Search for Install Packages from the Ubuntu Command Line
When you are trying to install software on Ubuntu or Debian linux using the apt-get package system, quite often you'll forget the exact name of the package you are trying to install. Here's how you can get a little help figuring out what the name is.
Syntax:
apt-cache search SearchTerm
Example:
> apt-cache search monodevelop
monodevelop - C#/Boo/Java/Nemerle/ILasm Development Environment
monodevelop-boo - Boo plugin for MonoDevelop
monodevelop-java - Java plugin for MonoDevelop
monodevelop-nunit - NUnit plugin for MonoDevelop
monodevelop-query - MonoQuery plugin for MonoDevelop
monodevelop-versioncontrol - VersionControl plugin for MonoDevelop
Rather useful, no? I've found it very useful even when I know the name of the package I'm trying to install, you can figure out what the names of extra plugins are, as in the above example. I had initially installed monodevelop, but didn't realize there was nunit and version control plugins for it.
You may also want to run the results through a more, or even a grep. For instance:
> apt-cache search firefox | grep plugin
libflash-mozplugin - GPL Flash (SWF) Library - Mozilla-compatible plugin
mozilla-helix-player - the helix audio and video player (browser plugin)
j2re1.4-mozilla-plugin - Java plugin for mozilla/firefox
mozilla-acroread - Adobe Acrobat(R) Reader plugin for mozilla / konqueror
totem-gstreamer-firefox-plugin - Totem Firefox Plugin - gstreamer version
totem-xine-firefox-plugin - Totem Firefox Plugin - xine version
If you do "apt-cache show monodevelop", you see a line:
Suggests: monodevelop-boo, monodevelop-java, monodevelop-nunit, monodevelop-versioncontrol, monodevelop-query, nemerle
You can use "aptitude", which is an improved "apt-get" and install via "aptitude install -r monodevelop". The "-r" will cause it to install all suggestions.
Thanks, that's very helpful. I was thinking of posting a how-to for aptitude as well.
does anyone know where i can comand some cd's with UBUNTU because i heard they're free
You can download ubuntu from the Ubuntu website. You can also order them from there as well.
apt-cache is great for a number of things, but I think aptitude has a better search function in this instance;
aptitude search
mostly because it'll also return status of the package.