Using apt to find the package I want...

sephiroth · Yesterday 16:38:20

Okay, I may be getting older, but I do not remember apt being this... poor at returnign accurate results from a search. Mind you, I last used Debian with version 7. I went to Gentoo when Debian became a systemd distro, not a Linux distro. I still love and use Gentoo, but want something simpler for my daughter to use, so I am trying Devuan out in a VM. I had a slight issue installing, but I'm chalking that one up to the moons not being aligned.

I am in a very minimal install (nothing but the shell and SSH) and want to start installing only what we need. Okay, "apt search" should work, only it doesn't. If I do "apt search firefox" for example, I get things like bleachbit, elpa-atomic-chrome, cbindgen, dh-cargo, and pages of other things that have absolutely nothing to do with Firefox. It's like going to a Ford dealer, asking to see an F-150, and you're shown some teeny-tiny Mini Cooper. In Gentoo I can do "equery list firefox" and it shows me only those packages.

Am I doing something wrong or is this one of those things where you either need to pipe output (which I have zero faith in being accurate right now) to grep, or use some complex regex, or what? I may be over-thinking the complexity here, but searching for a package should be simple, and right now I can't find anything I want.

Last edited by sephiroth (Yesterday 16:41:30)

rolfie · Yesterday 16:49:29

First comment: what you are getting back strongly depends on what you have specified in the sources.list.

Second comment: like you when I run "apt search firefox" I am getting an endless list of packages. Adding a grep might help.

I personally prefer to use "apt list" and sometimes "apt policy" to search for specific packages.

"apt list firefox" returns no output. When you add a * so that you use "apt list firefox*" you will get a longer list of firefox-esr related packages.

And firefox-esr is what is available on Debian/Devuan. If you want the latest firefox, you may need to go to the Mozilla web page.

sephiroth · Yesterday 16:57:08

Okay, I did not know about the list parameter. All I can find online are people (various distros, not just Devuan/Debian) complaining about the same thing I am, and solutions that do not appear to work. Indeed, using "apt list *firefox*" returns EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thank you again!

See? Apparently, it's a me-problem this time!

Would using Synaptic be okay after installing my shell stuff and then my desktop? Trying to find a good way of doing things that my daughter can understand.

Last edited by sephiroth (Yesterday 16:57:59)

Duke Nukem · Yesterday 23:01:56

Synaptic is relatively easy to use. It can return some stuff that is irrelevant, especially if you choose to allow the description to be included in the search, but you can soon scroll down the list.

greenjeans · Yesterday 23:49:47

Been using Synaptic for many years now, it's my preferred way of doing things, easy to search, reasonably descriptive.

The officially official Devuan Forum!

#1 Yesterday 16:38:20

Using apt to find the package I want...

#2 Yesterday 16:49:29

Re: Using apt to find the package I want...

#3 Yesterday 16:57:08

Re: Using apt to find the package I want...

#4 Yesterday 23:01:56

Re: Using apt to find the package I want...

#5 Yesterday 23:49:47

Re: Using apt to find the package I want...

Board footer