Managing Packages

To Browse the List of Known Packages (FIXME)

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:

The browser list

The filter

The find field

To Find and Browse Packages (FIXME)

To find a specific package

To find a specific package follow these steps:

  1. Open the find dialog:

    • Press the key combination Ctrl-f.

    • Click on Find in the toolbar.

    • Choose Edit->Find from the menu.

  2. Enter the search expression into the Find field. E.g. "music player" if you want to search for music player.

  3. Select the fields in which to look.

  4. Click on Find to start the search. This can take some time on low machines and wide search criterias.

  5. After the pro FIXME

Showing only searched packages

To only show matching packages in the package list perform the following steps:

  1. Open the search dialog Package->Find... from the menu or press Ctrl-F.

  2. Type the search expression into the find field, e.g. "mp3 ogg player".

  3. Select the fields that you want to search in, e.g. "name" and "description"

  4. Click on Find to start the search. In our example only music players and related packages will be listed.

Tip

You can create more complex filters with the filter editor.

To Install Packages

To install a packages perform the following steps:

  1. Refresh the list of known packages to be aware of the latest version available:

    • Choose Edit->Refresh Package List from the menu.

    • Click on Refresh in the toolbar.

    • Press the key combination Ctrl-U.

  2. 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 Mark for Installation from the menu.

    • Right click on the package and choose Mark for Installation from the context menu.

    • Select the package and choose Package->Mark for Installation from the menu.

    • Select the package and press the key combination Ctrl-I.

  3. Apply the marked changes to actually install the package:

    • Click on Apply in the toolbar.

    • Choose Actions->Apply Marked Changes from the menu.

    • Press the key combination Ctrl-E.

To Remove Packages

Note

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 Mark for Complete Removal instead of Remove.

To remove a packages follow these steps:

  1. 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 Mark for Removal from the menu.

    • Right click on the package and choose Remove from the context menu.

    • Select the package and choose Package->Mark for Removal from the menu.

    • Select the package and press the key combination Ctrl-R.

  2. Apply the marked changes to actually remove the package(s):

    • Click on Apply in the toolbar.

    • Choose Actions->Apply Marked Changes from the menu.

    • Press the key combination Ctrl-E.

To Upgrade Packages

To upgrade a package follow these steps:

  1. Refresh the list of known packages to be aware of the latest version available:

    • Choose Actions->Refresh Package List from the menu.

    • Click on Refresh in the toolbar.

    • Press the key combination Ctrl-U.

  2. 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 Mark for Upgrade from the menu.

    • Right click on the package and choose Mark for Upgrade from the context menu.

    • Select the package and choose Package->Mark for Upgrade from the menu.

    • Select the package and press the key combination Ctrl-U.

  3. Apply the marked changes to actually upgrade the package:

    • Click on Apply in the toolbar.

    • Choose Actions->Apply Marked Changes from the menu.

    • Press the key combination Ctrl-E.

Tip

To upgrade all installed packages to the latest version, see the section called “ To Upgrade the Whole System ”.

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:

Upgrade

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.

Smart Upgrade (Dist-Upgrade)

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.

Note

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:

  1. Refresh the list of known packages to be aware of the latest version available:

    • Choose Actions->Refresh Package List from the menu.

    • Click on Rerfesh in the toolbar.

    • Press the key combination Ctrl-U.

  2. Mark the package(s) for upgrade:

    • Click on Upgrade System in the toolbar.

    • Choose Edit->Upgrade System from the menu.

    • Press the key combination Ctrl-G.

  3. Choose the upgrade method. Smart upgrade is recommended.

  4. Apply the marked changes to actually upgrade the package(s):

    • Click on Apply Changes in the toolbar.

    • Choose Edit->Apply Marked Changes from the menu.

    • Press the key combination Ctrl-E.

Tip

You can change the default upgrade method in the action settings for further upgrades.

To Apply Marked Changes

Tip

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 Apply in the toolbar.

  • Choose Edit->Apply Marked Changes from the menu.

  • Press the key combination Ctrl-E.

To Unmark Changes

The following ways allow you to unmark changes:

To undo the marking of specific packages
  • Right click on the package and choose Unmark from the context menu.

  • Select the package(s) and choose Package->Unmark.

  • Select the package(s) and press Ctrl-N.

To undo all markings

Choose Edit->Unmark All from the menu.

To undo the last marking

Choose Edit->Undo from the menu.

This step can be repeated. The maxium number of undo operations can be set in the preferences. FIX link

To Configure Packages

Note

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:

  1. Select the package that you wish to configure in the package list.

  2. Choose Package->Configure... from the menu.

Tip

To get a list of all configurable packages choose the Configurable Packages filter.

To View Documentation for Packages

Note

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.

  1. Select the package about that you wish to read additional documentation in the package list.

  2. Choose Package->Documentation.

To Fix Broken Packages

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 Edit->Fix Broken Packages from the menu.

Tip

To show all broken packages choose the Broken filter.