Debian Software Package Management(dpkg) in Linux

In Linux, there are a lot of different distributions and each of these distributions has a different package type.  For example .rpm or Red hat Package Manager is used as the package in the Linux distribution. A package is the compressed version of the software.

In this article, we will go through the Debian package which is used by Ubuntu. D package or Debian Package is used to install and download the software in Debian based Linux systems. Debian files end with .deb extension.

What is dpkg in Linux?

`dpkg` (Debian Package) is a low-level package management system for Debian-based Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu. It handles the installation, configuration, upgrade, and removal of software packages. Unlike higher-level tools like `apt`, which resolve dependencies and download packages from repositories, `dpkg` directly manages individual `.deb` files, making it essential for managing local packages and performing detailed package operations.

Basic Syntax

dpkg [options] action

Here,

options - optional tags that modify the behavior of dpkg
action - specifies what dpkg should do

Common Actions of dpkg

The following are the common actions of dpkg:

Example

• The following command is used to install a page from .deb files:

sudo dpkg -i package_name.deb

dpkg commands in Linux with Examples

1. Installing a stand-alone package using the Debian package

• To install a package -i flag is used. To download a stand-alone package using the Debian package, this command is used:

sudo dpkg -i name_of_package.deb

Example: To download standalone package for the open-source text editor, atom

sudo dpkg -i atom-amd64.deb

2. Removing a package using the Debian package

• To remove a package -r flag is used 

sudo dpkg -r name_of_package

Example: To remove the package for the text editor "atom"

sudo dpkg -r atom

Note: -P flag helps to remove everything including conf files.

dpkg -P [package-name]
dpkg -P googler_3.3.0-1_all.deb

3. Listing the debian packages

• To list all the Debian packages -l flag is used.

dpkg -l

• The above line would give the output similar to the one shown below:

• To find a particular package use the grep command: 

dpkg -l | grep name_of_package.

• The output of this command would look similar to the one shown below:

4. List the dpkg commands available

• -help option lists all the available dpkg commands

dpkg –help

• Output of this command would look similar to the one shown below:

• The following are the a few more options of dpkg:

5. View the content of a particular package

• To view the content of the particular package -c flag is used

dpkg -c [name of the package]
dpkg -c flashplugin-nonfree_3.2_i386.deb

• Output of this command would look similar to the one shown below:

6. Print architecture of dpkg installs

• --print-architecture command prints the architecture of dpkg installs

dpkg --print-architecture

• Output could be amd64, i386, etc.
• For example, the output produced by the above code is as shown:

7. Unpack a package

• --unpack flag helps us unpack the package.

dpkg --unpack [package-name]
dpkg --unpack flashplugin-nonfree_3.2_i386.deb

• The output would look as shown below:

• The package can be later configured using --configure flag.

dpkg --configure [package-name]
dpkg --configure flashplugin-nonfree

8. Check if the package is installed or not

• To check if a particular package is installed or not -s flag is used.

dpkg -s [package-name]
dpkg -s git

• The output would look as shown below:

9. Reconfigure the installed package

• To reconfigure the already installed package dpkg-reconfigure command is used

dpkg-reconfigure [package-name]

Locate the installed package

• The location of the installed package can be found using -L flag.

dpkg -L [package-name]
dpkg -L git

• The output would look as shown below:

10. Check for any issue with the installed package

• --audit flag would be used to check for the issues with the package.

dpkg --audit

11. Erase information 

• –clear-avail Erases available information about the current packages

dpkg –-clear-avail

12. Display dpkg version

• dpkg –version is used to display dpkg version information.

sudo dpkg --version