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Debian Quick Reference
Chapter 3 - Debian package management


aptitude is now the preferred text front end for APT, the Advanced Package Tool. It remembers which packages you deliberately installed and which packages were pulled in through dependencies; the latter packages are automatically de-installed by aptitude when they are no longer needed by any deliberately installed packages. It has advanced package-filtering features but these can be difficult to configure.

synaptic is now the preferred Gtk GUI front end for APT. Its package filtering capability is easier to use than aptitude's. It also has experimental support for Debian Package Tags.

To reduce the network load on the Debian repositories and to speed up your downloads you should get packages from Debian mirror sites.

If you need to install the same package on several machines on your local network then you can set up a local HTTP proxy using squid for packages downloaded through APT. If necessary, set the http_proxy environment variable or set the http value in /etc/apt/apt.conf.

Although APT's pinning feature, described in apt_preferences(5), is powerful, its effects can be difficult to understand and manage. You should consider it an Advanced Feature.

The use of chroot is desirable for simultaneously securing both system stability and access to the latest versions of software.

This chapter is based on a post-Woody system. Some features may require a Sarge system or later.


3.1 Introduction

If reading all the developer documentation is too much for you, read this chapter first and start enjoying the full power of Debian with testing/unstable :-)


3.1.1 Main package management tools

     dpkg      – Debian package file installer
     apt-get   – Command line front end for APT
     aptitude  – Advanced text and command line front end for APT
     synaptic  – Gtk GUI front end for APT
     dselect   – Menu-driven package manager
     tasksel   – Task installer

These tools aren't all alternatives to one another. For example, dselect uses both APT and dpkg.

APT uses /var/lib/apt/lists/* for tracking available packages while dpkg uses /var/lib/dpkg/available. If you have installed packages using aptitude or other APT front ends and you want to use dselect to install packages then the first thing you should do is update /var/lib/dpkg/available by selecting [U]pdate from dselect's menu (or by running "dselect update").

apt-get automatically installs all packages upon which a requested package Depends. It does not install the packages that a requested package merely Recommends or Suggests.

aptitude, in contrast, can be configured to install packages that a requested package Recommends or Suggests.

dselect presents the user with a list of packages that a selected package Recommends or Suggests and allows these to be selected or deselected individually.


3.1.2 Convenience tools

     dpkg-reconfigure  - reconfigure an already installed package
                         (if it uses debconf)
     dpkg-source       - manage source package file
     dpkg-buildpackage - automate the building of a package file
     apt-cache         - check package archive in local cache

3.2 Beginning Debian package management


3.2.1 Set up APT

Set up sources.list as described in Preparing for upgrade, Section 2.2. [1]


3.2.2 Installing tasks

You can install sets of packages typically required in order to put a Debian system to a certain use. These sets of packages are called "tasks".

The simplest way to install tasks at the time of initial installation is to use tasksel. Note that you must run

     dselect update

before using it.

aptitude can also install tasks and is the tool recommended for this purpose. It enables you to deselect individual packages within tasks before proceeding to the installation step.


3.2.3 aptitude

aptitude is a new menu-driven package installer similar to dselect but built from scratch on top of APT. It can be used as an alternative to apt-get for most commands. See aptitude(1) and /usr/share/doc/aptitude/README.

Once you start using aptitude it is best to continue using it rather than alternative methods of installing packages; otherwise you lose the advantage of aptitude keeping track of which packages you have deliberately installed.

aptitude in full screen mode accepts single-key commands which are usually lowercase. Notable key strokes are:

     Keystroke   Action
     F10         Menu
     ?           Help for keystroke (complete listing)
     u           Update package archive information
     +           Mark the package to be upgraded or newly installed
     -           Mark the package to be removed (keep config)
     _           Mark the package to be purged (remove config)
     =           Place the package on hold
     U           Mark all upgradable packages to be upgraded
     g           Download and install selected packages
     q           Quit current screen and save changes
     x           Quit current screen and discard changes
     Enter       View information about a package
     C           View a package's changelog
     l           Change the limit for the displayed packages
     /           Search for the first match
     \           Repeat the last search

Like apt-get, aptitude installs packages upon which a selected package Depends. aptitude also offers the option to pull in packages that a to-be-installed package Recommends or Suggests. You can change the default behavior by choosing F10 -> Options -> Dependency handling in its menu.

Other advantages of aptitude are:


3.2.4 dselect

In stable releases up to and including Potato, dselect was the principal package maintenance tool. For Sarge, you should consider using aptitude instead.

When started, dselect automatically selects all "Required", "Important", and "Standard" packages.

dselect has a somewhat strange user interface. Most people get used to it, however. It has four commands (Capital means CAPITAL!):

     Key-stroke  Action
     Q           Quit. Confirm current selection and quit anyway. 
                 (override dependencies)
     R           Revert! I did not mean it.
     D           Damn it! I do not care what dselect thinks.  Just Do it!
     U           Set all to sUggested state

With D and Q, you can select conflicting selections at your own risk. Handle these commands with care.

Add a line containing the option "expert" in /etc/dpkg/dselect.cfg to reduce noise.

If your machine runs dselect slowly then you might consider running dselect on another (faster) machine in order to determine the packages you want to install, then use apt-get install on the slow machine to install them.


3.2.5 Tracking a distribution using APT

To track the testing distribution as it changes, make your /etc/apt/preferences file look like this:

     Package: *
     Pin: release a=testing
     Pin-Priority: 800
     
     Package: *
     Pin: release a=stable
     Pin-Priority: 600

Note that tracking the testing distribution can have the side effect of delaying the installation of packages containing security fixes. Such packages are uploaded to unstable and migrate to testing only after a delay.

See apt_preferences(5) for more complicated examples which will allow you, for example, to track testing while installing selected packages from unstable.

Examples which lock particular packages at particular versions while tracking other packages as they are released are available in the examples subdirectory as preferences.testing and preferences.unstable.

If you mix distributions, e.g., testing with stable or unstable with stable, you will eventually pull in core packages such as libc6 from testing or unstable and there is no guarantee that these will not contain bugs. You have been warned.

Another example, preferences.stable, forces all packages to be downgraded to stable.

Downgrading from a later release of a package to an earlier one is not officially supported in Debian. However, you may find that you have to downgrade a specific package in order to re-install a version of a package that works when a new version malfunctions. You may find these previous package files locally in /var/cache/apt/archives/ or remotely at http://snapshot.debian.net/. See also Rescue using dpkg, Section 3.3.3.

Downgrading from a later release of a distribution to an earlier one is not officially supported either and is very likely to cause problems. However, this may be worth trying as a last resort if you are desperate.


3.2.6 aptitude, apt-get and apt-cache commands

While tracking testing as described in the above example you can manage the system by using the following commands:

In the above examples, giving apt-get the -u option causes it to print a list of all packages that are to be upgraded and to prompt the user before taking action. aptitude does this by default. The following makes apt-get always do this:

     $ cat >> /etc/apt/apt.conf << .
     // Always show packages to be upgraded (-u)
     APT::Get::Show-Upgraded "true";
     .

Use the --no-act option to simulate actions without actually installing, removing, etc., any packages.


3.3 Debian survival commands

With this knowledge you can live the life of eternal upgrade :-)


3.3.1 Check bugs in Debian and seek help

If you are experiencing problems with a specific package, make sure to check out these sites first before you seek help or file a bug report. (lynx, links, and w3m work equally well):

     $ lynx http://bugs.debian.org/
     $ lynx http://bugs.debian.org/package-name  # if you know package name
     $ lynx http://bugs.debian.org/bugnumber     # if you know bug number

Search Google (www.google.com) with search words including "site:debian.org".

When in doubt, read the fine manual. Set CDPATH as follows:

     export CDPATH=.:/usr/local:/usr/share/doc

and type

     $ cd packagename
     $ pager README.Debian # if this exists
     $ mc

3.3.2 APT upgrade troubleshooting

Package dependency problems may occur when upgrading in unstable or testing as described in Upgrading, Section 2.3. Most of the time this is because a package that will be upgraded Depends on a package that is not yet available. These problems are fixed by using

     # aptitude dist-upgrade

If this does not work, then repeat one of the following until the problem resolves itself:

     # aptitude -f upgrade        # continue upgrade even after error
     ... or
     # aptitude -f dist-upgrade   # continue dist-upgrade even after error

Some really broken upgrade scripts may cause persistent trouble. It is usually better to resolve this type of situation by inspecting the /var/lib/dpkg/info/packagename.{post,pre}{inst,rm} scripts of the offending package and then running:

     # dpkg --configure -a    # configures all partially installed packages

If a script complains about a missing configuration file, look in /etc/ for the corresponding configuration file. If one exists with an extension of .dpkg-new (or something similar), mv it to remove the suffix.

Package dependency problems may occur when installing in unstable or testing. There are ways to circumvent dependencies.

     # aptitude -f install package # override broken dependencies

An alternative method to fix these situations is to use the equivs package. See /usr/share/doc/equivs/README.Debian.


3.3.3 Rescue using dpkg

If you reach a dead end using APT you can download package files from Debian mirrors and install them using dpkg. If you do have not access to the network you can look for cached copies of package files in /var/cache/apt/archives/.

     # dpkg -i fetchmail_6.2.5-4_i386.deb

If attempting to install a package this way fails due to dependency violations and you really need to install the package then you can override dependency checks using dpkg's --ignore-depends, --force-depends and other options. See dpkg(8) for details.


3.3.4 Recover package selection data

If /var/lib/dpkg/status becomes corrupt for any reason, the Debian system loses package selection data and suffers severely. Look for the old /var/lib/dpkg/status file at /var/lib/dpkg/status-old or /var/backups/dpkg.status.*.

Keeping /var/backups/ in a separate partition may be a good idea since this directory contains lots of important system data.

If no old /var/lib/dpkg/status file is available, you can still recover information from directories in /usr/share/doc/.

     # ls /usr/share/doc | \
       grep -v [A-Z] | \
       grep -v '^texmf$' | \
       grep -v '^debian$' | \
       awk '{print $1 " install"}' | \
       dpkg --set-selections
     # dselect --expert # reinstall system, de-select as needed

3.3.5 Rescue system after crashing /var

Since the /var directory contains regularly updated data such as mail, it is more susceptible of corruption than, e.g., /usr/. Putting /var/ on a separate partition reduces risks. If disaster happens, you may have to rebuild the /var directory to rescue your Debian system.

Obtain the skeleton content of the /var directory from a minimum working Debian system based on the same or older Debian version, for example var.tar.gz, and place it in the root directory of the broken system. Then

     # cd /
     # mv var var-old      # if any useful contents are left
     # tar xvzf var.tar.gz # use Woody skeleton file
     # aptitude            # or dselect

This should provide a working system. You can expedite the recovery of package selections by using the technique described in Recover package selection data, Section 3.3.4. ([FIXME]: This procedure needs more experiments to verify.)


3.3.6 Install a package into an unbootable system

Boot into Linux using a Debian rescue floppy/CD or an alternative partition in a multiboot Linux system. Mount the unbootable system on /target and use the chroot install mode of dpkg.

     # dpkg --root /target -i packagefile.deb

Then configure and fix problems.

By the way, if a broken lilo is all that prevents booting, you can boot using a standard Debian rescue disk. At boot prompt, assuming the root partition of your Linux installation is in /dev/hda12 and you want runlevel 3, enter:

     boot: rescue root=/dev/hda12 3

Then you are booted into an almost fully functional system with the kernel on floppy disk. (There may be minor glitches due to lack of kernel features or modules.)


3.3.7 What to do if the dpkg command is broken

A broken dpkg may make it impossible to install any .deb files. A procedure like the following will help you recover from this situation. (In the first line, you can replace "links" with your favorite browser command.)

     $ links http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/dpkg/
       ... download the good dpkg_version_arch.deb
     $ su
     password: *****
     # ar x dpkg_version_arch.deb
     # mv data.tar.gz /data.tar.gz
     # cd /
     # tar xzfv data.tar.gz

For i386, http://packages.debian.org/dpkg may also be used as the URL.


3.4 Debian nirvana commands

Enlightenment with these commands will save a person from the eternal karmic struggle of upgrade hell and let him reach Debian nirvana. :-)


3.4.1 Information on a file

To find the package to which a particular filename pattern belongs in the installed packages:

     $ dpkg {-S|--search} pattern

Or to find the similar in the Debian archive:

     $ wget http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/sarge/Contents-i386.gz
     $ zgrep -e pattern Contents-i386.gz

Or use specialized package commands:

     # aptitude install dlocate  
     $ dlocate filename         # fast alternative to dpkg -L and dpkg -S
     ...
     # aptitude install auto-apt # on-demand package installation tool
     # auto-apt update          # create db file for auto-apt
     $ auto-apt search pattern  
                     # search for pattern in all packages, installed or not

3.4.2 Information on a package

Search and display information from package archives. Make sure to point APT to the proper archive(s) by editing /etc/apt/sources.list. If you want to see how packages in testing/unstable do against the currently installed one, use apt-cache policy—quite nice.

     # apt-get   check           # update cache and check for broken packages
     $ apt-cache search  pattern # search package from text description
     $ apt-cache policy  package # package priority/dists information
     $ apt-cache show -a package # show description of package in all dists
     $ apt-cache showsrc package # show description of matching source package
     $ apt-cache showpkg package # package information for debugging
     # dpkg  --audit|-C          # search for partially installed packages
     $ dpkg {-s|--status} package ... # description of installed package
     $ dpkg -l package ...       # status of installed package (1 line each)
     $ dpkg -L package ...       # list filenames installed by the package

apt-cache showsrc is not documented as of the Woody release but works :)

You can also find package information in (I use mc to browse these):

     /var/lib/apt/lists/*
     /var/lib/dpkg/available

The comparison of the following files provides information on what exactly has happened in the last few install sessions.

     /var/lib/dpkg/status
     /var/backups/dpkg.status*

3.4.3 Unattended installation with APT

For an unattended installation, add the following line in /etc/apt/apt.conf:

     Dpkg::Options {"--force-confold";}

This equivalent to running aptitude -y install packagename or apt-get -q -y install packagename. Because this automatically answers "yes" to all prompts, it may cause problems, so use this trick with care. See apt.conf(5) and dpkg(1).

You can configure any particular packages later by following Reconfigure installed packages, Section 3.4.4.


3.4.4 Reconfigure installed packages

Use the following to reconfigure any already-installed package.

     # dpkg-reconfigure --priority=medium package [...]
     # dpkg-reconfigure --all   # reconfigure all packages
     # dpkg-reconfigure locales # generate any extra locales
     # dpkg-reconfigure --p=low xserver-xfree86 # reconfigure X server

Do this for debconf if you need to change the debconf dialog mode permanently.

Some programs come with special configuration scripts. [3]

     apt-setup     - create /etc/apt/sources.list
     install-mbr   - install a Master Boot Record manager
     tzconfig      - set the local time zone
     gpmconfig     - set gpm mouse daemon
     eximconfig    - configure Exim (MTA)
     texconfig     - configure teTeX
     apacheconfig  - configure Apache (httpd)
     cvsconfig     - configure CVS
     sndconfig     - configure sound system
     ...
     update-alternatives - set default command, e.g., vim as vi
     update-rc.d         - System-V init script management
     update-menus        - Debian menu system
     ...

3.4.5 Remove and purge packages

Remove a package while maintaining its configuration:

     # aptitude remove package ...
     # dpkg   --remove package ...

Remove a package and all configuration:

     # aptitude purge  package ...
     # dpkg   --purge  package ...

3.4.6 Holding older packages

For example, holding of libc6 and libc6-dev for dselect and aptitude install package can be done as follows:

     # echo -e "libc6 hold\nlibc6-dev hold" | dpkg --set-selections

aptitude install package will not be hindered by this "hold". To hold a package through forcing automatic downgrade for aptitude upgrade package or aptitude dist-upgrade, add the following to /etc/apt/preferences:

     Package: libc6
     Pin: release a=stable
     Pin-Priority: 2000

Here the "Package:" entry cannot use entries such as "libc6*". If you need to keep all binary packages related to the glibc source package in a synchronized version, you need to list them explicitly.

The following will list packages on hold:

     dpkg --get-selections "*"|grep -e "hold$"

3.4.7 Mixed stable/testing/unstable system

apt-show-versions can list available package versions by distribution.

     $ apt-show-versions | fgrep /testing | wc
     ... how many packages you have from testing
     $ apt-show-versions -u
     ... list of upgradeable packages
     $ aptitude install `apt-show-versions -u -b | fgrep /unstable`
     ... upgrade all unstable packages to their newest versions

3.4.8 Prune cached package files

Package installation with APT leaves cached package files in /var/cache/apt/archives/ and these need to be cleaned.

     # aptitude autoclean # removes only useless package files
     # aptitude clean     # removes all cached package files

3.4.9 Record/copy system configuration

To make a local copy of the package selection states:

     # dpkg --get-selections "*" >myselections   # or use \*
     # debconf-get-selections > debconfsel.txt

"*" makes myselections include package entries for "purge" too.

You can transfer this file to another computer, and install it there with:

     # dselect update
     # debconf-set-selections < debconfsel.txt
     # dpkg --set-selections <myselections
     # apt-get -u dselect-upgrade    # or dselect install

3.4.10 Port a package to the stable system

For partial upgrades of the stable system, rebuilding a package within its environment using the source package is desirable. This avoids massive package upgrades due to their dependencies. First, add the following entries to /etc/apt/sources.list:

     deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian testing \
      main contrib non-free
     deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian unstable \
      main contrib non-free

Here each entry for deb-src is broken into two lines because of printing constraints, but the actual entry in sources.list should consist of a single line.

Then get the source and make a local package:

     $ apt-get update  # update the source package search list
     $ apt-get source package
     $ dpkg-source -x package.dsc
     $ cd package-version
       ... inspect required packages (Build-Depends in .dsc file) and
           install them too.  You need the "fakeroot" package also.
     
     $ dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot 
     
       ...or (no sig)
     $ dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -us -uc # use "debsign" later if needed
     
       ...Then to install
     $ su -c "dpkg -i packagefile.deb"

Usually, one needs to install a few packages with the "-dev" suffix to satisfy package dependencies. debsign is in the devscripts package. auto-apt may ease satisfying these dependencies. Use of fakeroot avoids unnecessary use of the root account.

In Woody, these dependency issues can be simplified. For example, to compile a source-only pine package:

     # apt-get build-dep pine
     # apt-get source -b pine

3.4.11 Local package archive

In order to create a local package archive which is compatible with APT and the dselect system, Packages needs to be created and package files need to be populated in a particular directory tree.

A local deb repository similar to an official Debian archive can be made in this way:

     # aptitude install dpkg-dev
     # cd /usr/local
     # install -d pool # physical packages are located here
     # install -d dists/unstable/main/binary-i386
     # ls -1 pool | sed 's/_.*$/ priority section/' | uniq > override
     # editor override # adjust priority and section
     # dpkg-scanpackages pool override /usr/local/ \
        > dists/unstable/main/binary-i386/Packages
     # cat > dists/unstable/main/Release << EOF
     Archive: unstable
     Version: 3.0
     Component: main
     Origin: Local
     Label: Local
     Architecture: i386
     EOF
     # echo "deb file:/usr/local unstable main" \
        >> /etc/apt/sources.list

Alternatively, a quick-and-dirty local deb repository can be made:

     # aptitude install dpkg-dev
     # mkdir /usr/local/debian
     # mv /some/where/package.deb /usr/local/debian
     # dpkg-scanpackages /usr/local/debian /dev/null | \
       gzip - > /usr/local/debian/Packages.gz
     #  echo "deb file:/usr/local/debian ./" >> /etc/apt/sources.list

These archives can be remotely accessed by providing access to these directories through either HTTP or FTP methods and changing entries in /etc/apt/sources.list accordingly.


3.4.12 Convert or install an alien binary package

alien enables the conversion of binary packages provided in Red Hat rpm, Stampede slp, Slackware tgz, and Solaris pkg file formats into a Debian deb package. If you want to use a package from another Linux distribution than the one you have installed on your system, you can use alien to convert it to your preferred package format and install it. alien also supports LSB packages.


3.4.13 Automatically install command

auto-apt is an on-demand package installation tool.

     $ sudo auto-apt update
      ... update database
     $ auto-apt -x -y run
     Entering auto-apt mode: /bin/bash
     Exit the command to leave auto-apt mode.
     $ less /usr/share/doc/med-bio/copyright # access non-existing file
      ...  Install the package which provide this file.
      ... Also install dependencies

3.4.14 Verify installed package files

debsums enables verification of installed package files against MD5 checksums. Some packages do not have available MD5 checksums. A possible temporary fix for sysadmins:

     # cat >>/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/90debsums
     DPkg::Post-Install-Pkgs {"xargs /usr/bin/debsums -sg";};
     ^D

per Joerg Wendland joergland@debian.org (untested).


3.5 Other Debian peculiarities


3.5.1 The dpkg-divert command

File diversions are a way of forcing dpkg not to install a file into its default location, but to a diverted location. Diversions can be used through the Debian package scripts to move a file away when it causes a conflict. System administrators can also use a diversion to override a package's configuration file, or whenever some files (which aren't marked as conffiles) need to be preserved by dpkg, when installing a newer version of a package which contains those files.

     # dpkg-divert [--add]  filename # add "diversion"
     # dpkg-divert --remove filename # remove "diversion"

It's usually a good idea not to use dpkg-divert unless it is absolutely necessary.


3.5.2 The equivs package

If you compile a program from source, it is best to make it into a real local debianized package (*.deb). Use equivs as a last resort.

     Package: equivs
     Priority: extra
     Section: admin
     Description: Circumventing Debian package dependencies
      This is a dummy package which can be used to create Debian
      packages, which only contain dependency information.

3.5.3 Alternative commands

To make the command vi run vim, use update-alternatives:

     # update-alternatives --display vi
     ...
     # update-alternatives --config vi
       Selection    Command
     -----------------------------------------------
           1        /usr/bin/elvis-tiny
           2        /usr/bin/vim
     *+    3        /usr/bin/nvi
     
     Enter to keep the default[*], or type selection number: 2

Items in the Debian alternatives system are kept in /etc/alternatives/ as symlinks.

To set your favorite X Window environment, apply update-alternatives to /usr/bin/x-session-manager and /usr/bin/x-window-manager.

/bin/sh is a direct symlink to /bin/bash or /bin/dash. It's safer to use /bin/bash to be compatible with old Bashism-contaminated scripts but better discipline to use /bin/dash to enforce POSIX compliance. Upgrading to a 2.4 Linux kernel tends to set this to /bin/dash.


3.5.4 Runlevel usage

When installed, most Debian packages configure their services to run in runlevels 2 through 5. Thus, there are no differences between runlevels 2, 3, 4 and 5 on a Debian system that has not been customized; Debian leaves it up to the local administrator to customize runlevels. This differs from the way runlevels are used by some other popular GNU/Linux distributions. One change you may want to make is to disable xdm or gdm in runlevel 2 so that the X display manager is not started at the end of the boot sequence; you can then start it by switching to runlevel 3.


3.5.5 Disabled daemon services

Debian developers take system security seriously. Many daemon services are installed with the fewest services and features enabled.

Run ps aux or check the contents of /etc/init.d/* and /etc/inetd.conf, if you have any doubts (about Exim, DHCP, ...). Also check /etc/hosts.deny. The pidof command is also useful (see pidof(8)).

X11 doesn't allow TCP/IP (remote) connections by default in recent versions of Debian. X forwarding in SSH is also disabled.


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Debian Quick Reference

CVS, Thu Jan 18 11:54:29 UTC 2007

Osamu Aoki osamu#at#debian.org
Authors, Section A.1