Updated 30-Jan-2022
APT -- Advanced Package Tool -- is all that is needed for most application installations when there are repositories which are regularly updated for packages of interest.
Note that apt
essentially makes irrelevant apt-get
so there is no reason for that redundancy any longer.
Note: Use aptitude
when dealing with packages that have upgrade/downgrade issues, as aptitude
provides better options for resolving issues. Use the -f
flag with aptitude
if the downgrading is out of hand.
If packages are kept back, simply install them directly with the install
command. Use -f
to force dependency upgrade.
Additional Note: Use apt
or aptitude
to install .deb
packages including the ./
before packagename
, as in:
sudo apt install -y ./packagename
stable, backports, testing, unstable repos
For a stable system, using stable
(or oldstable
) and backports ensures stability. However, it doesn't deal with new hardware issues, or any kind of additional functionality, such as adding updated applications. For this, it is a matter of tracking down external packages, or using the testing
or unstable
repositories.
Note that mixing repos is discouraged by debian and may result in breakage. See also choosing a distribution.
Currently, my main desktop is tied to an oldstable
release to keep an older printer working properly.
I do expect to be running Debian 10, and Debian 11 (aka stable and test)more or less parallel (backup desktop, server, primary desktop).
Apt pinning
Upgrading the linux kernel using apt
Update Repositories
sudo apt update -y
sudo apt update -y -t stretch-backports
Upgrade Applications
sudo apt upgrade -y --fix-missing
sudo apt upgrade -y -t stretch-backports --fix-missing
Brokent Dependencies
sudo apt install -f
Upgrade Distributon (e.g, Debian Stable)
sudo apt dist-upgrade -y --fix-missing
Clean, Autoclean, Check, Autoremove
All these commands can be run from apt. In particular, autoremove
is a good option to keep things tidy.
sudo apt autoremove -y
Purge and Remove
To seriously remove things, do:
sudo apt --purge remove package-name
Sources
Sources are found in a few places:
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
ls /etc/apt/sources.list.d
Use this handy debian sources.list generator to get an updated sources.list including adding alternative repositories for popular applications such as nginx, php, syncthing.
Resources
- How do I install a .deb file via the command line?
- How can I run Debian stable but install some packages from testing?
- Chapter 2. Debian package management - packages from mixed source of archives
- How to install some packages from “unstable” Debian on a computer running “stable” Debian?
- Apt Configuration
Note: mixing repositories is not needed and generally discouraged (called franken-distributions). Stable for servers, testing for desktop.