Aptitude vs Apt-Get

[Mustard]

I tend to get into more trouble with the interface, than I do when I simply use it as a command line alternative to apt-get. When I use the aptitude interface I can work out how to select a package to install, but I have no idea how to 'unselect' a package that I have mistakenly marked for install. It seems to remember them as well.

[user1397]

This thread is for sharing your experiences with the two methods of installing with the terminal, apt-get and aptitude.

Personally, i've used apt-get far more, since most of the wiki and ubuntuforums.org instructions are written with apt-get, not aptitude.

I've only really used aptitude for installing the kubuntu-desktopand the xubuntu-desktop packages. I wanted to uninstall them later, so I just did a simple

sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude remove kubuntu-desktop [or xubuntu desktop]

and that removed all the packages that were part of those desktop packages. So, uninstalling stuff with aptitude (well at least big things) is easier than with apt-get.

I have noticed though, that when I try to install something with aptitude, for example k3b, it also tries to remove "unused packages". It called the gstreamer-0.8-mad package "unused", and it wanted remove it, even though it had to have been used because i do listen to music! So that kind of bugged me.

[gsdefender]

As an addicted Debian sid user, I find apt-get scriptability very powerful. Just my 5 cents.

[G Morgan]

I use apt-get because generally I know all the packages I want to install. I tend to only use aptitude if I've got no X server access.

[bruce89]

I always use aptitude, since I don't want a whole load of unused libraries all over the place.

[sharkboy]

aptitude can be used from the command line too, and is in my experience more intelligent than apt-get when it comes to resolving complex dependencies. For instance, aptitude is recommended by debian when upgrading from woody to sarge, and as a debian sid user, I very rarely have encounter troubles at all after I started doing aptitude dist-upgrade instead of apt-get dist-upgrade every day.

[5-HT]

+1 for aptitude.

Aptitude is very flexible and is great at managing packages thanks to automatic/manual install flags.
I do a server install from the CD, and use aptitude for everything else after that.

For those who feel like checking it out, there is a great walkthrough explaining _all_ of Aptitude's features. The guide can be found in /usr/share/aptitude/README, or by entering 'aptitude' at a prompt, and go to the 'help' menu).

There is one default setting that I always change before using Aptitude: by default, it treats recommended packages as dependencies.
If someone is planning on installing a large metapackage (e.g. ubuntu-desktop), treating recommends as dependencies results in _many_ more packages being installed (though they may be handy/wanted) than would be otherwise.

The procedure for changing the default 'treat recommends as dependencies' is documented in the help guide (can be done in Aptitude's config file, or via the pseudo-GUI).

[basketcase]

I used aptitude for the first time the other day in command line when apt-get did not install what I was looking for.

Other than that, it has always been apt-get and I love it!

[pianoboy3333]

It seems though, that smartpm may be taking over, if it copies characteristics like keeping track of unused libs and such, but with a command and gui interface, it could possibly rock the house. http://labix.org/smart

[Jucato]

I'm trying to get used to the whole aptitude business, because I think it handles packages and dependencies more intelligently than apt-get. However, I think I have to edit aptitude's config so that it won't treat recommended packages as dependencies (thanks for the info 5-HT).

As for smartpm, I'm going to keep a close eye on that one. It seems to be the ultimate package manager front-end. But I'm not entirely sure if it handles metapackages/dependencies the same way or better than aptitude. Also, even their own FAQ admits that it is quite resource intensive.

(Shameless plug: Some of my own thoughts about the different package managers, their pros and cons: http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=190985)