Linux in a Nutshell, Third Edition

Name

dpkg

Synopsis

dpkg [options] action

Description

A tool for installing, managing, and building packages. Serves as a frontend to dpkg-deb.

dpkg actions

These actions are carried out by dpkg itself:

-i pkgfile, --install pkgfile

Install the package specified as pkgfile. With -R or --recursive, pkgfile must be a directory.

--unpack pkgfile

Unpack the package, but don’t configure it. With -R or --recursive, pkgfile must be a directory.

--configure [packages|-a|--pending]

Reconfigure one or more unpacked packages. If -a or --pending is given instead of packages, configure all packages that are unpacked but not configured.

-r, --remove [packages|-a|--pending], --purge [packages|-a|--pending]

Remove or purge one or more installed packages. Removal gets rid of everything except the configuration files listed in debian/conffiles; purging also removes the configuration files. If -a or --pending is given instead of packages, dpkg removes or purges all packages that are unpacked and marked (in /var/lib/dpkg/status) for removing or purging.

--print-avail package

Print the details about package from /var/lib/dpkg/available.

--update-avail pkgs-file , --merge-avail pkgs-file

Update the record of available files kept in /var/lib/dpkg/available. This information is used by dpkg and dselect to determine what packages are available. Update will replace the information with the contents of the pkgs-file, distributed as Packages. Merge combines the information from Packages with the existing information. ...