Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition

Name

synaptic

Synopsis

synaptic [options]

Graphical frontend for APT. Use in place of apt-get to install, upgrade, or remove packages from your system. With synaptic, you can view a list of all available packages, or you can break the list down in various ways to make it more manageable. From the synaptic window, you can select from a list of categories. The categories are section (e.g., view only development-related packages), package status, origin, search history, or filter.

If you choose to display by filter, there is a set of predefined filters, or you can define your own. The predefined filters include ones to display all packages, packages marked for a status change, packages that can be configured with debconf (Debian systems only), packages with broken dependencies, and packages that can be upgraded to a later version. You can edit the existing filters or define your own, by selecting Filters from the Settings menu.

Once you’ve used the selection criteria to find the list of packages, you can select a single package, or you can select multiple packages by holding down the Shift or Ctrl key. Like apt-get, first do an update to update the package lists, then you can do an install or upgrade.

To start synaptic from Gnome, select Administration → Synaptic Package Manager from the System menu. From the KDE menu, select System → Synaptic Package Manager. You can also start the graphical interface from the command line, with the command:

synaptic [options]

Options

In addition to the following ...