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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>Chapter 8. The Debian package management tools</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="debian.css" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="home" href="index.en.html" title="The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ" /><link rel="up" href="index.en.html" title="The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ" /><link rel="prev" href="pkg-basics.en.html" title="Chapter 7. Basics of the Debian package management system" /><link rel="next" href="uptodate.en.html" title="Chapter 9. Keeping your Debian system up-to-date" /><meta xmlns="" name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><style xmlns="" type="text/css">
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    </style></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Chapter 8. The Debian package management tools</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="pkg-basics.en.html"><img src="images/prev.png" alt="Prev" /></a> </td><th width="60%" align="center"> </th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="uptodate.en.html"><img src="images/next.png" alt="Next" /></a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a id="pkgtools"></a>Chapter 8. The Debian package management tools</h1></div></div></div><div class="toc"><p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p><dl class="toc"><dt><span class="section"><a href="pkgtools.en.html#pkgprogs">8.1. What programs does Debian provide for managing its packages?</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="pkgtools.en.html#dpkg">8.1.1. dpkg</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pkgtools.en.html#apt-get">8.1.2. APT</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pkgtools.en.html#aptitude">8.1.3. aptitude</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pkgtools.en.html#synaptic">8.1.4. synaptic</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pkgtools.en.html#tasksel">8.1.5. tasksel</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pkgtools.en.html#dpkg-extra">8.1.6. Other package management tools</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="section"><a href="pkgtools.en.html#updaterunning">8.2. Debian claims to be able to update a running program; how is this accomplished?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pkgtools.en.html#whatpackages">8.3. How can I tell what packages are already installed on a Debian system?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pkgtools.en.html#listfiles">8.4. How do I display the files of an installed package?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pkgtools.en.html#filesearch">8.5. How can I find out what package produced a particular file?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pkgtools.en.html#datapackages">8.6. Why is `foo-data' not removed when I uninstall `foo'? How do I make sure old unused library-packages get purged?</a></span></dt></dl></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="pkgprogs"></a>8.1. What programs does Debian provide for managing its packages?</h2></div></div></div><p>
There are multiple tools that are used to manage Debian packages, from graphic
or text-based interfaces to the low level tools used to install packages.  All
the available tools rely on the lower level tools to properly work and are
presented here in decreasing complexity level.
</p><p>
It is important to understand that the higher level package management tools
such as <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> or <span class="command"><strong>synaptic</strong></span> rely on
<span class="command"><strong>apt</strong></span> which, itself, relies on <span class="command"><strong>dpkg</strong></span> to
manage the packages in the system.
</p><p>
See <a class="ulink" href="https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch02.en.html" target="_top">Chapter
2.  Debian package management</a> of the <a class="ulink" href="https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/" target="_top">Debian
reference</a> for more information about the Debian package management
utilities.  This document is available in various languages and formats, see
<a class="ulink" href="https://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals#quick-reference" target="_top">the Debian
Reference entry in the DDP Users' Manuals overview</a>.
</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="dpkg"></a>8.1.1. dpkg</h3></div></div></div><p>
This is the main package management program.  <span class="command"><strong>dpkg</strong></span> can be
invoked with many options.  Some common uses are:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" type="disc"><li class="listitem"><p>
Find out all the options: <code class="literal">dpkg --help</code>.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Print out the control file (and other information) for a specified package:
<code class="literal">dpkg --info foo_VVV-RRR.deb</code>.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Install a package (including unpacking and configuring) onto the file system of
the hard disk: <code class="literal">dpkg --install foo_VVV-RRR.deb</code>.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Unpack (but do not configure) a Debian archive into the file system of the hard
disk: <code class="literal">dpkg --unpack foo_VVV-RRR.deb</code>.  Note that this
operation does <span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> necessarily leave the package in a
usable state; some files may need further customization to run properly.  This
command removes any already-installed version of the program and runs the
preinst (see <a class="xref" href="pkg-basics.en.html#maintscripts" title="7.6. What is a Debian preinst, postinst, prerm, and postrm script?">Section 7.6, “What is a Debian preinst, postinst, prerm, and postrm script?”</a>) script associated with the
package.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Configure a package that already has been unpacked: <code class="literal">dpkg --configure
foo</code>.  Among other things, this action runs the postinst (see <a class="xref" href="pkg-basics.en.html#maintscripts" title="7.6. What is a Debian preinst, postinst, prerm, and postrm script?">Section 7.6, “What is a Debian preinst, postinst, prerm, and postrm script?”</a>) script associated with the package.  It also updates
the files listed in the <code class="literal">conffiles</code> for this package.  Notice
that the 'configure' operation takes as its argument a package name (e.g.,
foo), <span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> the name of a Debian archive file (e.g.,
foo_VVV-RRR.deb).
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Extract a single file named "blurf" (or a group of files named "blurf*") from a
Debian archive: <code class="literal">dpkg --fsys-tarfile foo_VVV-RRR.deb | tar -xf -
'blurf*'</code>.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Remove a package (but not its configuration files): <code class="literal">dpkg --remove
foo</code>.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Remove a package (including its configuration files): <code class="literal">dpkg --purge
foo</code>.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
List the installation status of packages containing the string (or regular
expression) "foo*": <code class="literal">dpkg --list 'foo*'</code>.
</p></li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="apt-get"></a>8.1.2. APT</h3></div></div></div><p>
APT is the <span class="emphasis"><em>Advanced Package Tool</em></span>, an advanced interface to
the Debian packaging system which provides the <span class="command"><strong>apt-get</strong></span>
program.  It provides commandline tools for searching and managing packages,
and for querying information about them, as well as low-level access to all
features of the libapt-pkg library.  For more information, see the User's Guide
in <code class="literal">/usr/share/doc/apt-doc/guide.html/index.html</code> (you will
have to install the <code class="systemitem">apt-doc</code><a id="idm1384" class="indexterm"></a> package).
</p><p>
Starting with Debian Jessie, some frequently used <span class="command"><strong>apt-get</strong></span>
and <span class="command"><strong>apt-cache</strong></span> commands have an equivalent via the new
<span class="command"><strong>apt</strong></span> binary.  This means some popular commands like
<span class="command"><strong>apt-get update</strong></span>, <span class="command"><strong>apt-get install</strong></span>,
<span class="command"><strong>apt-get remove</strong></span>, <span class="command"><strong>apt-cache search</strong></span>, or
<span class="command"><strong>apt-cache show</strong></span> now can also be called simply via
<span class="command"><strong>apt</strong></span>, say <span class="command"><strong>apt update</strong></span>, <span class="command"><strong>apt
install</strong></span>, <span class="command"><strong>apt remove</strong></span>, <span class="command"><strong>apt
search</strong></span>, or <span class="command"><strong>apt show</strong></span>.  The following is an overview
of the old and new commands:
</p><pre class="screen">
 apt-get update             -&gt;  apt update
 apt-get upgrade            -&gt;  apt upgrade
 apt-get dist-upgrade       -&gt;  apt full-upgrade
 apt-get install package    -&gt;  apt install package
 apt-get remove package     -&gt;  apt remove package
 apt-get autoremove         -&gt;  apt autoremove
 apt-cache search string    -&gt;  apt search string
 apt-cache policy package   -&gt;  apt list -a package
 apt-cache show package     -&gt;  apt show package
 apt-cache showpkg package  -&gt;  apt show -a package
</pre><p>
The <span class="command"><strong>apt</strong></span> tool merges functionality of apt-get and apt-cache
and by default has a fancier colored output format, making it more pleasant for
humans.  For usage in scripts or advanced use cases, apt-get is still
preferable or needed.
</p><p>
<span class="command"><strong>apt-get</strong></span> provides a simple way to retrieve and install
packages from multiple sources using the command line.  Unlike
<span class="command"><strong>dpkg</strong></span>, <span class="command"><strong>apt-get</strong></span> does not understand .deb
files, it works with the packages proper name and can only install .deb
archives from a source specified in <code class="filename">/etc/apt/sources.list</code>.
<span class="command"><strong>apt-get</strong></span> will call <span class="command"><strong>dpkg</strong></span> directly after
downloading the .deb archives<a href="#ftn.idm1412" class="footnote" id="idm1412"><sup class="footnote">[5]</sup></a> from
the configured sources.
</p><p>
Some common ways to use <span class="command"><strong>apt-get</strong></span> are:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" type="disc"><li class="listitem"><p>
To update the list of packages known by your system, you can run:
</p><pre class="screen">
apt update
</pre><p>
(you should execute this regularly to update your package lists)
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
To install the <em class="replaceable"><code>foo</code></em> package and all its dependencies,
run:
</p><pre class="screen">
apt install foo
</pre></li><li class="listitem"><p>
To remove the foo package from your system, run:
</p><pre class="screen">
apt remove foo
</pre></li><li class="listitem"><p>
To remove the foo package and its configuration files from your system, run:
</p><pre class="screen">
apt purge foo
</pre></li><li class="listitem"><p>
To list all packages for which newer versions are available, run:
</p><pre class="screen">
apt list --upgradable
</pre></li><li class="listitem"><p>
To upgrade all the packages on your system (without installing extra packages
or removing packages), run:
</p><pre class="screen">
apt upgrade
</pre></li><li class="listitem"><p>
To upgrade all the packages on your system, and, if needed for a package
upgrade, installing extra packages or removing packages, run:
</p><pre class="screen">
apt full-upgrade
</pre><p>
(The command <code class="literal">upgrade</code> keeps a package at its installed
obsolete version if upgrading would need an extra package to be installed, for
a new dependency to be satisfied.  The <code class="literal">full-upgrade</code> command
is less conservative.)
</p></li></ul></div><p>
Note that you must be logged in as root to perform any commands that modify
packages.
</p><p>
Note that <span class="command"><strong>apt-get</strong></span> now also installs recommended packages as
default, and thanks to its robustness it's the preferred program for package
management from console to perform system installation and major system
upgrades.
</p><p>
The apt tool suite also includes the <span class="command"><strong>apt-cache</strong></span> tool to query
the package lists.  You can use it to find packages providing specific
functionality through simple text or regular expression queries and through
queries of dependencies in the package management system.  Some common ways to
use <span class="command"><strong>apt-cache</strong></span> are:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" type="disc"><li class="listitem"><p>
To find packages whose description contain <em class="replaceable"><code>word</code></em>:
</p><pre class="screen">
apt search <em class="replaceable"><code>word</code></em>
</pre></li><li class="listitem"><p>
To print the detailed information of a package:
</p><pre class="screen">
apt show <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>
</pre></li><li class="listitem"><p>
To print the packages a given package depends on:
</p><pre class="screen">
apt-cache depends <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>
</pre></li><li class="listitem"><p>
To print detailed information on the versions available for a package and the
packages that reverse-depends on it:
</p><pre class="screen">
apt-cache showpkg <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>
</pre></li></ul></div><p>
For more information, install the <code class="systemitem">apt</code><a id="idm1470" class="indexterm"></a>
package and read
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">apt</span>(8)</span>,
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">apt-get</span>(8)</span>,
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">sources.list</span>(5)</span>
and install the <code class="systemitem">apt-doc</code><a id="idm1483" class="indexterm"></a> package and
read <code class="filename">/usr/share/doc/apt-doc/guide.html/index.html</code>.
</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="aptitude"></a>8.1.3. aptitude</h3></div></div></div><p>
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> is a package manager for Debian GNU/Linux systems
that provides a frontend to the apt package management infrastructure.
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> is a text-based interface using the curses library.
Actions may be performed from a visual interface or from the command-line.
</p><p>
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> can be used to perform management tasks in a fast
and easy way.  It allows the user to view the list of packages and to perform
package management tasks such as installing, upgrading, and removing packages.
</p><p>
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> provides the functionality of
<span class="command"><strong>apt-get</strong></span>, as well as many additional features:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" type="disc"><li class="listitem"><p>
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> offers easy access to all versions of a package.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> makes it easy to keep track of obsolete software by
listing it under "Obsolete and Locally Created Packages".
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> includes a fairly powerful system for searching
particular packages and limiting the package display.  Users familiar with
<span class="command"><strong>mutt</strong></span> will pick up quickly, as <span class="command"><strong>mutt</strong></span> was
the inspiration for the expression syntax.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> can be used to install the predefined tasks
available.  For more information see <a class="xref" href="pkgtools.en.html#tasksel" title="8.1.5. tasksel">Section 8.1.5, “tasksel”</a>.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> in full screen mode has <span class="command"><strong>su</strong></span>
functionality embedded and can be run by a normal user.  It will call
<span class="command"><strong>su</strong></span> (and ask for the root password, if any) when you really
need administrative privileges.
</p></li></ul></div><p>
You can use <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> through a visual interface (simply run
<code class="literal">aptitude</code>) or directly from the command line.  The command
line syntax used is very similar to the one used in <span class="command"><strong>apt-get</strong></span>.
For example, to install the <em class="replaceable"><code>foo</code></em> package, you can run
<code class="literal">aptitude install <em class="replaceable"><code>foo</code></em></code>.
</p><p>
Note that <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> is the preferred program for daily
package management from the console.
</p><p>
For more information, read the manual page
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">aptitude</span>(8)</span>
and install the <code class="systemitem">aptitude-doc</code><a id="idm1532" class="indexterm"></a> package.
</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="synaptic"></a>8.1.4. synaptic</h3></div></div></div><p>
<span class="command"><strong>synaptic</strong></span> is a graphical package manager.  It enables you to
install, upgrade and remove software packages in a user friendly way.  Along
with most of the features offered by aptitude, it also has a feature for
editing the list of used repositories, and supports browsing all available
documentation related to a package.  See the <a class="ulink" href="https://www.nongnu.org/synaptic/" target="_top">Synaptic Website</a> for more
information.
</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="tasksel"></a>8.1.5. tasksel</h3></div></div></div><p>
When you want to perform a specific task it might be difficult to find the
appropiate suite of packages that fill your need.  The Debian developers have
defined <code class="literal">tasks</code>, a task is a collection of several individual
Debian packages all related to a specific activity.  Tasks can be installed
through the <span class="command"><strong>tasksel</strong></span> program or through
<span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span>.
</p><p>
Typically, the Debian installer will automatically install the task associated
with a standard system and a desktop environment.  The specific desktop
environment installed will depend on the CD/DVD media used, most commonly it
will be the GNOME desktop (<code class="literal">gnome-desktop</code> task).  Also,
depending on your selections throughout the installation process, tasks might
be automatically installed in your system.  For example, if you selected a
language other than English, the task associated with it will be installed
automatically too.
</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="dpkg-extra"></a>8.1.6. Other package management tools</h3></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a id="dpkg-deb"></a>8.1.6.1. dpkg-deb</h4></div></div></div><p>
This program manipulates Debian archive (<code class="literal">.deb</code>) files.  Some
common uses are:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" type="disc"><li class="listitem"><p>
Find out all the options: <code class="literal">dpkg-deb --help</code>.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Determine what files are contained in a Debian archive file: <code class="literal">dpkg-deb
--contents foo_VVV-RRR.deb</code>)
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Extract the files contained in a named Debian archive into a user specified
directory: <code class="literal">dpkg-deb --extract foo_VVV-RRR.deb tmp</code> extracts
each of the files in <code class="literal">foo_VVV-RRR.deb</code> into the directory
<code class="literal">tmp/</code>.  This is convenient for examining the contents of a
package in a localized directory, without installing the package into the root
file system.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Extract the control information files from a package: <code class="literal">dpkg-deb
--control foo_VVV-RRR.deb tmp</code>.
</p></li></ul></div><p>
Note that any packages that were merely unpacked using <code class="literal">dpkg-deb
--extract</code> will be incorrectly installed, you should use <code class="literal">dpkg
--install</code> instead.
</p><p>
More information is given in the manual page
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">dpkg-deb</span>(1)</span>.
</p></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="updaterunning"></a>8.2. Debian claims to be able to update a running program; how is this accomplished?</h2></div></div></div><p>
The kernel (file system) in Debian GNU/Linux systems supports replacing files
even while they're being used.
</p><p>
We also provide a program called <span class="command"><strong>start-stop-daemon</strong></span> which is
used to start daemons at boot time or to stop daemons when the runlevel is
changed (e.g., from multi-user to single-user or to halt).  The same program is
used by installation scripts when a new package containing a daemon is
installed, to stop running daemons, and restart them as necessary.
</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="whatpackages"></a>8.3. How can I tell what packages are already installed on a Debian system?</h2></div></div></div><p>
To learn the status of all the packages installed on a Debian system, execute
the command
</p><pre class="screen">
dpkg --list
</pre><p>
This prints out a one-line summary for each package, giving a 2-letter status
symbol (explained in the header), the package name, the version which is
<span class="emphasis"><em>installed</em></span>, and a brief description.
</p><p>
To learn the status of packages whose names match any pattern beginning with
"foo", run the command:
</p><pre class="screen">
dpkg --list 'foo*'
</pre><p>
To get a more verbose report for a particular package, execute the command:
</p><pre class="screen">
dpkg --status packagename
</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="listfiles"></a>8.4. How do I display the files of an installed package?</h2></div></div></div><p>
To list all the files provided by the installed package <code class="literal">foo</code>
execute the command
</p><pre class="screen">
dpkg --listfiles foo
</pre><p>
Note that the files created by the installation scripts aren't displayed.
</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="filesearch"></a>8.5. How can I find out what package produced a particular file?</h2></div></div></div><p>
To identify the package that produced the file named <code class="literal">foo</code>
execute either:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" type="disc"><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">dpkg --search foo</code>
</p><p>
This searches for <code class="literal">foo</code> in installed packages.  (This is
(currently) equivalent to searching all of the files having the file extension
of <code class="literal">.list</code> in the directory
<code class="literal">/var/lib/dpkg/info/</code>, and adjusting the output to print the
names of all the packages containing it, and diversions.)
</p><p>
A faster alternative to this is the <span class="command"><strong>dlocate</strong></span> tool.
</p><pre class="screen">
dlocate -S foo
</pre></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">zgrep foo Contents-ARCH.gz</code>
</p><p>
This searches for files which contain the substring <code class="literal">foo</code> in
their full path names.  The files <code class="literal">Contents-ARCH.gz</code> (where
ARCH represents the wanted architecture) reside in the major package
directories (main, non-free, contrib) at a Debian archive site (i.e. under
<code class="literal">/debian/dists/bullseye</code>).  A <code class="literal">Contents</code> file
refers only to the packages in the subdirectory tree where it resides.
Therefore, a user might have to search more than one
<code class="literal">Contents</code> files to find the package containing the file
<code class="literal">foo</code>.
</p><p>
This method has the advantage over <code class="literal">dpkg --search</code> in that it
will find files in packages that are not currently installed on your system.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="literal">apt-file search <em class="replaceable"><code>foo</code></em></code>
</p><p>
If you install the <code class="systemitem">apt-file</code><a id="idm1630" class="indexterm"></a> package,
similar to the above, it searches files which contain the substring or regular
expression <code class="literal">foo</code> in their full path names.  The advantage over
the example above is that there is no need to retrieve the
<code class="literal">Contents-ARCH.gz</code> files as it will do this automatically for
all the sources defined in <code class="filename">/etc/apt/sources.list</code> when you
run (as root) <code class="literal">apt-file update</code>.
</p></li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="datapackages"></a>8.6. Why is `foo-data' not removed when I uninstall `foo'? How do I make sure old unused library-packages get purged?</h2></div></div></div><p>
Some packages are split in program (`foo') and data (`foo-data') (or in `foo'
and `foo-doc').  This is true for many games, multimedia applications and
dictionaries in Debian and has been introduced since some users might want to
access the raw data without installing the program or because the program can
be run without the data itself, making `foo-data' optional.
</p><p>
Similar situations occur when dealing with libraries: generally these get
installed since packages containing applications depend on them.  When the
application-package is purged, the library-package might stay on the system.
Or: when the application-package no longer depends upon e.g. libdb4.2, but
upon libdb4.3, the libdb4.2 package might stay when the application-package is
upgraded.
</p><p>
In these cases, `foo-data' doesn't depend on `foo', so when you remove the
`foo' package it will not get automatically removed by most package management
tools.  The same holds true for the library packages.  This is necessary to
avoid circular dependencies.  However, if you use <span class="command"><strong>apt-get</strong></span>
(see <a class="xref" href="pkgtools.en.html#apt-get" title="8.1.2. APT">Section 8.1.2, “APT”</a>) or <span class="command"><strong>aptitude</strong></span> (see <a class="xref" href="pkgtools.en.html#aptitude" title="8.1.3. aptitude">Section 8.1.3, “aptitude”</a>) as your package management tool, they will track
automatically installed packages and give the possibility to remove them, when
no packages making use of them remain in your system.
</p></div><div class="footnotes"><br /><hr width="100" align="left" /><div id="ftn.idm1412" class="footnote"><p><a href="#idm1412" class="para"><sup class="para">[5] </sup></a> Notice that there are ports that
make this tool available with other package management systems, like Red Hat
package manager, also known as <span class="command"><strong>rpm</strong></span> </p></div></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="pkg-basics.en.html"><img src="images/prev.png" alt="Prev" /></a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"> </td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="uptodate.en.html"><img src="images/next.png" alt="Next" /></a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Chapter 7. Basics of the Debian package management system </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.en.html"><img src="images/home.png" alt="Home" /></a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Chapter 9. Keeping your Debian system up-to-date</td></tr></table></div></body></html>