[clug-talk] Package Managers: Apt/Aptitude

[Kyle Newton]

On Sat, Aug 8, 2009 at 11:15 AM, Joe Shuttleworth <JoeS100 at shaw.ca> wrote:

> Installed: Debian Lenny
> I would like feedback on package managers.
> 2 I heard of are Apt and Aptitude.
> What would be the difference between using these?
> Which one would be easier to use?
> Can I use these interchangeably (do they know what each other are
> doing)?
>
> Is Apt hard to learn? I looked at the HowTo; some of it seems hard
> (Maybe I need to read it a few times). Are there some tutorials for Apt or
> Aptitude that would make this easier?
>
> Thanks.


It was my understanding that apt and aptitude were pretty much the same
thing. Synaptic is a good graphical tool for searching for the packages that
you would like to install. I'd recommend Synaptic for searching for packages
if you don't know what you are looking for.

If you take the time to "get the hang of it", much like any CLI program,
it's much quicker to just use apt or aptitude. Especially when it comes to
updating the software

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude safe-upgrade (or dist-upgrade, depending)

which is the same with apt, except you can leave out the "safe-" part of
"safe-upgrade".

Installing something is as simple as

sudo aptitude install wesnoth-all

to install the game "Battle for Wesnoth". Or you could use Synaptic and
search for it. Either one will take care of the package dependencies for you
(installing other packages that the software requires in order to run).

-Kyle
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