Synaptic Package Manager provides you with a central list of all known packages. This includes packages that are available, installed or even broken. Because the most distributions contain many thousands packages, you can narrow down the list of shown packages. The following methods allow you to browse through the list of known packages:
To find a specific package follow these steps:
Open the find dialog:
Press the key combination Ctrl-f.
Click on Find in the toolbar.
Choose
-> from the menu.
Enter the search expression into the Find field. E.g. "music player" if you want to search for music player.
Select the fields in which to look.
Click on Find to start the search. This can take some time on low machines and wide search criterias.
After the pro FIXME
To only show matching packages in the package list perform the following steps:
Open the search dialog
-> from the menu or press Ctrl-F.Type the search expression into the find field, e.g. "mp3 ogg player".
Select the fields that you want to search in, e.g. "name" and "description"
Click on
to start the search. In our example only music players and related packages will be listed.
You can create more complex filters with the filter editor.
To install a packages perform the following steps:
Refresh the list of known packages to be aware of the latest version available:
Choose
-> from the menu.Click on
in the toolbar.Press the key combination Ctrl-U.
Mark the package for installation:
Double click on the name of the package in the package list.
Click on the status icon of the package and choose
from the menu.Right click on the package and choose
from the context menu.Select the package and choose
-> from the menu.Select the package and press the key combination Ctrl-I.
Apply the marked changes to actually install the package:
Click on
in the toolbar.Choose
-> from the menu.Press the key combination Ctrl-E.
Configuration files and user created data (e.g. a website in /var/www) are not removed from the system by default.
Debian only: This behavior can changed in the preferences. FIX link
Debian only: To remove all files related to the package choose instead of .
To remove a packages follow these steps:
Mark the package for removal:
Double click on the name of the installed package in the package list.
Click on the status icon of the package and choose
from the menu.Right click on the package and choose
from the context menu.Select the package and choose
-> from the menu.Select the package and press the key combination Ctrl-R.
Apply the marked changes to actually remove the package(s):
Click on
in the toolbar.Choose
-> from the menu.Press the key combination Ctrl-E.
To upgrade a package follow these steps:
Refresh the list of known packages to be aware of the latest version available:
Choose
-> from the menu.Click on
in the toolbar.Press the key combination Ctrl-U.
Marked the package for upgrade:
Double click on the name of the package with a later version available in the package list.
Click on the status icon of the package and choose
from the menu.Right click on the package and choose
from the context menu.Select the package and choose
-> from the menu.Select the package and press the key combination Ctrl-U.
Apply the marked changes to actually upgrade the package:
Click on
in the toolbar.Choose
-> from the menu.Press the key combination Ctrl-E.
To upgrade all installed packages to the latest version, see the section called “ To Upgrade the Whole System ”.
The global upgrade enables you to upgrade your system to the latest version without having to mark and validate each package upgrade manually.
Synaptic Package Manager provides two global upgrade methods:
The default upgrade method marks upgrades of installed packages only. If the later version of a package depends on not installed packages or conflicts with an already installed package, the upgrade will not be marked.
The smart upgrade method tries to resolve package conflicts intelligently. This includes installing additional required packages and prefering packages with higher priority.
Smart upgrade is also known as dist-upgrade in the console tool apt-get.
Upgrades to a later operating system major releases have to be performed with the smart upgrade method, e.g. from Conectiva 9 to Conectiva 10 or from Debian Woody to Debian Sarge.
To upgrade your system to the latest version follow these steps:
Refresh the list of known packages to be aware of the latest version available:
Choose
-> from the menu.Click on
in the toolbar.Press the key combination Ctrl-U.
Mark the package(s) for upgrade:
Click on
in the toolbar.Choose
-> from the menu.Press the key combination Ctrl-G.
Choose the upgrade method. Smart upgrade is recommended.
Apply the marked changes to actually upgrade the package(s):
Click on
in the toolbar.Choose
-> from the menu.Press the key combination Ctrl-E.
You can change the default upgrade method in the action settings for further upgrades.
To show packages that are marked for a status change only choose the "Marked Changes" filter, see the section called “ To Apply Filters ”.
To apply marked changes:
Click on
in the toolbar.Choose
-> from the menu.Press the key combination Ctrl-E.
The following ways allow you to unmark changes:
Right click on the package and choose
from the context menu.Select the package(s) and choose
-> .Select the package(s) and press Ctrl-N.
Choose
-> from the menu.Choose
-> from the menu.This step can be repeated. The maxium number of undo operations can be set in the preferences. FIX link
Debian only: This feature requires the installation of libgnome2-perl.
Debian provides a unified method, called debconf, to configure software packages. This feature is not supported by all packages. If a package supports this feautre the configuration can be done through an assistant.
To configure a supported package:
Select the package that you wish to configure in the package list.
Choose
-> from the menu.To get a list of all configurable packages choose the Configurable Packages filter.
Debian only: This feature requires the installation of dwww.
Dwww provides access to all the installed documentation related to package with a web browser. The whole documentation is hostet via a local HTTP server.
Select the package about that you wish to read additional documentation in the package list.
Choose
-> .Errors in the dependency field of packages or failed and incomplete installations can break the dependencies structure.
Synaptic Package Manager will not allow any further changes to the system before all borken packages are fixed.
To correct the broken packages choose
-> from the menu.To show all broken packages choose the Broken filter.