apt-get vs aptitude

[Thomas Milne]

On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 1:38 AM, Rajinder Yadav <devguy.ca-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> Thomas Milne wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 12:20 AM, Rajinder Yadav <devguy.ca-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> What is the difference between using apt-get and aptitude to install
>>> packages?
>>>
>>> I'm using aptitude because if I recall correctly it manages the package
>>> dependencies better, where as apt-get will not. I recall having to use
>>> synaptic to fix a problem once and that when I stopped using apt-get.
>>>
>>
>> I am by no means an expert, but what I've noticed in general usage is
>> that aptitude will remove any packages which are 'not required' by
>> default, whereas apt-get will not.
>>
>> For example, in my case, because I do not have Gnome's Network Manager
>> installed (because it sucks), aptitude will automatically remove all
>> of the Gnome Desktop if I let it.
>
> this is not the case when you're installing stuff,

Actually, it is the case no matter what you are doing. If there are
packages that aptitude sees as 'not required', ie. nothing depends on
them and they were installed automatically, they will be removed
whenever you run aptitude, installing or removing.

> i want to know what is the diff for installing packages betweek apt-get and aptitude.

Dependencies are managed in the same way. Aptitude is just supposed to
be a more user-friendly front end as far as I can tell. Same packages
get installed.

> btw, i think i blew away a few gnome things when i purge tomboy with
> aptitude a while ago on my system =) i don't think any other package is
> using those gnome stuff so I didn't care.
>
>>
>> As with anything, when you're using aptitude, be careful that you
>> always read the prompts and are sure you understand before you say
>> 'Yes' :-)
>>
>


-- 
TBM
--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://gtalug.org/wiki/Mailing_lists