The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
Chapter 7 - The Debian package management tools

7.1 What programs does Debian provide for managing its packages?

There are multiple tools that are used to manage Debian packages, from graphic or text-based interfaces to the low level tools used to install packages. All the available tools rely on the lower level tools to properly work and are presented here in decreasing complexity level.

It is important to understand that the higher level package management tools such as aptitude or dselect rely on apt which, itself, relies on dpkg to manage the packages in the system.

See the APT HOWTO for more information about the Debian package management utilities. This document is available in various languages and formats, see the APT HOWTO entry on the DDP Users' Manuals overview.