a friend-o-mine just got up with debian 2.2/potato, and i crafted
this little intro to apt-get... your comments are welcome.
i indent using tabs (the One True Way) so feel free to set your
tabstops (vi, use :set ts=4) wherever you feel comfortable --
mine are set at 4:
# written by will trillich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
# 2000 oct 19, thurs
DEBIAN'S ADVANCED PACKAGE TOOL -- apt
debian uses a cool packaging system that takes care of
dependencies for you -- packageA may require packageB, which
requires packageC, and the Advanced Package Tool (apt) will
take care of installing packageC and packageB if you request
packageA. very nice!
to see what apt-* commands you have available, try this:
type 'apt' at the command prompt of your shell, and then
press CONTROL-D... most shells will then display for you all
the commands (avilable on your $PATH list) that start with
those letters. a great way to find useful nuggets!
SETUP -- Advanced Package Tool (apt)
this little gizmo sets up the configuration file for you:
apt-setup
it asks you some questions and winds up configuring your
/etc/apt/sources.list file, which is used by the apt
utilities to download and upgrade packages on your debian
system.
/etc/apt/sources.list is the file that tells your
AdvancedPackageTool (apt) where to look when you want to
update current packages or install new ones.
try
man sources.list
to learn about the format of this file. for a list of
debian mirrors to use in sources.list, try
http://www.debian.org/misc/README.mirrors
or just re-run the apt-setup utility.
NOTE -- keep in mind that debian is a work-in-progress,
meaning that as holes are found and bugs are kilt in the
stable distribution, a whole new world is developing on the
UNSTABLE distribution. if you need something from 'unstable'
go ahead and try it; this is fine if you don't mind being on
the "front lines" so to speak. most of us stick with the
STABLE distribution, which has no new gizmos being created;
only patches and fixes are added to the STABLE release. you
might occasionaly want to delve into UNSTABLE territory, for
some new functionality that's not available in the stodgy,
old, >>dependable<< stable area. it's up to you, but don't
expect a refund if something breaks -- it's called UNSTABLE
for a reason!
you can hop back and forth between the two by changing
'stable' to 'unstable' or vice-versa, in your sources.list
file. stick with STABLE, though, if you can.
if you're running a production server, definitely shy away
from UNSTABLE unless you like soothing the frazzled nerves
of management, and their paying customers, and your spouse,
who keeps asking why you're always looking for a new job.
UPDATING YOUR SYSTEM -- apt-get upgrade
once sources.list is set up and you're online, first you
apt-get update
to refresh the package list to include the latest fixes,
and then simply
apt-get upgrade
to download, configure and then install any packages you've
got that have been tweaked. you'll probably wanna do this
periodically to squash bugs and plug security holes.
INSTALLING PACKAGES -- apt-get install
when you're online, to install new packages you want to use,
simply use something like
apt-get install vim traceroute mysql-server mysql-client
apt-get install logcheck
to download, configure and install whichever packages you want
FINDING PACKAGES -- apt-cache search
whether you're online or not--
how do you find the package that's got the feature you want?
there are several options, and all require that you know
some of the accepted terminology of the feature you're
after:
apt-get update
then when your package list is up-to-date,
apt-cache search tunnel
apt-cache search 'php.*sql'
apt-cache search apache.\*perl
apt-cache search elvis\|vim
search packages with REGEX -- if your pattern uses any
keystrokes that mean something to the shell (e.g. [|?*])
you'll need to quote them so that apt-cache will be able to
see them, instead of having the shell expand the term to
a list of file names that mean something else entirely.
NOTE -- apt-cache only knows about the package descriptions
you've already downloaded. if there are new ones to be had,
browse to http://packages.debian.org/PACKAGESUBSTRING to
see what's available. for example:
http://packages.debian.org/vnc
will get you a listing of packages that contain the term
"vnc" somewhere in the title.
DESCRIBING PACKAGES -- apt-cache show
the simplest way to see the description of a package:
apt-cache show postgresql
apt-cache show iproute
this displays what the package is designed to do, version
info and so forth.
LISTING PACKAGES -- dpkg -l
which packages are installed? do any need configuring?
dpkg -l
(that's a lower-case EL, not a one.) lists all INSTALLED
packages.
dpkg -l \*
lists all packages.
dpkg -l '*postgres*'
list status of packages matching GLOB (not regex: a regex
uses .* to mean 'any character, zero or more times'; in a
glob, .* means a dot, followed by zero or more characters).
if your pattern uses metacharacters (* ? | etc.) you'll need
to quote it so that your command shell doesn't interpret it
-- you want dpkg to see the pattern, instead.
combine that with grep for some powerful searches:
dpkg -l \* | grep ^pi
finds installed packages marked to be purged.
dpkg -l \* | grep "^i[^i]"
lists packages marked for installation, that aren't
installed yet.
dpkg -l \* | grep '^[^i]i'
shows installed packages that won't stay that way. see 'man
grep' for more info on grep and 'man dpkg' for more on the
listing format.
PACKAGE CONTENTS -- dpkg -L
dpkg -L mysql
dpkg -L apt
(with an upper-case EL) shows all the files -- with full
path names -- that are provided by the package.
FINDING WHICH PACKAGE SUPPLIES... -- dpkg -S
how to find which package contains a certain file:
dpkg -S postmaster
dpkg -S 'doc/*sql' | cut -f1 -d: | sort -u
search for packages that supply files whose paths contain
the GLOB. see 'man cut' and 'man sort' for info on how to
use these tools in your day-to-day mungings.
LEARN MORE
try
man apt-get
man sources.list
man dpkg
man grep
man cut
man sort
to learn more.
handy-dandy stuff, once you get used to it.
--
self-reference, n: see self-reference.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] *** http://www.dontUthink.com/
