-p pkgs, --packages pkgs

The packages are in files, not in the rpm database (i.e., they haven't been installed yet).

-q pkgs, --query pkgs

Display a query window for the specified installed packages.

-qp pkgfiles, --query --packages pkgfiles

Display a query window for the specified package files. This is the same as specifying the -q and -p options.

-U pkgfiles, --upgrade pkgfiles

Upgrade the specified packages.

-K pkgfiles, --checksig pkgfiles

Check the signatures on the specified packages.

-y pkgs, --verify pkgs

Verify the specified packages.

-?, --help

Display a help message and exit.

--root=dir

Specify the filesystem root to use.

--usage

Display a brief usage message and exit.

The GNOME-RPM window

The GNOME-RPM main window has five parts. At the top is a menu bar with three buttons:

Packages

Menu options are Query, Uninstall, and Verify.

Operations

Menu options are Find, Web find, Install, and Preferences.

Help

Provides online help for GNOME-RPM.

Below the menu bar is a toolbar, with buttons to Install, Unselect, Uninstall, Query, Verify, Find, and Web find. At the very bottom of the window is a status bar.

The rest of the window is the main panel. On the left is the package panel, which displays package folders in a tree structure. Clicking on a folder selects it; double-click to display the contents of the folder (i.e., the packages in that folder) on the righthand panel. Clicking on a package selects it; you then can use the menus and the toolbar buttons to operate on the package. You can select several packages at the same time and operate on them as a group. Right-clicking on a package icon selects the package if it isn't already and presents a menu with Query, Uninstall, and Verify options.

See the GNOME-RPM documentation and online help for full details.

The Debian Package Manager

Debian GNU/Linux provides several package management tools, primarily intended to facilitate the building, installation, and management of binary packages. Debian package names generally end in .deb. The Debian package management tools include:

dpkg

Until recently, the most important of the Debian packaging tools and still the primary package management program. Used to install or uninstall packages or as a frontend to dpkg-deb.

dpkg-deb

Lower-level packaging tool. Used to create and manage the Debian package archives. Accepts and executes commands from dpkg or can be called directly.

dselect

An interactive frontend to dpkg.

apt-get

The currently available piece of the Advanced Package Tool (APT), which is still being developed and is intended to be a modern, user-friendly package management tool. Can be run from the command line or selected as a method from dselect. One of the features of apt-get is that you can use it to get and install packages across the Internet by specifying an ftp:// or http:// URL. Another feature is that you can use it to upgrade all packages currently installed on your system in a single operation.

Files

Some important files used by the Debian package management tools are:

control

Comes with each package; documents dependencies; contains the name and version of the package, a description, maintainer, installed size, and so on.

conffiles

Comes with each package and contains a list of the configuration files associated with the package.

preinst, postinst, prerm, postrm

Scripts that can be included in a package to be run before installation, after installation, before removal, or after removal of the package.

/var/lib/dpkg/available

Contains information about packages available on the system.

/var/lib/dpkg/status

Contains information about the status of packages available on the system.

/etc/apt/sources.list

A list for APT of package sources, used to locate packages. The sources are listed one per line, in order of preference.

/etc/apt/apt.conf

The main APT configuration file.

Package States and Selection States

The possible states that a package can be in are:

config-files

Only the configuration files for the package are present on the system.

half-configured

The package is unpacked and configuration was started but not completed.

half-installed

Installation was started but not completed.

installed

The package is unpacked and configured.

not-installed

The package is not installed.

unpacked

The package is unpacked but not configured.

The possible package selection states are:

deinstall

The package has been selected for deinstallation (i.e., for removal of everything but configuration files).

install

The package has been selected for installation.

purge

The package has been selected to be purged (i.e., for removal of everything including the configuration files).

Package Flags

There are two possible package flags that can be set for a package. They are:

hold

The package is not to be handled by dpkg, unless forced with the --force-hold option.

reinst-required

The package is broken and needs to be reinstalled. Such a package cannot be removed, unless forced with the --force-reinstreq option.

Scripts

In addition to the commands described in the next subsection, several shell and Perl scripts are included with the package manager for use in building packages:

dpkg-buildpackage

Help automate package building. Shell script.

dpkg-distaddfile

Add an entry for a file to debian/files. Perl script.

dpkg-genchanges

Generate an upload control file from the information in an unpacked, built, source tree and the files it has generated. Perl script.

dpkg-gencontrol

Read information from an unpacked source tree and display a binary package control file on standard output. Perl script.

dpkg-name

Rename Debian packages to their full package names. Shell script.

dpkg-parsechangelog

Read and parse the changelog from an unpacked source tree and write the information to standard output in machine-readable form. Perl script.

dpkg-scanpackages

Create a Packages file from a tree of binary packages. The Packages file is used by dselect to provide a list of packages available for installation. Perl script.

dpkg-shlibdeps

Calculate shared library dependencies for named executables. Perl script.

dpkg-source

Pack and unpack Debian source archives. Perl script.

Debian Package Manager Command Summary

• apt-cdrom
• apt-get
• dpkg
• dpkg-deb
• dpkg-split
• dselect

apt-cdrom

apt-cdrom [options] command

Add a new CD-ROM to APT's list of available sources. Currently, the only command is add, which is required (except with the --help option). The database of CD-ROM IDs that APT maintains is /var/state/apt/cdroms.list.

Options

Options can be specified on the command line or they may be set in the configuration file. Boolean options set in the configuration file can be overridden on the command line in a number of different ways, a couple of which are --no -opt and -opt=no, where opt is the single-character or full name of the option.

-a, --thorough

Do a thorough package scan. May be needed with some old Debian CD-ROMs.

-c, --config-file

Specify a configuration file to be read after the default configuration file.

-d, --cdrom

Specify the CD-ROM mount point, which must be listed in /etc/fstab. The configuration option is Acquire::cdrom::mount.

-f, --fast

Do a fast copy, assuming the files are valid and don't all need checking. Specify this only if this disk has been run before without error. The configuration option is APT::CDROM::Fast.

-h, --help

Print help message and exit.

-m, --no-mount

Don't mount or unmount the mount point. The configuration option is APT::CDROM::NoMount.

-n, --just-print, --recon, --no-act

Check everything, but don't actually make any changes. The configuration option is APT::CDROM::NoAct.

-o, --option

Set a configuration option. Syntax is -o group::tool=option (e.g., APT::CDROM=Fast).

-r, --rename

Prompt for a new label and rename the disk to the new value. The configuration option is APT::CDROM::Rename.

-v, --version

Print the version information and exit.

apt-get

apt-get [options] command [package...]

A command-line tool for handling packages. Will eventually be a backend to APT.

Commands

autoclean

Like clean, but remove only package files that can no longer be downloaded.

clean

Clear the local repository of retrieved package files.

check

Update the package cache and check for broken packages.

dist-upgrade

Like upgrade but also handle dependencies intelligently.

dselect-upgrade

Used together with dselect. Track the changes made by dselect to the Status field of available packages and take actions necessary to realize that status.

install package...

Install one or more packages. Specify the package name, not the full filename. Other required packages also are retrieved and installed. With a hyphen appended to the package name, the package is removed if it is already installed.

remove package...

Remove one or more packages. Specify the package name, not the full filename. With a plus sign appended to the name, the package is installed.

source package...

Find source packages and download them into the current directory. If specified with --compile, the source packages are compiled into binary packages. With --download-only, the source packages are not unpacked.

update

Resynchronize the package overview files from their sources. Must be done before an upgrade or dist-upgrade.

upgrade

Install the latest versions of all packages currently installed. Run update first.

Options

Options can be specified on the command line or they may be set in the configuration file. Boolean options set in the configuration file can be overridden on the command line in one of several ways, a couple of which are --no -opt and -opt=no, where opt is the single-character or full name of the option.

-b, --compile, --build

Compile source packages after download.

-c, --config-file

Specify a configuration file to read after the default.

-d, --download-only

Retrieve package files, but don't unpack or install them. The configuration option is APT::Get::Download-only.

-f, --fix-broken

Try to fix a system with broken dependencies. Can be used alone or with a command. The configuration option is APT::Get::Fix-Broken.

--force-yes

Force yes. Causes APT to continue without prompting if it is doing something that could damage your system. Use with great caution and only if absolutely necessary. The configuration option is APT::Get::force-yes.

-h, --help

Display a help message and exit.

--ignore-hold

Ignore a hold placed on a package. Use with dist-upgrade to override many undesired holds. The configuration option is APT::Get::Ignore-Hold.

-m, --ignore-missing, --fix-missing

Ignore missing or corrupted packages or packages that cannot be retrieved. Can cause problems when used with -f.

--no-download

Disable package downloading; use with --ignore-missing to force APT to use only the packages that have already been downloaded.

--no-upgrade

Do not upgrade packages. Use with install to prevent upgrade of packages that are already installed. The configuration option is APT::Get::no-upgrade.

-o, --option

Set a configuration option. Syntax is -o group::tool=option (e.g., APT::Get=force-yes).

--print-uris

Print URIs of files instead of fetching them. Print path, destination filename, size, and expected MD5 hash. The configuration option is APT::Get::Print-URIs.

-q, --quiet

Quiet. Omit progress indicators, produce only logging output. Add a q to make even quieter.

-s, --simulate, --just-print, --dry-run, --recon, --no-act

Go through the motions, but don't actually make any changes to the system. The configuration option is APT::Get::Simulate.

-u, --show-upgraded

Print a list of all packages to be upgraded. The configuration option is APT::Get::Show-Upgraded.

-v, --version

Display the version and exit.

-y, --yes, --assume-yes

Automatically reply "yes" to prompts and run noninteractively. Abort if there is an error. The configuration option is APT::Get::Assume-Yes.

dpkg

dpkg [options] action

A tool for installing, managing, and building packages. Serves as a frontend to dpkg-deb.

dpkg actions

These actions are carried out by dpkg itself:

-i pkgfile, --install pkgfile

Install the package specified as pkgfile. With -R or --recursive, pkgfile must be a directory.

--unpack pkgfile

Unpack the package, but don't configure it. With -R or --recursive, pkgfile must be a directory.

--configure [packages|-a|--pending]

Reconfigure one or more unpacked packages. If -a or --pending is given instead of packages, configure all packages that are unpacked but not configured.

-r, --remove [packages|-a|--pending]

--purge [packages|-a|--pending]

Remove or purge one or more installed packages. Removal gets rid of everything except the configuration files listed in debian/conffiles; purging also removes the configuration files. If -a or --pending is given instead of packages, dpkg removes or purges all packages that are unpacked and marked (in /var/lib/dpkg/status) for removing or purging.

--print-avail package

Print the details about package from /var/lib/dpkg/available.

--update-avail pkgs-file

--merge-avail pkgs-file

Update the record of available files kept in /var/lib/dpkg/available. This information is used by dpkg and dselect to determine what packages are available. Update will replace the information with the contents of the pkgs-file, distributed as Packages. Merge combines the information from Packages with the existing information.

-A pkgfile, --record-avail pkgfile

Update the record of available files kept in /var/lib/dpkg/available with information from pkgfile. This information is used by dpkg and dselect to determine what packages are available. With -R or --recursive, pkgfile must be a directory.

--forget-old-unavail

Forget about uninstalled unavailable packages.

--clear-avail

Remove existing information about what packages are available.

-l, --list [pkg-name-pattern]

List all packages whose names match the specified pattern. With no pattern, list all packages in /var/lib/dpkg/available. The pattern can include standard shell wildcard characters and may have to be quoted to prevent the shell from doing filename expansion.

-s packages, --status packages

Report the status of one or more packages by displaying the entry in the status database /var/lib/dpkg/status.

-C, --audit

Search for partially installed packages and suggest how to get them working.

--get-selections [pattern]

Get list of package selections and write to standard output. With pattern specified, write selections that match the pattern.

--set-selections

Set package selections based on input file read from standard input.

--yet-to-unpack

Search for uninstalled packages that have been selected for installation.

-L packages, --listfiles packages

List installed files that came from the specified package or packages.

-S filename-pattern, --search filename-pattern

Search installed packages for a filename. The pattern can include standard shell wildcard characters and may have to be quoted to prevent the shell from doing filename expansion.

--print-architecture

Print target architecture.

--print-gnu-build-architecture

Print the GNU version of the target architecture.

--print-installation-architecture

Print host architecture for installation.

--compare-versions ver1 op ver2

Perform a binary comparison of two version numbers. The operators lt le eq ne ge gt treat a missing version as earlier. The operators lt-nl le-nl ge-nl gt-nl treat a missing version as later (where nl is "not later"). There is a third set of operators (< << <= = >= >> >) that is provided for compatibility with control-file syntax. dpkg returns zero for success (i.e., the condition is satisfied) and nonzero otherwise.

--help

Print help message and exit.

--force-help

Print help message about the --force-list options and exit.

-Dh, --debug=help

Print debugging help message and exit.

--license

Print dpkg license information and exit. Accepts the spelling --licence in addition to --license.

--version

Print dpkg version information and exit.

dpkg-deb actions

The following actions can be specified for dpkg and are passed to dpkg-deb for execution. Also see dpkg-deb.

-b dir [archive], --build dir [archive]

Build a package.

-c archive, --contents archive

List the contents of a package.

-e, --control archive dir

Extract control information from a package.

-f archive [control-fields], --field archive [control-fields]

Display the control field or fields of a package.

-I archive [control-files], --info archive [control-files]

Show information about a package.

--fsys-tarfile archive

Display the filesystem tar- file contained by a package.

-x archive dir, --extract archive dir

Extract the files from a package.

-X archive dir, --vextract archive dir

Extract and display the filenames from a package.

Options

--abort-after=num

Abort processing after num errors. Default is 50.

-B, --auto-deconfigure

When a package is removed, automatically deconfigure any other package that depended on it.

-Doctal, --debug=octal

Turn on debugging, with the octal value specifying the desired level of debugging information. Use -Dh or --debug=help to display the possible values. You can OR the values to get the desired output.

-E, --skip-same-version

Don't install the package if this version is already installed.

--force-list, --no-force-list, --refuse-list

Force or refuse to force an operation. list is specified as a comma-separated item of options. With --force, a warning is printed, but processing continues. --refuse and --no-force cause processing to stop with an error. The force/refuse options are:

architecture

Process even if intended for a different architecture.

auto-select

Select or deselect packages to install or remove them. Forced by default.

bad-path

Some programs are missing from the path.

configure-any

Configure any unconfigured package that the package depends on.

conflicts

Permit installation of conflicting packages. Can result in problems from files being overwritten.

depends

Turn dependency problems into warnings.

depends-version

Warn of version problems when checking dependencies, but otherwise ignore.

downgrade

Install even if a newer version is already installed. Forced by default.

hold

Process packages even if they are marked to be held.

not-root

Try to install or remove even when not logged on as root.

overwrite

overwrite-dir

Overwrite one package's directory with a file from another package.

overwrite-diverted

Overwrite a diverted file with an undiverted version.

remove-essential

Remove an essential package. Note that this can cause your system to stop working.

remove-reinstreq

Remove packages that are broken and are marked to require reinstallation.

-G

Don't install a package if a newer version is already installed. The same as --refuse-downgrade.

--ignore-depends=pkglist

Dependency problems result only in a warning for the packages in pkglist.

--largemem

Specify that dpkg can use as much memory as it needs.

--new

New binary package format. This is a dpkg-deb option.

--no-act

Go through the motions, but don't actually write any changes. Used for testing. Be sure to specify before the action; otherwise changes might be written.

--nocheck

Ignore the contents of the control file when building a package. This is a dpkg-deb option.

-O, --selected-only

Process only packages that are marked as selected for installation.

--old

Old binary package format. This is a dpkg-deb option.

-R, --recursive

Recursively handle .deb files found in the directories specified with -A, --install, --unpack, and --avail and their subdirectories.

-R, --root=dir, --admindir=dir, --instdir=dir

Change default directories. admindir contains administrative files with status and other information about packages; it defaults to /var/lib/dpkg. instdir is the directory in which packages are installed and defaults to /. Changing the root directory to dir automatically changes instdir to dir and admindir to /dir/var/lib/dpkg.

--smallmem

Specify that dpkg should try to preserve memory.

dpkg-deb

dpkg-deb action [options]

Backend command for building and managing Debian package archives. Also see dpkg; you'll often want to use dpkg to pass commands through to dpkg-deb, rather than call dpkg-deb directly.

Actions

-b dir [archive], --build dir [archive]

Create an archive from the filesystem tree starting with directory dir. The directory must have a DEBIAN subdirectory containing the control file and any other control information. If archive is specified and is a filename, the package is written to that file; if no archive is specified, the package is written to dir.deb. If the archive already exists, it is replaced. If archive is the name of a directory, the dpkg-deb looks in the control file for the information it needs to generate the package name. (Note that for this reason, you cannot use --no-check with a directory name.)

-c archive, --contents archive

List the filesystem-tree portion of archive.

-e, --control archive dir

Extract control information from archive into the directory dir, which is created if it doesn't exist.

-f archive [control-fields], --field archive [control-fields]

Extract information about one or more fields in the control file for archive. If no fields are provided, print the entire control file.

-h, --help

Print help information and exit.

-I archive [control-files], --info archive [control-files]

Provide information about binary package archive. If no control files are provided, print a summary of the package contents; otherwise, print the control files in the order they were specified. An error message is printed to standard error for any missing components.

--fsys-tarfile archive

Extract the filesystem tree from archive, and send it to standard output in tar format. Can be used with tar to extract individual files from an archive.

--license

Print the license information and exit. Accepts the spelling --licence in addition to --license.

--version

Print the version number and exit.

-x archive dir, --extract archive dir

-X archive dir, --vextract archive dir

Extract the filesystem tree from archive into the specified directory, creating dir if it doesn't already exist. -x (--extract) works silently, while -X (--vextract) lists the files as it extracts them. Do not use this option to install packages; use dpkg instead.

Options

-D

Turn on debugging.

--new

Build a new-style archive format (this is the default).

--no-check

Don't check the control file before building an archive. This lets you build a broken archive.

--old

Build an old-style archive format.

dpkg-split

dpkg-split [action] [options]

Split a binary package into smaller pieces and reassemble the pieces, manually or in automatic mode. The automatic mode maintains a queue of parts for reassembling. Useful for transferring to and from floppy disks.

Actions

-a -o output part, --auto -o output part

Add part to the queue for automatic reassembly and if all the parts are available, reassemble the package as output.

-d [packages], --discard [packages]

Discard parts from the automatic-assembly queue. If any packages are specified, discard only parts from those packages. Otherwise, empty the queue.

-I parts, --info parts

Print information about the part file or files specified.

-j parts, --join parts

Join the parts of a package file together from the parts specified. The default output file is package-version.deb.

-l, --listq

List the contents of the queue of parts waiting for reassembly, giving the package name, the parts that are on the queue, and the number of bytes.

-s full-package [prefix], --full-package [prefix]

Split the package full-package into parts, named prefixNofM.deb. The prefix defaults to the full-package name without the .deb extension.

-h, --help

Print help message and exit.

--license

Print the license information and exit. Accepts the spelling --licence in addition to --license.

--version

Print the version information and exit.

Options

--depotdir

Specify an alternate directory depotdir for the queue of parts waiting for reassembly. Default is /var/lib/dpkg.

--msdos

Force --split output filenames to be MS-DOS-compatible.

-Q, --npquiet

Do not print an error message for a part that doesn't belong to a binary package when doing automatic queuing or reassembly.

-o output, --output output

Use output as the filename for a reassembled package.

-S num, --partsize num

When splitting, specify the maximum part size (num) in kilobytes. Default is 450 KB.

dselect

dselect [options] [action]

A screen-oriented user frontend to dpkg. The primary user interface for installing and managing packages. See dpkg and dpkg-deb for information on building packages.

Actions

If dselect is run with no action specified on the command line, it displays the following menu:

* 0. [A]ccess      Choose the access method to use.                           
  1. [U]pdate      Update list of available packages, if possible.
  2. [S]elect      Request which packages you want on your system.
  3. [I]nstall     Install and upgrade wanted packages.
  4. [C]onfig      Configure any packages that are unconfigured.
  5. [R]emove      Remove unwanted software.
  6. [Q]uit        Quit dselect.

The asterisk (on the first line here) shows the currently selected option. Any of the menu items can be specified directly on the command line as an action (access, update, select, install, config, remove, quit) to go directly to the desired activity. For example:

% dselect access

If you enter quit on the command line, dselect exits immediately without doing anything. An additional command-line action is menu, which displays the menu and is equivalent to omitting the action.

Options

--admindir dir

Change the directory that holds internal data files to dir. Default is /var/lib/dpkg.

-D [file], --debug [file]

Turn on debugging. Send output to file if specified.

--help

Print help message and exit.

--license

Print the license information and exit. Accepts the spelling --licence in addition to --license.

--version

Print version information and exit.

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