Linux Multi-Distro Package Manager Cheatsheet

The problem of managing software installs is one which is faced by all Linux distributions; but unfortunately, not all distros solve it the same way! If you’re familiar with Debian’s apt-get, you may be thrown by RedHat’s yum, or OpenSUSE’s Zypper, and vice versa. This handy cheatsheet is here to help when you suddenly find yourself facing an unfamiliar system.
Debian: aptitude and apt-get

Debian now has three options available for interacting with its packaging back-end, dpkg. Synaptic, the very graphical option, I won’t tackle here as it’s deliberately very self-explanatory. Aptitude is also graphical, but runs within a console using ncurses. To find a package, you can either browse through the package tree, or hit / to search for a particular string (then n to look for the next instance). Installed packages are shown in bold. To add a package for install, hit +; to remove an installed one, hit -, or _ to purge. Once you’ve done making changes, hit g to apply them, which will take you to a dependency resolution screen if necessary.

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