Hi all, I thought that the apt-get man page truly deserved some corrections.
Here it is. Version: 0.5.3 Keep up the good work ! -- Andreas Mohr Stauferstr. 6, D-71272 Renningen, Germany Tel. +49 7159 800604 http://home.nexgo.de/andi.mohr/
--- apt-get.8.org Sat Sep 1 01:19:13 2001 +++ apt-get.8 Sat Sep 1 01:19:00 2001 @@ -65,33 +65,33 @@ install is followed by one or more packages desired for installation. Each package is a package name, not a fully qualified filename (for instance, in a Debian GNU/Linux system, libc6 would be the -argument provided, not em(libc6_1.9.6-2.deb)). All packages required +argument provided, not libc6_1.9.6-2.deb. All packages required by the package(s) specified for installation will also be retrieved and installed. The \fI/etc/apt/sources.list\fR file is used to locate the desired packages. If a hyphen is appended to the package name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be removed if it is installed. Similarly a plus sign can be used to designate a package to -isntall. These latter feature may be used to override decisions made by +install. These latter features may be used to override decisions made by apt-get's conflict resolution system. A specific version of a package can be selected for installation by -following the package name with an equals and the version of the package +following the package name with an equal sign and the version of the package to select. This will cause that version to be located and selected for install. Alternatively a specific distribution can be selected by following the package name with a slash and the version of the distribution or the Archive name (stable, frozen, unstable). -Both of the version selection mechansims can downgrade packages and must +Both of the version selection mechanisms can downgrade packages and must be used with care. If no package matches the given expression and the expression contains one -of '.', '?' or '*' then it is assumed to be a POSIX regex and it is applied +of '.', '?' or '*', then it is assumed to be a POSIX regex and it is applied to all package names in the database. Any matches are then installed (or -removed). Note that matching is done by substring so 'lo.*' matches 'how-lo' -and 'lowest'. If this is undesired prefix with a '^' character. +removed). Note that matching is done by substring, so 'lo.*' matches 'how-lo' +and 'lowest'. If this is undesired, prefix with a '^' character. .TP \fBremove\fR -remove is identical to bf(install) except that packages are +remove is identical to install except that packages are removed instead of installed. If a plus sign is appended to the package name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be installed. @@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ specified then the source package will not be unpacked. A specific source version can be retrieved by postfixing the source name -with an equals and then the version to fetch, similar to the mechanism +with an equal sign and then the version to fetch, similar to the mechanism used for the package files. This enables exact matching of the source package name and version, implicitly enabling the APT::Get::Only-Source option. @@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ .TP \fBbuild-dep\fR build-dep causes apt-get to install/remove packages in an -attempt to satisfy the build dependencies for a source packages. Right +attempt to satisfy the build dependencies for a source package. Right now virtual package build depends choose a package at random. .TP \fBcheck\fR @@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ .PP .SH "OPTIONS" .PP -All command line options may be set using the configuration file, the +All command line options may be set using the configuration file; the descriptions indicate the configuration option to set. For boolean options you can override the config file by using something like \fB-f-\fR,\fB--no-f\fR, \fB-f=no\fR or several other variations. @@ -166,8 +166,8 @@ \fB--fix-broken\fR Fix; attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in place. This option, when used with install/remove, can omit any packages -to permit APT to deduce a likely soltion. Any Package that are specified -must completly correct the problem. The option is sometimes necessary when +to permit APT to deduce a likely solution. Any packages that are specified +must completely correct the problem. The option is sometimes necessary when running APT for the first time; APT itself does not allow broken package dependencies to exist on a system. It is possible that a system's dependency structure can be so corrupt as to require manual intervention @@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress indicators. More q's will produce more quiet up to a maximum of 2. You can also use \fB-q=#\fR to set the quiet level, overriding the configuration file. -Note that quiet level 2 implies \fB-y\fR, you should never use -qq +Note that quiet level 2 implies \fB-y\fR; you should never use -qq without a no-action modifier such as -d, --print-uris or -s as APT may decided to do something you did not expect. Configuration Item: quiet. @@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ Simulate prints out a series of lines each one representing a dpkg operation, Configure (Conf), Remove (Remv), Unpack (Inst). Square brackets indicate broken packages with -and empty set of square brackets meaning breaks that are of no consequence +an empty set of square brackets meaning breaks that are of no consequence (rare). .TP \fB-y\fR @@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ \fB--assume-yes\fR Automatic yes to prompts; assume "yes" as answer to all prompts and run non-interactively. If an undesirable situation, such as changing a held -package or removing an essential package occurs then apt-get +package or removing an essential package occurs, then apt-get will abort. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Assume-Yes. .TP @@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ Configuration Item: APT::Ignore-Hold. .TP \fB--no-upgrade\fR -Do not upgrade packages; When used in conjunction with install +Do not upgrade packages; When used in conjunction with install, no-upgrade will prevent packages listed from being upgraded if they are already installed. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Upgrade. @@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ Configuration Item: APT::Get::force-yes. .TP \fB--print-uris\fR -Instead of fetching the files to install their URIs are printed. Each +Instead of fetching the files to install, their URIs are printed. Each URI will have the path, the destination file name, the size and the expected md5 hash. Note that the file name to write to will not always match the file name on the remote site! This also works with the /source/ @@ -307,12 +307,12 @@ a default pin at priority 990 using the specified release string. The preferences file may further override this setting. In short, this option lets you have simple control over which distribution packages will be -retrieved from. Some common examples might me +retrieved from. Some common examples might be \fB-t '2.1*'\fR or \fB-t unstable\fR. -Configuration Item: APT::Default-Release +Configuration Item: APT::Default-Release. .TP \fB--trivial-only\fR -Only perform operations are 'trivial'. Logically this can be considered +Only perform operations that are 'trivial'. Logically this can be considered related to \fB--assume-yes\fR, where \fB--assume-yes\fR will answer yes to any prompt, \fB--trivial-only\fR will answer no. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Trivial-Only. @@ -320,19 +320,19 @@ \fB--no-remove\fR If any packages are to be removed apt-get immediately aborts without prompting. -Configuration Item: APT::Get::Remove +Configuration Item: APT::Get::Remove. .TP \fB--only-source\fR Only has meaning for the source command. indicates that the given source names are not to be mapped through the binary table. -Configuration Item: APT::Get::Only-Source +Configuration Item: APT::Get::Only-Source. .TP \fB--diff-only\fR .TP \fB--tar-only\fR Download only the diff or tar file of a source archive. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Diff-Only and -APT::Get::Tar-Only +APT::Get::Tar-Only. .TP \fB-h\fR .TP @@ -342,7 +342,7 @@ \fB-v\fR .TP \fB--version\fR -Show the program verison. +Show the program version. .TP \fB-c\fR .TP @@ -365,16 +365,16 @@ Configuration Item: Dir::Etc::SourceList. .TP \fB\fI/var/cache/apt/archives/\fB\fR -storage area for retrieved package files +storage area for retrieved package files. Configuration Item: Dir::Cache::Archives. .TP \fB\fI/var/cache/apt/archives/partial/\fB\fR -storage area for package files in transit +storage area for package files in transit. Configuration Item: Dir::Cache::Archives (implicit partial). .TP \fB\fI/var/lib/apt/lists/\fB\fR storage area for state information for each package resource specified in -\fB\fIsources.list\fB\fR(5) +\fB\fIsources.list\fB\fR(5). Configuration Item: Dir::State::Lists. .TP \fB\fI/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/\fB\fR
