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Software Updates

Richard Drake edited this page Sep 15, 2015 · 1 revision

Support for Linux on the laptops is being continuously improved. To take advantage of these improvements, it is important to keep your system up-to-date.

Updating the List of Software

apt-get maintains a local database of available software. When new titles are added or new versions are released, this database must be updated so apt-get is aware of the changes. This is accomplished using the update verb.

$ sudo apt-get update

This verb does not require any arguments.

Upgrading Installed Software

With an updated database, apt-get is aware of any available upgrades. To install them, use the dist-upgrade verb.

$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

dist-upgrade not only upgrades installed packages, but also resolves any differences in dependencies.

Removing Unneeded Software

When you install a package, any dependencies are installed along with it. When this package is uninstalled, the dependencies are left installed by default.

The autoremove verb uninstalls any software that is no longer required and was not explicitly installed.

$ sudo apt-get autoremove

For example, the linux kernel uses a meta-package to point to the current version. When a new kernel version is released, this meta-package is updated to point to the newer version. The older version was not explicitly installed and is no longer required, so autoremove would uninstall it. This saves considerable space.

First Steps

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