Aptitude supports, of course, a standard scrolling list of packages, divided into columns. The groups marked with a "+" are expanded, while the groups marked with a "-" are collapsed.
Aptitude supports, of course, a standard scrolling list of packages,
divided into columns. The groups marked with a "+" are expanded,
while the groups marked with a "-" are collapsed.
Less commonly-used commands can be accessed via the dropdown menus.
Incidentally, mousing is supported.
Before you install packages, aptitude will show you what it is about
to do. This display is a fully functional package view; you can modify
the intended actions before continuing with the installation.
You can modify the settings from within the program. This screenshot
shows the options for the user interface.
You can limit which packages are displayed in a particular view. In this
example, only packages whose name contains the string "netscape" are
displayed; more complicated criteria are possible (such as "all packages
maintained by Joey Hess", or "currently installed but broken packages
in section 'games' with 'helix' in their version string"
It is possible to change the order in which packages are sorted. For
instance, in this example, packages are sorted in increasing order
of size. (useful for cleaning your disk up)
The way in which packages are divided into groups and subgroups is
also configurable. In this example, for instance, the grouping has
been modified so that the first level of division is the section,
followed by the priority. Each package also can be expanded to show
its dependencies.
It is possible to reconfigure the layout of interface elements.
For instance, as this screenshot shows, the screen can be divided
horizontally, so that packages appear on the left and their descriptions
appear on the right. This configuration is very useful if you
have an extra-wide terminal (eg, a big xterm or a high-resolution
console display)
Much information about a package is available. Incidentally, all the
packages and versions of packages available on the screen can be
manipulated; for instance, selecting "0.0.8.7.1-1" and marking it for
install would downgrade the program to that version.
You can browse Debian's list of tasks from within aptitude.
aptitude has a fully-functional command-line mode. The above
screenshot shows the various types of information which can be
displayed, such as the reason a package is being installed or
removed, and the version number to be installed or removed.
At this prompt, it is possible to enter the full UI (by typing 'e'), or to provide additional actions (for instance: '- egoboo' would cancel the installation of egoboo)
I'm not playing games! I'm..uh...downloading packages! Yeah!