Linux package management
Administrative Tasks
In Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora by default, each administrative user needs to know the root password, in addition to their own password.
In Ubuntu, each user only has one password. Users in the admin group can run command line and graphical applications with elevated privileges. Graphical admin tools prompt for this password when run, and command line tools can be run with root-privileges using sudo.
Package Management
Ubuntu has more packages available than Fedora, so you'll have a better chance of finding what you want in the repositories. As with Fedora, graphical applications will put a link into the Applications menu.
Graphical Tools
The Synaptic package Manager is an excellent tool for finding, fetching and installing packages. Press System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager to start Synaptic.
Command Line Tools
Ubuntu uses apt-get instead of yum , up2date and so on to find, download, and install packages and their dependencies.
Note that, unlike yum, apt-get is only for packages available in repositories - it cannot handle packages you have already downloaded. The dpkg command is used instead.
Table of Equivalent Commands
Below is a table of equivalent commands for package management on both Ubuntu/Debian and Red Hat/Fedora systems.
| Task | Red Hat/Fedora | Ubuntu |
|---|---|---|
| Adding, Removing and Upgrading Packages | ||
| Refresh list of available packages | Yum refreshes each time it's used | apt-get update |
| Install a package from a repository | yum install package_name | apt-get install package_name |
| Install a package file | yum install package.rpm rpm -i package.rpm | dpkg --install package.deb |
| Remove a package | rpm -e package_name | apt-get remove package_name |
| Check for package upgrades | yum check-update | apt-get -s upgrade apt-get -s dist-upgrade |
| Upgrade packages | yum update rpm -Uvh [args] | apt-get dist-upgrade |
| Upgrade the entire system | yum upgrade | apt-get dist-upgrade |
| Package Information | ||
| Get information about an available package | yum search package_name | apt-cache search package_name |
| Show available packages | yum list available | apt-cache dumpavail |
| List all installed packages | yum list installed rpm -qa | dpkg --list |
| Get information about a package | yum info package_name | apt-cache show package_name |
| Get information about an installed package | rpm -qi package_name | dpkg --status package_name |
| List files in an installed package | rpm -ql package_name | dpkg --listfiles package_name |
| List documentation files in an installed package | rpm -qd package_name | - |
| List configuration files in an installed package | rpm -qc package_name | - |
| Show the packages a given package depends on | rpm -qR package_name | apt-cache depends |
| Show other packages that depend on a given package (reverse dependency) | rpm -q -whatrequires [args] | apt-cache rdepends |
| Package File Information | ||
| Get information about a package file | rpm -qpi package.rpm | dpkg --info package.deb |
| List files in a package file | rpm -qpl package.rpm | dpkg --contents package.deb |
| List documentation files in a package file | rpm -qpd package.rpm | - |
| List configuration files in a package file | rpm -qpc package.rpm | - |
| Extract files in a package | rpm2cpio package.rpm | cpio -vid |
| Find package that installed a file | rpm -qf filename | dpkg --search filename |
| Find package that provides a particular file | yum provides filename | apt-file search filename |
| Misc. Packaging System Tools | ||
| Show stats about the package cache | - | apt-cache stats |
| Verify all installed packages | rpm -Va | debsums |
| Remove packages from the local cache directory | yum clean packages | apt-get clean |
| Remove only obsolete packages from the local cache directory | - | apt-get autoclean |
| Remove header files from the local cache directory (forcing a new download of same on next use) | yum clean headers | apt-file purge |
| General Packaging System Information | ||
| Package file extension | *.rpm | *.deb |
| Repository location configuration | /etc/yum.conf | /etc/apt/sources.list |
Some of the information in this table was derived (with permission) from APT and RPM Packager Lookup Tables.
More technical information about Debian-style packaging can be found in Basics of the Debian package management systemand the Debian New Maintainers' Guide.
Services
Services on Ubuntu are managed in a broadly similar way to those on Red Hat.
Graphical Tools
Services can be configured by clicking System -> Administration -> Services. A tool called Boot-Up Manager is also available.
Command Line Tools
Below is a table of example commands for managing services. The apache / httpd service is used as an example.
| Task | Red Hat / Fedora | Ubuntu | Ubuntu (with sysv-rc-conf or sysvconfig) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting/stopping services immediately | service httpd start | invoke-rc.d apache start | service apache start |
| Enabling a service at boot | chkconfig httpd on | update-rc.d apache defaults | sysv-rc-conf apache on |
| Disabling a service at boot | chkconfig httpd off | update-rc.d apache purge | sysv-rc-conf apache off |
Note: Whereas Red Hat and Fedora servers boot into runlevel 3 by default, Ubuntu servers default to runlevel 2.
Note: The service and invoke-rc.d commands call init scripts to do the actual work. You can also start and stop services by doing e.g. /etc/init.d/apache start on Ubuntu, or /etc/init.d/httpd start on Red Hat/Fedora.
Network
Graphical Tools
Fedora/RHEL have system-config-network, ubuntu pre 10.04 had gnome-nettool to edit static ip address, since 10.04 nm-connection-editor is the best choice. For Ubuntu 10.04 Studio there is only manual editing of files since NetworkMontor is not included