From the course: LPIC-1 Exam 101 (Version 5.0) Cert Prep

Debian software management overview - Linux Tutorial

From the course: LPIC-1 Exam 101 (Version 5.0) Cert Prep

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Debian software management overview

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- [Narrator] Debian created the first real package management system for Linux. There were other ways of distributing software, but they largely relied on compressed archives full of files. In the early days, you'd get software packages on a floppy disk, and then install them using a command. For Debian, that command was DPKG, and we've been using it since 1993. In 1998, networking was popular and we could download software from the Internet. Debian released apt-get, which understood the concept of a software repository. This repository-based system is referred to as APT, or advanced package manager. The tools to handle low level package management in Debian based distributions are DPKG, a tool to install, build, remove, and manage packages, DPKG-deb, which is a package archive manipulation tool, and DPKG-query, a tool to query the package database. There are other tools that belong to the DPKG package, but these are the ones you may use the most. The tools that belong to APT are APT, which is a high-level command line interface, this is basically a wrapper for apt-get and apt-cache, apt-cache, which is a tool to perform operations on APT's package cache, such as search, apt-cdrom, used to add a CDROM to APT's list of available sources, apt-config, an APT configuration query program, and apt-get, which is a command line tool for downloading and installing packages. It can also remove packages as well. And also, apt-key, which manages the list of keys used by APT to authenticate packages. APT resolves dependencies automatically. This means it downloads and installs all software packages needed. This includes packages that the user didn't specify, if the chosen package requires them. APT does not have a concept of software package groups. If a group of software should be installed at the same time, it employs virtual packages, which have nothing in them, but lists the other packages as dependencies. APT repositories contain Debian software packages. The client maintains a local list of software repositories. Users can add repositories just by adding a new configuration for them. The APT client also maintains a local list of all available software. The package install process using APT is pretty straightforward. First, the APT client contacts the repositories that it's aware of, and gets their list of software packages. These lists are cached locally, and it updates them during install operations. The user then selects the package they want to install. Users can select packages to install by using either Gooey tools, or command-line interface tools. APT then calculates dependencies. This would be the requested software package, and any packages that it requires. APT then downloads all packages, and installs them using the DPKG command. Once the install has finished, APT updates the local package database. Installing software using APT couldn't be easier.

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