apt-mark

APT-MARK(8)                           APT                          APT-MARK(8)

NAME
       apt-mark - show, set and unset various settings for a package

SYNOPSIS
       apt-mark {-f=filename | {auto | manual} pkg...  |
                {showauto | showmanual} [pkg...] } | {-v | --version} |
                {-h | --help}

       apt-mark {hold | unhold | install | remove | purge} pkg...  |
                {showhold | showinstall | showremove | showpurge} [pkg...]

DESCRIPTION
       apt-mark can be used as a unified front-end to set various settings for
       a package, such as marking a package as being automatically/manually
       installed or changing dpkg selections such as hold, install, deinstall
       and purge which are respected e.g. by apt-get dselect-upgrade or
       aptitude.

AUTOMATICALLY AND MANUALLY INSTALLED PACKAGES
       When you request that a package is installed, and as a result other
       packages are installed to satisfy its dependencies, the dependencies
       are marked as being automatically installed, while the package you
       installed explicitly is marked as manually installed. Once an
       automatically installed package is no longer depended on by any
       manually installed package it is considered no longer needed and e.g.
       apt-get or aptitude will at least suggest removing them.

       auto
           auto is used to mark a package as being automatically installed,
           which will cause the package to be removed when no more manually
           installed packages depend on this package.

       manual
           manual is used to mark a package as being manually installed, which
           will prevent the package from being automatically removed if no
           other packages depend on it.

       minimize-manual
           minimize-manual is used to mark (transitive) dependencies of
           metapackages as automatically installed. This can be used after an
           installation for example, to minimize the number of manually
           installed packages; or continuously on systems managed by system
           configuration metapackages.

       showauto
           showauto is used to print a list of automatically installed
           packages with each package on a new line. All automatically
           installed packages will be listed if no package is given. If
           packages are given only those which are automatically installed
           will be shown.

       showmanual
           showmanual can be used in the same way as showauto except that it
           will print a list of manually installed packages instead.

   Options
       -f=filename, --file=filename
           Read/Write package stats from the filename given with the parameter
           filename instead of from the default location, which is
           extended_states in the directory defined by the Configuration Item:
           Dir::State.

PREVENT CHANGES FOR A PACKAGE
       hold
           hold is used to mark a package as held back, which will prevent the
           package from being automatically installed, upgraded or removed.

       unhold
           unhold is used to cancel a previously set hold on a package to
           allow all actions again.

       showhold
           showhold is used to print a list of packages on hold in the same
           way as for the other show commands.

SCHEDULE PACKAGES FOR INSTALL, REMOVE AND PURGE
       Some front-ends like apt-get dselect-upgrade can be used to apply
       previously scheduled changes to the install state of packages. Such
       changes can be scheduled with the install, remove (also known as
       deinstall) and purge commands. Packages with a specific selection can
       be displayed with showinstall, showremove and showpurge respectively.
       More information about these so called dpkg selections can be found in
       dpkg(1).

OPTIONS
       -h, --help
           Show a short usage summary.

       -v, --version
           Show the program version.

       -c, --config-file
           Configuration File; Specify a configuration file to use. The
           program will read the default configuration file and then this
           configuration file. If configuration settings need to be set before
           the default configuration files are parsed specify a file with the
           APT_CONFIG environment variable. See apt.conf(5) for syntax
           information.

       -o, --option
           Set a Configuration Option; This will set an arbitrary
           configuration option. The syntax is -o Foo::Bar=bar.  -o and
           --option can be used multiple times to set different options.

FILES
       /var/lib/apt/extended_states
           Status list of auto-installed packages. Configuration Item:
           Dir::State::extended_states.

SEE ALSO
       apt-get(8),aptitude(8),apt.conf(5)

DIAGNOSTICS
       apt-mark returns zero on normal operation, non-zero on error.

BUGS
       APT bug page[1]. If you wish to report a bug in APT, please see
       /usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt or the reportbug(1) command.

AUTHORS
       Mike O'Connor

       APT team

NOTES
        1. APT bug page
           http://bugs.debian.org/src:apt

APT 2.0.10                     11 December 2018                    APT-MARK(8)