aptitude - high-level interface to the package manager
Install a package:
aptitude install vim
Install specific version:
aptitude install "perl=5.10.1"
Display package information:
aptitude show vim
Search for a package:
aptitude search java
Display all installed packages:
aptitude search '~i'
Display only broken packages:
aptitude search '~b'
Display partially uninstalled packages:
aptitude search '~c'
Display held packages:
aptitude search '~ahold'
Display packages under a section:
aptitude search '~sgnome'
Uninstall a package:
aptitude remove vim
Purge a package:
aptitude purge vsftpd
Hold a package (disable upgrades):
aptitude hold python3
Unhold a package (enable upgrades):
aptitude unhold python3
Keep a package, avoid scheduled updates:
aptitude keep perl
Refresh available packages list:
aptitude update
Upgrade all packages installing new packages if needed to resolve dependencies:
aptitude safe-upgrade
Upgrade all packages without installing new packages:
aptitude safe-upgrade --no-new-installs
Upgrade of all packages:
aptitude full-upgrade
Remove downloaded packages from the cache directory:
aptitude clean
Remove only the packages from cache which can no longer be downloaded:
aptitude autoclean