From blogs.pcworld.co.nz
Hidden Linux : agt-get secrets
apt-get is the package handling utility behind Debian-based Linux systems such as Ubuntu, Mint and Mepis. You may be using it ‘by proxy’ via GUI-based package managers such as Synaptic, but hardened Linux users tend to prefer the command line – especially as the latter has a couple of neat tricks up its sleeve.
(Not that if you’re not a super-user you’ll need to prefix the following commands with sudo – well, all but the last one …)
The basics
apt-get update
Resynchronise installed packages with their sources. (Always do this before an upgrade.)
apt-get upgrade
Install the newest version of all packages installed on the system.
apt-get dist-upgrade
Upgrade to the latest version of your distribution.
apt-get install xxx yyy zzz
Install programs xxx, yyy and zzz along with all their dependencies.
apt-get remove xxx yyy zzz
Remove programs xxx, yyy and zzz.
apt-get purge xxx yyy zzz
Remove programs xxx, yyy and zzz and delete any configuration files that they used.
apt-get check
Update the package cache and check for any broken dependencies.
apt-get clean
Clean out retrieved package files.
apt-get autoclean
Clean out retrieved package files, but only those that are no longer needed.
apt-get autoremove
Remove any packages that were installed to satisfy dependencies but are no longer required.
Advanced stuff
So much for the basics, what about those neat tricks I mentioned? Well, did you know you can use apt-get to get a package’s source code?
apt-get source xxx
Retrieve source files for package xxx.
Or its build dependencies?
apt-get build-dep xxx
Get all the dependencies needed to build package xxx.
Or that you could get it to fetch and build the package for you?
apt-get source xxx -b
Fetch the source code then compile it. (The -b switch means ”build it„.)
The result with be a .deb package which you can install using the Debian package manager command:
dpkg -i xxx.deb
