8.2.2 apt-get, dselect and apt-cdrom

apt-get is an APT-based command-line tool for handling packages, and the APT dselect method is an interface to APT through dselect. Both of these provide a simple, safe way to install and upgrade packages.

To use apt-get, install the apt package, and edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file to set it up, just as for aptitude, Section 8.2.1.

Then run

     apt-get update

followed by

     apt-get dist-upgrade

Answer any questions that might come up, and your system will be upgraded. See also the apt-get(8) manual page, as well as APT, Section 7.1.2.

To use APT with dselect, choose the APT access method in dselect's method selection screen (option 0) and then specify the sources that should be used. The configuration file is /etc/apt/sources.list. See also dselect, Section 7.1.4.

If you want to use CDs to install packages, you can use apt-cdrom. For details, please see the Release Notes, section "Setting up for an upgrade from a local mirror".

Please note that when you get and install the packages, you'll still have them kept in your /var directory hierarchy. To keep your partition from overflowing, remember to delete extra files using apt-get clean and apt-get autoclean, or to move them someplace else (hint: use apt-move).