Linux: How to Install/Remove Packages

Here's how to install and remove Ubuntu Linux software packages.

The following are for Ubuntu Linux.

Install Package

sudo apt-get install name

Install a package.

Remove Package

sudo apt-get remove name

Uninstall package.

sudo apt-get purge name

Remove a package and its config files.

Search package

apt-cache search name

Search for a package.

Describe Package

apt-cache show name

Describe package.

apt-get showpkg name

Show a package's dependencies.

List Installed Packages

dpkg -l

List all installed packages

Update All Installed Software

apt-get update

Sync package index files from sources. (need to do this regularly)

apt-get upgrade

Upgrade all installed packages to latest versions (if any).

apt-get dist-upgrade

Update OS kernel, and others.

# update all software (it'll ask to confirm)
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get distupgrade

Launch Software Update GUI App

update-manager

Launch the package manager GUI App

Compile a software from source code

To install and compile a new software from source code , here's the typical steps:

gzip -d filename.tar.gz
tar xvf filename.tar

cd dirname
./configure
make
sudo make install # optional. This basically copy the binary to /usr/local/bin

Example: How to Build Emacs on Linux .