Question

4

Why is there no "purge" command in apt's manpage

rated 0 times [ 4] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 498 / 3 Years ago, sun, november 28, 2021, 8:58:17

CLI for apt.

Basic commands:

list - list packages based on package names

search - search in package descriptions

show - show package details

-

update - update list of available packages

-

install - install packages

remove - remove packages

-

upgrade - upgrade the system by installing/upgrading packages

full-upgrade - upgrade the system by removing/installing/upgrading packages

-

edit-sources - edit the source information file

As you can see, it misses a purge option, but I still can type "apt purge" to remove packages, why doesn't it in its manpage?

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

ardtry

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 254

Total Questions: 99

Total Answers: 114

Location: Finland

Member since Fri, Oct 21, 2022

2 Years ago

answered 3 Years ago ularousand · Accepted Answer

From the changelog of apt, apt purge was added in apt package version 0.9.14.3~exp3 (dated 18 Jan, 2014):

apt (0.9.14.3~exp3) experimental; urgency=low



* add "apt purge"

This behaves the same way as apt-get purge but the man page lacks the mention.

From cmdline/apt.cc of apt source code:

// package stuff

{"install",&DoInstall},

{"remove", &DoInstall},

{"purge", &DoInstall},

This should definitely go in a bug report.

Also note that, the apt command is evolving and the plan is to incorporate all the options of apt-get to apt in the process.

The man apt of Xenial (16.04) has it (Thanks @muru).