Apt-Get

The terminal command apt-get is the preferred means to update and install packages for an Ubuntu system. When working on an Ubuntu server, apt-get is essentially mandatory.

For a list of useful packages to install via Apt-Get, see Apt-Get Packages.

Apt Vs Apt-Get

This command apt is essentially shorthand for apt-get. All the main functionality of apt-get is present in atp, and the missing functions are ones that the average user never would have used anyways.

The command apt also aims to be "more pleasant for end users", but as result, the output might not be as useful for things like scripts.

Essentially:

• In most cases, apt and apt-get can be fully interchanged.
• Apt is pretty safe to use as the default, if only because it's less characters to type.
• Apt-Get should be used in the rare occurrence that apt is missing functionality you need (You'll likely know if this is the case).
• Apt-Get should be used for scripting purposes, particularly if the script cares about the command's output.

Installing Packages

To install a new package, run

sudo apt install <package_name>

See Apt-Get Packages for common packages.

Updating Packages

To search for updates of known packages:

sudo apt update

To apply found updates:

sudo apt upgrade

To remove files made obsolete from new updates:

sudo apt autoremove

Listing Installed Packages

Show all packages installed through apt with:

apt list --installed

To limit output to a given package name (or partial name), apply grep:

apt list --installed | grep <partial_package_name>

Searching through Known Packages

If you don't know the exact name of a program you want to install, you can search through apt's known repositories with the following:

apt-cache search <keyword>

Where <keyword> - The string to compare with.

• Ex: If you want to see what nvidia drivers are available, you can type apt-cache search nvidia to display all matches with "nvidia".

Uninstalling a Package through Apt

If you installed a package through apt, you can remove it by running the command:

sudo apt-get purge --auto-remove <package_name>

Removing Package Sources

Sometimes (rarely), a package source will become depreciated and cause errors when running apt-get update. Other times, you'll decide you no longer want a previously installed third party package, and you'll want to stop checking the package repo for updates (for example, if you used the commands above to uninstall a package).

In either case, you can find and remove the given source url from /etc/apt/sources.list or /etc/apt/sources.list.d/.

Automatic Updates & Notifications

By default, Ubuntu will automatically update "core packages" and display regular notifications of package updates.

Generally, you should be running manual updates through apt-get at minimum once a month anyways (See Updating Packages) so automatic updates/notifications just get in the way. Specifically, the notifications are just annoying. While the automatic updates "take control" of apt-get while they run, preventing you from manually updating. Sometimes, they'll also prevent your machine from shutting down or rebooting at really inconvenient times.

To disable Update Notification Popups:

sudo apt remove update-notifier update-notifier-common

To disable Automatic Updates:

sudo apt remove unattended-upgrades