Learning Debian GNU/Linux

Using dpkg

You might think that dpkg has been superseded by the more recent package management tools, dselect and apt-get, which stress ease of use. However, dpkg remains a good choice for performing several common package management tasks.

Installing a Package

If you have a package file containing a package you want to install, the simplest way to install the package is to use the dpkg command:

dpkg --install packagefile

where packagefile stands for the name of the package file, which generally ends with the characters .deb. If all the prerequisite packages have already been installed and if the package does not conflict with any installed packages, the command will unpack the package files, move them to their proper locations, and execute the scripts necessary to configure the package.

If your system lacks a prerequisite package or if the specified package conflicts with a package installed on your system, dpkg will report the error and terminate. If the problem is the lack of one or more prerequisite packages, you can obtain and install them, and then install the desired package. If the problem is a package conflict, you must decide which of the conflicting packages you want. If you decide to remove an installed package, you can do so using the technique described in the following subsection.

Removing a Package

To remove an installed package, use the command

dpkg --remove package

This command does not remove package configuration files, which may facilitate subsequent re-installation ...