Use the dpkg command to manage software packages in Debian Linux systems
dpkg means Debian Package Manager. dpkg is a command line tool that can install, build, remove and manage Debian software packages. dpkg uses Aptitude (preferred and more user-friendly) as the front-end interface that performs all operations.
Some other tools such as dpkg-deb and dpkg-query also use dpkg as a front-end to perform certain operations.
Most system administrators now use tools such as Apt, Apt-Get and Aptitude to easily manage software without having to worry.
However, you still need to use dpkg to install certain software when necessary. Some other package management tools widely used on Linux systems include yum, dnf, apt-get, rpm, Zypper, pacman, urpmi, etc.
Now, I’m going to explain the most commonly used dpkg commands with some examples on a machine with Ubuntu 15.10.
1) The syntax of common dpkg commands and the location of dpkg files
The following is the syntax of common dpkg commands and the location of dpkg related files. If you want to learn more about it, these will definitely be of great benefit to you.
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2) Install/upgrade software
In Debian-based systems, such as Debian, Mint, Ubuntu and elementryOS, use the following commands to install/upgrade the .deb software package. Here I am going to use the atom-amd64.deb file to install Atom. If Atom is already installed, it will be upgraded. Or a new Atom will be installed.
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3) Install software from folder
In Debian-based systems, use the following commands to install software one by one from the directory. This will install all software with a .deb extension in the /opt/software directory.
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4) Display the list of installed software
The following command can list all installed software in Debian system, and also display the software version and description information.
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5) View the specified installed software
Use the following command to list the specified installed software, and the software version and description information will be displayed.
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6) View the software installation directory
The following command can view the software installation path on Debian-based systems.
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7) View the deb package contents
The following command can view the deb package contents. It will display a list of files in the .deb package.
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8) Display detailed information of software
The following command can display detailed information of software, such as software name, software category, version, maintainer, software architecture, dependent software, software description, etc.
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9) Check which software the file belongs to
Use the following command to check which software the file belongs to.
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10) Remove/Delete Software
The following command can be used to remove/delete an installed software, but does not delete the configuration file.
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11) Cleaning software
The following command can be used to remove/delete all files including configuration files.
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12) Learn more
Use the following command to view more information about dpkg.
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Start experiencing dpkg.
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