aptitude "check" command?

On Mon, 2007-04-16 at 16:37 +0100, wrote:
> Hugo Vanwoerkom wrote:
> > Greg Folkert wrote:
> >> On Mon, 2007-04-16 at 08:53 -0500, Default User wrote:
> >>> Hello.
> >>>
> >>> For Etch, I am using aptitude, rather than apt-get. These seem to be
> >>> the equivalent commands:
> >>>
> >>> apt-get clean = aptitude clean
> >>> apt-get autoclean = aptitude autoclean
> >>> apt-get update = aptitude update
> >>> apt-get upgrade = aptitude upgrade
> >>> apt-get dist-upgrade = aptitude dist-upgrade
> >>>
> >>> So what is the aptitude equivalent of apt-get "check"?
> >>> (And an extra cookie for your browser if you can explain when to use
> >>> clean and when to use autoclean . . . )
> >>
> >> clean vs. autoclean
> >>
> >> clean == remove all cached files, including ones that may be ready for
> >> install. This basically remove all *.deb files in:
> >> /var/cache/apt/archives
> >> autoclean == removes all but the "installed or most recent candidate to
> >> be installed". IOW if you happen to have 83 versions of the "zsh"
> >> package in /var/cache/apt/archives/ it reduces it to either the one
> >> installed if it is the most recent, or the most recent candidate to
> >> install. This is used as a "house-cleaning" operation.
> >>
> >> "aptitude check" is a non-op. Aptitude does this automagically in
> >> interactive mode. Aptitude forces (user selected) resolutions it can
> >> come up with or elect to quit, when using it in cli form.
> >
> > 3 right answers = 3 extra cookies for Greg's browser ;-)
> >
> > Hugo
> >
> >
>
>
> What about:
> #apt-get cache search xxx

You mean "apt-cache search xxx" that is done by aptitude also:

aptitude search xxx

In fact here is the output of "aptitude --help" to clear up those "Yeah,
but what about..." questions:

greg@princess:~$ aptitude --help
aptitude 0.4.4
Usage: aptitude [-S fname] [-u|-i]
aptitude [options] ...
Actions (if none is specified, aptitude will enter interactive mode):

install - Install/upgrade packages
remove - Remove packages
purge - Remove packages and their configuration files
hold - Place packages on hold
unhold - Cancel a hold command for a package
markauto - Mark packages as having been automatically installed
unmarkauto - Mark packages as having been manually installed
forbid-version - Forbid aptitude from upgrading to a specific package version.
update - Download lists of new/upgradable packages
upgrade - Perform a safe upgrade
dist-upgrade - Perform an upgrade, possibly installing and removing packages
forget-new - Forget what packages are "new"
search - Search for a package by name and/or expression
show - Display detailed information about a package
clean - Erase downloaded package files
autoclean - Erase old downloaded package files
changelog - View a package's changelog
download - Download the .deb file for a package
reinstall - Download and (possibly) reinstall a currently installed package

Options:
-h This help text
-s Simulate actions, but do not actually perform them.
-d Only download packages, do not install or remove anything.
-P Always prompt for confirmation or actions
-y Assume that the answer to simple yes/no questions is 'yes'
-F format Specify a format for displaying search results; see the manual
-O order Specify how search results should be sorted; see the manual
-w width Specify the display width for formatting search results
-f Aggressively try to fix broken packages.
-V Show which versions of packages are to be installed.
-D Show the dependencies of automatically changed packages.
-Z Show the change in installed size of each package.
-v Display extra information. (may be supplied multiple times)
-t [release] Set the release from which packages should be installed
-q In command-line mode, suppress the incremental progress indicators.
-o key=val Directly set the configuration option named 'key'
--with(out)-recommends Specify whether or not to treat recommends as
strong dependencies
-S fname Read the aptitude extended status info from fname.
-u Download new package lists on startup.
-i Perform an install run on startup.

This aptitude does not have Super Cow Powers.

So, there you go.
--
greg,

Novell's Directory Services is a competitive product to Microsoft's
Active Directory in much the same way that the Saturn V is a competitive
product to those dinky little model rockets that kids light off down at
the playfield. -- Thane Walkup

On Mon, Apr 16, 2007 at 04:37:03PM +0100, wrote:

> What about:
> #apt-get cache search xxx

'aptitude search xxx' will search only package names but you can use
'aptitude search ~dxxx' (~d = description). See the README for more
patterns (*very* useful)

Regards,
Andrei
--
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
(Albert Einstein)