Package management

[powersj]

Note:
This documentation has moved to a new home! Please update your bookmarks to the new URL for the up-to-date version of this page.

[demyers]

@powersj

Notice

Scripting : While apt-get is a command-line tool, it is intended to be used interactively, and not to be called from non-interactive scripts. The apt-get command should be used in scripts (perhaps with the --quiet flag). For basic commands the syntax of the two tools is identical.

This should presumably say, “While apt is a command-line tool…”

[powersj]

Thanks for reporting that. All fixed up!

[ian-weisser]

Two suggested edits for the dpkg section:

dpkg is a package manager for Debian -based systems. It can install, remove, and build packages, but unlike other package management systems, it cannot automatically download and install packages or their dependencies. Apt and Aptitude are newer, and layer additional features on top of dpkg. This section covers using dpkg to manage locally installed packages:
…

• To list all packages in the system’s package database, including all packages --installed and uninstalled-- from all known sources, from a terminal prompt type:

dpkg -l

[powersj]

Thanks @ian-weisser! Edits done.

[igregory-ca]

Hi, thanks for the guide! But in my near-fresh install of Ubuntu Server 20.04, I believe this:

You can read more about apt Periodic configuration options in the /etc/cron.daily/apt-compat script header.

Should say this:

You can read more about apt Periodic configuration options in the /usr/lib/apt/apt.systemd.daily script header.

/etc/cron.daily/apt-compat ultimately invokes /usr/lib/apt/apt.systemd.daily after a random delay and a laptop power check.

[paride]

Thanks @igregory-ca! That’s indeed the script apt.conf(5) manpage points to for reference. Edit done.

[brianbuchanan]

@powersj

The above configuration updates the package list, downloads, and installs available upgrades every day. Those actions are triggered by timer units at a set time but with a random delay: apt-daily.timer and **apt-daily-upgrades.timer**. These timers activate the correspondent services that run /usr/lib/apt/apt.systemd.daily script.

Typo in the name of the second timer. It is apt-daily-upgrade.timer, without the “s”

[bernard010]

Very well written and very informative. Thanks I now know how to edit the update timer on Ubuntu.

[rbasak]

@brianbuchanan

Thank you for your feedback. Sorry this took so long, but we’ve been working through lots of feedback received on these docs. We think we’ve now addressed all feedback above this comment by editing the original text above. As the feedback is incorporated, we’ll delete the feedback comments to clean up in about a month from now.

[maubuz]

Great, informative guide! Small suggestions for the section “Automatic updates”:

@powersj

To configure unattended-upgrades, edit /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades and adjust the following to fit your needs:

Unattended-Upgrade::Allowed-Origins {
        "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}";
        "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-security";
//      "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-updates";
//      "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-proposed";
//      "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-backports";
};

I have two suggestions:

• Naming that these origins correspond to repository pockets for a given release series. The user can later leverage this terminology.
• Linking an official reference, eg. Ubuntu Packaging Guide, to learn more about what each repository pocket includes. That way, a user can learn the implications allowing each origin and decide what to upgrade automatically.

Cheers!