Package management tools for Debian-based Linux systems like Ubuntu include apt and apt-get. Although they have certain similarities, they also differ in some ways. If you understand the differences between the two packages then you will be able to manage the software effectively. In this article, I will show the comparison between apt vs apt-get. This will help you to distinguish between these two popular package managers.
What is Apt?
In Debian-based distributions, the installation and removal of software are generally managed through the package management system known as the Advanced Package Tool (APT). It makes use of tools to manage, update, install, and uninstall operating system packages.
What is Apt-get?
A command-line utility for managing packages in Linux is called apt-get. Its primary duty is to retrieve data and packages from trusted sources for use in the installation, upgrade, and removal of packages and the dependencies on those packages.
Differences Between Apt and Apt-get
The difference between apt and apt-get is not that apt is newer; besides, it provides a progress bar, simple syntax which makes it easier to memorize, and also shows differences in features. So I have shown three differences between Apt and Apt-get.
1. Visual Differences
If you use the apt command instead of apt-get, you will see some visual differences. Below I will show you those differences:
A. Progress Bar
Firstly when you use apt while installing, or removing a package you will see a progress bar that is not available for apt-get. Here, I will install the synaptic package. You can choose any of your liking. Copy the below command to install the package:
sudo apt install synaptic
From the images, you can see the progress bar at the bottom which shows the progress in percentage (40%) for apt.
Next, I will install the package using the apt-get command.
sudo apt-get install synaptic- apt-get: Provides a front-end command line interface for the package system.
From the above images, you can see there is no progress bar at the bottom. So, you can now be able to differentiate between apt and apt-get visually.
B. Update and Upgradable List
With the apt tool when you use the update command it also shows how many packages can be upgraded. You can copy and run the following command on Ubuntu:
sudo apt update- update: Command to make packages up to date.
From the image you can see, 123 packages can be upgraded. You can also see the upgradable package list.
Here is the command to see the list of the packages that need to be upgraded using apt. You can copy the command from here:
sudo apt list --upgradable- list: Shows the list of the following command.
- upgradable: Upgradable package.
From the above image, you can see as I run the command it shows the list of the upgradable packages.
But when I used apt-get to update the installed packages it did not show any upgradable list.
Here is the command which I used for updating with apt-get.
sudo apt-get update
From the image, you can observe that there are no upgradable packages shown at the bottom.
2. Syntax Differences Between Apt and Apt-get
The syntax of apt and apt-get is quite similar but there is some syntax in apt-get that was not easy to memorize. Here are some of the common syntaxes shown in the table:
| Functions | Apt-get | Apt |
|---|---|---|
| Install a package | apt-get install [package] | apt install [package] |
| Remove a package | apt-get remove [package] | apt remove [package] |
| Update repository index | apt-get update | apt update |
| Upgrade available packages | apt-get upgrade | apt upgrade |
| Remove the package with the configuration | apt-get purge[package] | apt purge[package] |
| Search for a package | apt-cache search[package] | apt search [package] |
| Remove unnecessary dependencies | apt-get autoremove | apt autoremove |
| Show package details | apt-cache show[package] | apt show [package] |
| Show active packages | apt-cache policy | apt policy |
| Remove old packages if needed to upgrade new packages | apt-get dist-upgrade | apt full-upgrade |
3. Comparing Features Between Apt and Apt-get
From the above discussion, you can see apt is not only a new version of apt-get it also provides some benefits to the user which leads the user towards using apt instead of apt-get. For some features, both show different results. In the following table comparison between apt and apt-get is shown.
| Feature | Apt | Apt-get |
|---|---|---|
| Compatibility |
|
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| Options |
|
|
| Verbosity |
|
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| Resolve conflict |
|
|
| Parallel downloads |
|
|
| Interactive mode |
|
|
How Does Apt Replace Apt-get?
To reduce the dependency limitation of apt-get, apt was introduced. When you want to install a package with apt-get, you have to use ‘apt-get install [package name]’. But if you want to install that package with apt then you have to type ‘apt install [package]’.
If you want to search for a package with apt-get then you have to use ‘apt-get search[package]’ and with apt you have to use ‘apt search[package]’.
Again, if you want to list the packages you have to use ‘dpkg -list’ but for apt you have to use ‘apt list’.
So from the image shown above, you can see that the apt is the combination of apt-get,apt-cache, and dpkg -l.
Is Apt-get Deprecated?
No, apt-get is not deprecated. Apt is getting more popular day by day for its better compatibility and it can be used in all the newer versions of Debian. But there are still some users who depend on apt-get because of its backward compatibility and more detailed control.
When to Use Apt Instead of Apt-get?
As apt is user-friendly and shows a progress bar, when you need to see the progress of downloading and installing then you have to use apt instead of apt-get. Besides this, there is some syntax of apt-get which is not user-friendly and hard to memorize for searching “Package” apt search is used for apt but apt-cache search is used for apt-get because apt-get is not supporting the search.
Should You Use Apt or Apt-get?
You can use both of the commands but it is better to use apt instead of apt-get. As the new version of Debian is not supported by apt-get, so for the newer version you have to use the apt command. apt shows a progress percentage while installing, or removing any package, so you can estimate the installing time or removing time which will be user-friendly.
Similarities Between Apt and Apt-get
Despite the differences above I mentioned, there are some similarities. Here are the similarities between apt and apt-get.
- apt and apt-get are both package management tools that are used for package installation, update, and removal of packages.
- Between these two tools, many of the options and commands are quite similar. You can use apt-get install “package” for apt-get and apt install “package” for apt.
- Both of these share some same options, and their configuration file is the same for the repository.
Examples of Using apt and apt-get
Using apt and apt-get you can install, update, remove a package, and upgrade an installed package also. You can search for a package and also show the information about the package. Here I will show some examples of these two:
Example 1: How to Install a Package with apt
To install an apt package in Ubuntu copy this command. Here I will install vlc, you can choose any package according to your liking.
sudo apt install vlc- sudo: Permits administrative privileges.
- apt: Provides a high-level command line interface for the package management system.
- install: command install the following package.
- vlc: The package which I want to install.
From the above image, you can see by the above-mentioned command I have installed the vlc package. While installing packages, you can use this command.
Example 2: How to Update Packages with apt
To update an apt package in Ubuntu copy this command:
sudo apt update- update: Command to make packages up to date.
If you want to make all the available packages up to date, we can use the update option.
Example 3: How to Install a Package with apt-get
To install an apt-get package in Ubuntu copy this command:
sudo apt-get install vlc- apt-get: Provides a front-end command line interface for the package system.
If you want to install different packages with apt-get, you can use this command.
Example 4: How to Update Packages with apt-get
To update an apt-get package in Ubuntu copy this command:
sudo apt-get update- update: Command to make packages up to date.
If you want to update the available packages with apt-get, you can use this command. Here, it does not show the number of packages that need to be upgraded.
New Apt Commands
Apt comes with some new command which is not found in apt-get. And the new commands are apt list and apt edit sources.
| New command | Functions |
|---|---|
| apt list | Shows the list of install and upgrade packages |
| apt edit sources | Edit source list |
From the table, you can see the new commands.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, you can understand that the apt package management tool is more user-friendly than apt-get and for that reason, the percentage of users increases day by day. Besides all these facilities, some users still prefer apt-get for their flexibility and detailed control over packages.
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