This
changes the rules that APT uses when deciding which actions to take, making it expect
major changes in dependencies and handle them appropriately.
NOTE
NOTE
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Choosing and Installing a Linux Distribution Part III
Package Management Using dpkg
As mentioned earlier, the dpkg utility is the core package management tool in Debian. Most other
package management tools within the system, including APT, use dpkg to perform the midlevel
work, and dpkg in turn uses dpkg-deb and dpkg-query to handle a number of the low-level functions.
In most cases, you will want to use APT or aptitude for package management, and use dpkg
in only a few situations.
Far too many commands associated with dpkg exist to list in this chapter, but the most common
ones are explained in the following sections. In most cases, there are both short and long commands
to perform the same function. Use whichever is easier for you to remember.
Installing and Removing Packages
Packages can be installed with dpkg using the -i or --install flags and the path to the .deb file
containing the package. The path must be accessible as a file system path (HTTP, FTP, and other
methods are not supported), and more than one package can be specified:
# dpkg --install /home/wayne/lsof_4.71-1_i386.
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