Package Management from the Command Line

[Gen2ly]

Hello everybody. I am writing this for someone here that once did a good deed for me. If you are reading this (you know who you are), thank you, it is much appreciated.

I like to work from the command line. I find that once you get to know it, it is often quicker to do the tasks you need to do (especially as an administer). Here is a quick front-end to common management tasks (installing/removing pacakges, package information...) that you may do everyday on your machine. It's pretty well commented and include's help by just typing the command. I call it dm (debian management) and the syntax is simple:

dm <option> <*option2>

Option2 is often a package name but sometimes isn't needed. For example:

dm i openbox

Will install Openbox, and:

dm y

Will sync the respository database. Here's the script:

#!/bin/sh
# dm - shorthand frontend to debian management tasks

if [[ -z $@ ]]; then
  echo "dm <option> <*package> - debian management tasks
  c | clean     - delete .debs that can no longer be downloaded
  d | depclean  - remove unneeded dependencies
  i | install   - installs package and dependencies
  L | local     - install a local .deb package
  l | list      - list files installed by the package
  n | info      - package information
  o | owns      - lists package that owns a file (D-)
  q | query     - search for an installed package
  r | remove    - removes package and unneeded dependencies
  s | search    - searchs for package and package description
  u | update    - updates system
  v | distup    - distribution upgrade
  y | sync      - sync repository database
  daemonadd     - add daemon to run lvl <daemon> <defaults/??>
  daemonrm      - remove daemon from run levels
  purge         - removes package and configurations"
  exit
fi

case $1 in
  c | clean )     apt-get autoclean
#                  apt-get clean        # remove all pkg install sources
                  ;;
  d | depclean )  apt-get autoremove
                  ;;
  i | install )   shift
                  apt-get install "$@"
                  ;;
  L | local )     shift
                  dpkg -i "$@"
                  ;;
  l | list )      shift
                  dpkg -L "$@"
                  ;;
  n | info )      shift
                  apt-cache show "$@"
                  ;;
  o | owns  )     shift
                  dpkg -S "$@"
                  ;;
  q | query )     shift
                  if [ -z "$@" ]; then
                    dpkg -l; else
                    dpkg -l | grep "$@"
                  fi
                  ;;
  r | remove )    shift
                  apt-get remove "$@"
                  apt-get autoremove
                  ;;
  s | search )    shift
                  apt-cache search "$@"
                  ;;
  u | update )    apt-get update
                  apt-get upgrade
                  ;;
  v | distup )    apt-get dist-upgrade
                  ;;
  y | sync )      apt-get update
                  ;;
  daemonadd )     shift
                  update-rc.d "$@"
                  ;;
  daemonrm )      shift
                  update-rc.d -f "$@" remove
                  ;;
  purge )         shift
                  apt-get --purge remove "$@"
                  ;;
  * )             shift
                  apt-get "$@"
                  ;;
esac

I like to place my scripts in a hidden folder in the home directory:

mkdir ~/.bin

Make the script executable:

chmod +x ~/.bin/dm

And to have bash recognize the executable/script path, in your '~/.bashrc' (a hidden file in your home directory):

export PATH="~/.bin:$PATH"

Then reload the bash environment to have the new path recognized:

source ~/.bashrc

I'm using Debian at the moment so you'll notice there are no sudo arguments in the script. I typically need to do administrative tasks so I usually have a terminal window that is "su'd" to root and put the script and '~/.bashrc' there. You can do this by:

sudo su

Been a bit since I've used Ubuntu/Debian so any tips would be appreciated. I have tested the script though and does everything that I need to .

[Gen2ly]

Oy, fixed a typo in the list line.

[Elep.Repu]

Thanks for the tip. I really couldn't find a good one, but now I have.
Good day.

[Gen2ly]

Glad you could put it to use Elep.Repu. Danke.

[Gen2ly]

Oop, fixed some typos.

[Gen2ly]

Removed tasksel option (didn't use anyway).

[Gen2ly]

Cleaned up script a little bit more, added daemon option.