Linux apt-mark command

Updated: 05/04/2019 by Computer Hope
apt-mark command

On Linux operating systems that use the APT package management system, the apt-mark command performs advanced administrative tasks on installed packages. It helps repair a damaged or corrupted local package repository.

Description

The apt-mark tool can change the settings of software packages used by APT.

These settings, called "marks", fall into three general categories:

  • "Automatically", or "manually", installed.
  • "Hold" (held back). Held back packages cannot be installed, removed, purged, or upgraded unless the hold mark is removed.
  • Selection states.

"Auto" and "manual" marks

aptitude, the package is marked as manually installed: you explicitly installed it, so the system will not remove it unless you ask for it to be removed.

On the other hand, some packages are installed because they're dependencies of a package you manually installed. APT marks these dependencies as automatically installed. These packages are marked for auto-removal if they are no longer needed, for instance with apt-get autoremove.

Using apt-mark, you can change how a package is marked, protecting it from (or making it eligible for) auto-removal.

"Hold" marks

If a package is marked "hold", it is held back: The package cannot be installed, upgraded, or removed until the hold mark is removed.

Selection states

The selection state of a package can be:

  • install: this package is marked for installation.
  • deinstall (remove): this package is marked for removal.
  • purge: this package, and all its configuration files, are marked for removal.
  • hold: this package cannot be installed, upgraded, removed, or purged.

Selection states are used internally by APT and dpkg. For more information about setting selection states, see dpkg --set-selections.

Syntax

apt-mark {-c=location} | {-f=filename} | {auto | manual} pkg... |
         {showauto | showmanual} [pkg...] } | {-v | --version} | 
         {-h | --help} | {hold | unhold | install | remove | 
         purge} pkg... | {showhold | showinstall | showremove | showpurge} 
         [pkg...]

Commands

auto Mark a package as automatically installed. This marks the package to be removed when there are no manually-installed packages which depend on it.
manual Mark a package as manually installed. This prevents the package from being automatically removed when no other manually-installed packages depend on it.
showauto Print a list of all packages marked as automatically installed.
showmanual Print a list of all packages marked as manually installed.
hold Mark a package as "hold" (held back).
unhold Remove a "hold" mark on a package.
install Set the selection state of a package to "install".
remove Set the selection state of a package to "deinstall" (remove).
purge Set the selection state of a package to "purge".
showhold Show which packages are marked "hold".
showinstall Show which packages are marked "install". This includes currently-installed packages.
showremove Show which packages are marked "remove".
showpurge Show which packages are marked "purge".

Options

-f=filename,
--file=filename		 Read, or write, package statistics to filename.
-v,
--version		 Show version information for apt-mark.
-c=location,
--config-file=location		 Specify a configuration file or directory to be used. You can also specify a configuration file or directory with the environment variable APT_CONFIG. The default configuration file or directory is /etc/apt/apt.conf or /etc/apt/apt.conf.d.
-o,
--option		 Set a configuration option. Can be used (multiple times) to set individual options found in the configuration file or directory.
-h,
--help		 Display a brief listing of commands and options.

Examples

sudo apt-mark auto ruby

Mark the software package ruby as automatically installed. When no other software packages depend on it, ruby will be eligible for auto-removal.

sudo apt-mark manual ruby

Mark the software package ruby as manually installed. It is not eligible for auto-removal, even if no other packages depend on it.

apt-mark showinstall

Show all packages with a selection state of "install".

sudo apt-mark hold emacs

Mark the package emacs as held back. It cannot be installed, upgraded, removed, or purged.

sudo apt-mark unhold emacs

Cancel the hold on emacs.

apt — A unified APT front end for the command line.
apt-cache — Get information about installed and available APT software packages.
apt-get — Download and install APT software packages.
aptitude — An enhanced APT front end for the terminal.
dpkg — Install, remove, and maintain Debian software packages.