In its basic form, aptitude's configuration file is a
list of options and their values. Each line of the file
should have the form
“Option
Value
;
”:
for instance, the following line in the configuration file
sets the option Aptitude::Theme
to
“Dselect
”.
Aptitude::Theme "Dselect";
An option can “contain” other options if they are written in curly braces between the option and the semicolon following it, like this:
Aptitude::UI { Package-Status-Format ""; Package-Display-Format ""; };
An option that contains other options is sometimes called
a group. In fact, the double
colons that appear in option names are actually a
shorthand way of indicating containment: the option
Aptitude::UI::Default-Grouping
is
contained in the group Aptitude::UI
,
which itself is contained in the group
Aptitude
. Thus, if you wanted to, you
could set this option to ""
as follows:
Aptitude { UI { Default-Grouping ""; }; };
For more information on the format of the configuration file, see the manual page apt.conf(5).
aptitude's configuration is read from the following sources, in order:
The user's configuration file,
~/.aptitude/config
. This file is
overwritten when the user modifies settings in the
Options menu.
The system configuration file,
/etc/apt/apt.conf
.
Default values stored in
/usr/share/aptitude/aptitude-defaults
.
Default values built into the program.
When an option is being checked, these sources are
searched in order, and the first one that provides a value
for the option is used. For instance, setting an option
in /etc/apt/apt.conf
will override
aptitude's defaults for that option, but will not
override user settings in
~/.aptitude/config
.
The following configuration options are used by
aptitude. Note that these are not the only available
configuration options; options used by the underlying
apt
system are not listed here. See the manual pages
apt(8)
and
apt.conf(5)
for information on apt
options.
Dir::Aptitude::state
/var/lib/aptitude
Aptitude::Allow-Null-Upgrade
false
true
, aptitude will
continue to the preview screen whenever there are
upgradable packages, rather than displaying a reminder
about the → (U) command.
Aptitude::Auto-Install
true
true
,
aptitude will automatically attempt to fulfill
the dependencies of a package when you select it
for installation.
Aptitude::Auto-Fix-Broken
true
false
,
aptitude will ask for permission before
attempting to fix any broken packages.
Aptitude::Auto-Upgrade
false
true
,
aptitude will automatically flag all
upgradable packages for upgrade when the program
starts, as if you had issued the command
U).
→ (Aptitude::CmdLine::Always-Prompt
false
-P
command-line option.
Aptitude::CmdLine::Assume-Yes
false
true
, aptitude will act as
if the user had answered “yes” to
every prompt, causing most prompts to be
skipped. This is equivalent to the
-y
command-line option.
Aptitude::CmdLine::Resolver-Debug
false
true
, aptitude will print
extremely verbose information while attempting to
resolve broken dependencies. As the name suggests,
this option is primarily meant to aid in debugging the
problem resolver.
Aptitude::CmdLine::Request-Strictness
1000
Aptitude::CmdLine::Download-Only
false
true
, aptitude will
download package files but not install them.
This is equivalent to the -d
command-line option.
Aptitude::CmdLine::Fix-Broken
false
true
, aptitude will be more
aggressive when attempting to fix the
dependencies of broken packages. This is
equivalent to the -f
command-line option.
Aptitude::CmdLine::Package-Display-Format
%c%a%M %p# - %d#
-F
command-line option.
Aptitude::CmdLine::Package-Display-Width
""
), search results will be
formatted for the current terminal size, or for
an 80-column display if the terminal size cannot
be determined.
Aptitude::CmdLine::Show-Deps
false
true
, aptitude will display
a brief summary of the dependencies (if any)
relating to a package's state. This is
equivalent to the -D
command-line option.
Aptitude::CmdLine::Show-Versions
false
true
, aptitude will display
the version of a package that is being installed
or removed. This is equivalent to the
-V
command-line option.
Aptitude::CmdLine::Show-Size-Changes
false
true
, aptitude will display
the expected change in the amount of space used
by each package. This is equivalent to the
-Z
command-line option.
Aptitude::CmdLine::Simulate
false
-s
command-line option.
Aptitude::CmdLine::Visual-Preview
false
true
,
aptitude will enter its visual mode to display
the preview of an installation run and to
download packages.
Aptitude::CmdLine::Verbose
0
-v
command-line option adds 1
to this value.
Aptitude::Delete-Unused
true
true
,
automatically installed packages which are no
longer required will be automatically removed.
For more information, see the section called “Managing automatically installed packages”.
Aptitude::Delete-Unused-Pattern
Aptitude::Delete-Unused
is true
, only unused packages which
do not match this pattern (see
the section called “Search Patterns”) will be removed.
If this option is set to an empty string (the
default), all unused packages will be removed.
Aptitude::Display-Planned-Action
true
true
,
aptitude will display a preview screen before
actually carrying out the actions you have
requested.
Aptitude::Forget-New-On-Update
false
true
,
aptitude will clear the list of new packages
whenever the package list is updated, as if you
had issued the command → (f)
Aptitude::Forget-New-On-Install
false
true
,
aptitude will clear the list of new packages
whenever you install, upgrade, or remove
packages, as if you had issued the command
→ (f).
Aptitude::Keep-Suggests
false
true
, aptitude
will keep automatically installed packages on the
system as long as any installed package suggests them.
For more information, see the section called “Managing automatically installed packages”.
Aptitude::Log
/var/log/aptitude
Aptitude::Log
begins with a pipe
character (ie, “|
”),
the remainder of its value is used as the name of a
command into which the log will be piped: for
instance, |mail -s 'Aptitude install run'
root
will cause the log to be emailed to
root
. To log to multiple files or commands, you may
set this option to a list of log targets.
Aptitude::Pkg-Display-Limit
Aptitude::Recommends-Important
true
true
and
Aptitude::Auto-Install
is
true
, installing a new
package will also install any packages that it
recommends.
Aptitude::ProblemResolver::BrokenScore
-100
Aptitude::ProblemResolver::ExtraScore
5
Aptitude::ProblemResolver::ImportantScore
5
Aptitude::ProblemResolver::Infinity
1000000
-Infinity
, it will be
discarded immediately.
Aptitude::ProblemResolver::InstallScore
-20
Aptitude::ProblemResolver::KeepScore
-50
Aptitude::ProblemResolver::Max-Successors
0
Max-Successors
nodes have
been generated, successor generation terminates.
Turning this value up might cause the first few
generated solutions to have higher scores; on the
other hand, it might cause each resolver
“step” to take a long time.
Aptitude::Problem-Resolver::NonDefaultScore
-40
Aptitude::ProblemResolver::OptionalScore
5
Aptitude::Problem-Resolver::PreserveAutoScore
0
Aptitude::Problem-Resolver::PreserveManualScore
40
Aptitude::Problem-Resolver::ResolutionScore
50
Aptitude::Problem-Resolver::RemoveScore
-300
Aptitude::ProblemResolver::RequiredScore
4
Aptitude::ProblemResolver::StandardScore
3
Aptitude::ProblemResolver::StepLimit
5000
Aptitude::ProblemResolver::StepScore
-10
Aptitude::ProblemResolver::UpgradeScore
-15
Aptitude::Suggests-Important
false
Aptitude::Keep-Suggests
instead. Setting this option to
true
has the same effect as setting
Aptitude::Keep-Suggests
to true
.
Aptitude::Theme
Aptitude::Track-Dselect-State
true
true
, aptitude will attempt
to detect when a change to a package's state has
been made using dselect or
dpkg: for instance, if you
remove a package using dpkg,
aptitude will not try to reinstall it. Note
that this may be somewhat buggy.
Aptitude::UI::Advance-On-Action
false
true
, changing a package's
state (for instance, marking it for
installation) will cause aptitude to advance
the highlight to the next package in the current
group.
Aptitude::UI::Auto-Show-Reasons
true
true
, selecting a package
which is broken or which appears to be causing
other packages to be broken will cause the
information area to automatically display some
reasons why the breakage might be occuring.
Aptitude::UI::Colors
Aptitude::UI::Default-Grouping
filter(missing),status,section(subdir,passthrough),section(topdir)
Aptitude::UI::Default-Preview-Grouping
action
Aptitude::UI::Description-Visible-By-Default
true
true
and hidden if it is
false
.
Aptitude::UI::Default-Package-View
Aptitude::UI::Download-Poll-Interval
50000
Aptitude::UI::Exit-On-Last-Close'
true
true
,
closing all the active views will quit
aptitude; otherwise, aptitude will not exit
until you issue the command → (Q). See
the section called “Working with multiple views” for more information.
Aptitude::UI::Fill-Text
false
true
,
aptitude will format descriptions so that each
line is exactly the width of the screen.
Aptitude::UI::HelpBar
true
true
, a
line of information about important keystrokes
will be displayed at the top of the screen.
Aptitude::UI::Incremental-Search
true
true
,
aptitude will perform
“incremental” searches: as you type
the search pattern, it will search for the next
package matching what you have typed so far.
Aptitude::UI::Keybindings
Aptitude::UI::Menubar-Autohide
false
true
, the menu bar will be
hidden while it is not in use.
Aptitude::UI::Minibuf-Download-Bar
false
true
, aptitude will use a
less obtrusive mechanism to display the progress
of downloads: a bar at the bottom of the screen
will appear which displays the current download
status. While the download is active, pressing
q will abort it.
Aptitude::UI::Minibuf-Prompts
false
true
, some
prompts (such as yes/no and multiple-choice
prompts) will be displayed at the bottom of the
screen instead of in dialog boxes.
Aptitude::UI::New-Package-Commands
true
false
, commands such as
→ (+) will have the same deprecated
behavior that they did in antique versions of
aptitude.
Aptitude::UI::Package-Display-Format
%c%a%M %p %Z %v %V
Aptitude::UI::Package-Header-Format
%d
Aptitude::UI::Package-Status-Format
%d
Aptitude::UI::Pause-After-Download
OnlyIfError
true
, aptitude
will display a message after it finishes downloading
packages, asking you if you want to continue with the
installation. If it is
OnlyIfError
, a message will only be
displayed if a download failed. Otherwise, if the
option is set to false
, aptitude
will immediately proceed to the next screen after
completing a download.
Aptitude::Preview-Limit
Aptitude::UI::Prompt-On-Exit
true
true
,
aptitude will display a confirmation prompt
before shutting down.
Aptitude::Warn-Not-Root
true
true
,
aptitude will detect when you need root
privileges to do something, and ask you whether
you want to switch to the root
account if you
aren't root
already. See the section called “Becoming root
” for more
information.