When I downloaded and installed ubuntu to VirtualPC (I have a mac...) I learned about apt-get. Does anyone else here kind of find that apt-get is scary? With two commands I can update my entire system. Is this safe or wise for me to be doing? Then, I went into the terminal here in OSX, and I found out that it also has apt-get. Again, should I be using it? It seems way too powerfull...

I've never had a problem with it when I used debian, I've never used it on any other distributions though. If you're interested in finding out more about it, you could read the Debian documentation or check out wikipedia's page on it.

apt-get is the reason i use debian. so easy to keep up to date. don't fear it, love it.

apt-get is very commonly used on several linux distros and OSX (I use Fink all the time on OSX, which is kind of a wrapper for apt-get). And why do you think powerful is bad?! Two commands to update all packages installed is good...

Its not that I think it is bad! Actually I am quite fond of it now that I've used it a couple of times. apt-get install links :)

I was just worried about completely updating the system with two commands could cause some problems. Not that it has, or that I should fear that it will, but anything so powerful should be looked at carefully.

Quote: Original post by H_o_p_s
I was just worried about completely updating the system with two commands could cause some problems. Not that it has, or that I should fear that it will, but anything so powerful should be looked at carefully.

You should be careful of anything you do while under the root account. Using apt-get is no exception to this, and while I've not had any problems with it, I'd imagine it isn't perfect. There are other ways you can b0rk a system worse in less steps.

It'll screw up your system if you download broken packages. This will (almost certainly) only ever happen if you're tracking an unstable version. I'm not sure how Ubuntu works with that, though. Any damage done, if at all, would likely be minimal.

I agree with clayasaurus. Don't fear apt-get, love it!

apt-get is great :)

Remember to add the Universe repos [wink]

If you're using Debian or Ubuntu, I strongly recommend Synaptic - a graphical frontend to the apt system.

Alternatively, if you're using the command line, do yourself a favour and use aptitude. It's definitely the best CLI frontend out there.

Sometimes there is dependency breakage in unstable repositories. I've found that it helps to disable the "Fix broken packages" option in aptitude and examine the broken packages manually. It's fairly easy to do this in aptitude, and it avoids uninstalling half the system just because some repository contains broken dependencies.

cu,
Prefect