How does Synaptic work? Apt-Get or Aptitude?

[CraigPaleo]

I've been reading about the differences between apt-get install and aptitude install. I'm curious as to which method is used by Synaptic to install and uninstall programs. If I choose to uninstall xubuntu-desktop through Synaptic, which is how I installed it, will everything that came with it be removed as well?

Thanks,
Craig

[glotz]

I don't know what it's based on but if you remove the xubuntu-desktop, only the meta-package itself will be removed.

[lukjad]

Synaptic runs on apt. Link: http://www.nongnu.org/synaptic/

[CraigPaleo]

Thanks!

So, will I have to run the commands here to remove all of xubuntu-desktop and its associations?: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/puregnome .

I just want to be sure that nothing I use in k/ubuntu will be affected. If it's recommended that I use these commands, is it necessary to include the last one:
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop since I already have it?

[SunnyRabbiera]

Synaptic and aptitude are both front ends for apt.

[glotz]

Thanks!

So, will I have to run the commands here to remove all of xubuntu-desktop and its associations?: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/puregnome .

I just want to be sure that nothing I use in k/ubuntu will be affected. If it's recommended that I use these commands, is it necessary to include the last one:
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop since I already have it?

Yes, however, all the 3 metapackages (ubu,kubu,xubu) overlap, so you will have to not only use that last command but since you also want kubuntu, you'll also have to install kubuntu-desktop. So some packages will first get removed and then reinstalled. It's not going to be a problem unless you have installed manually newer versions of some packages or removed many packages. It's an unofficial guide so there's no guarantees. :-?

[CraigPaleo]

Synaptic and aptitude are both front ends for apt.

This is confusing. Everything I'd read was about differences in the commands, not front ends. I was wondering which back-end Synaptic used. Now you tell me that Aptitude is a front end to apt????

[CraigPaleo]

Yes, however, all the 3 metapackages (ubu,kubu,xubu) overlap, so you will have to not only use that last command but since you also want kubuntu, you'll also have to install kubuntu-desktop. So some packages will first get removed and then reinstalled. It's not going to be a problem unless you have installed manually newer versions of some packages or removed many packages. It's an unofficial guide so there's no guarantees. :-?

Ahhh! Thank you!

[snova]

This is confusing. Everything I'd read was about differences in the commands, not front ends. I was wondering which back-end Synaptic used. Now you tell me that Aptitude is a front end to apt????

Everything is built on top of dpkg (to the best of my knowledge). dpkg deals with .debs and not much else.

apt-get adds repositories to the mix, automatically downloaded packages from the Internet, before installing them with dpkg.

aptitude brings some more to the system. If you run it without arguments it's a complete ncurses package managar. Then you can also use it to do some higher-level operations, like automatically removing unused packages, the 'reinstall' command, etc.

Synaptic is just a graphical front-end.

[CraigPaleo]

Synaptic and aptitude are both front ends for apt.

It just dawned on me that you might be thinking of Adept, which is used as a front end by Kubuntu.

[CraigPaleo]

Everything is built on top of dpkg (to the best of my knowledge). dpkg deals with .debs and not much else.

apt-get adds repositories to the mix, automatically downloaded packages from the Internet, before installing them with dpkg.

aptitude brings some more to the system. If you run it without arguments it's a complete ncurses package managar. Then you can also use it to do some higher-level operations, like automatically removing unused packages, the 'reinstall' command, etc.

Synaptic is just a graphical front-end.

Thanks, that helps quite a bit. I actually understand about 94.2% of it too. :D