Table of Contents

Package management

Although Ubuntu uses deb packages, it has a variety of tools to manage packages. Since 10.04, aptitude was removed leaving apt-get - which is OK but removes task based package selection.

Package managers must be run with elevated priviledges:

sudo apt-get check

This example checks for any problems in currently installed programs.

There are several advantages to packages:

Installing software

The most common use for apt is to install new software:

sudo apt-get install packagename

Any required dependencies are resolved and you are asked if you wish to proceed. You will also be told if any problems might arise.

Removing software

To remove a package:

sudo apt-get remove packagename

If you wish to remove a package and all its dependancies:

sudo apt-get autoremove packagename

Lastly if you want to remove any configuration files then:

sudo apt-get --purge autoremove packagename

Install packages by task

Install tasksel:

sudo apt-get install tasksel

Then you can install by task - i.e. to install a LAMP stack

sudo tasksel install lamp-server

Running tasksel on its own uses a curses interface showing available tasks.

Package maintainance

You can update your source lists (what software is available) b:

sudo apt-get update

Available upgradescan be shown by typing:

sudo apt-get upgrade

Or upgrade the entire distribution using

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

To free up disk space by running

sudo apt-get autoclean

This removes deb packages for uninstalled applications, you can remove them for installed packages using:

sudo apt-get clean

Lastly, you can reconfigure an installed package by running:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure packagename

Optimize download

You can increase the download speed when using apt in Ubuntu 7.10 by finding the fastest available source. First click on System>Administration>Software Sources. From 10.10, this option is hidden and requires that you open System>Preferences>Main Menu then tick “Software Sources”

Choose Other from the Download From list box then click on the Select Best Server button.