This page uses a table to display the correspondence of package management commands among some of the most popular Linux distributions. The original inspiration was given by openSUSE’s Software Management Command Line Comparison.
Tip: Arch users having to temporarily deal with another Linux distribution can use pacapt, a simple wrapper around other package managers.
Basic operations
Action
Arch
Red Hat/Fedora
Debian/Ubuntu
SLES/openSUSE
Gentoo
Search for package(s). What exact fields are being searched by default varies in each tool. Mostly options bring tools on par.
pacman -Ss
dnf search
apt search
zypper search or zypper se [-s]
emerge —search ( -s )
Querying specific packages
Action
Arch
Red Hat/Fedora
Debian/Ubuntu
SLES/openSUSE
Gentoo
Show all or most information about a package. The tools’ verbosity for the default command vary. But with options, the tools are on par with each other.
pacman -Si or pacman -Qi
dnf list or dnf info
apt show or apt-cache policy
zypper info or zypper if
emerge -S , emerge -pv or eix
Display local package information: Name, version, description, etc.
pacman -Qi
rpm -qi / dnf info installed
dpkg -s or aptitude show
zypper info or rpm -qi
emerge -pv or emerge -S
Display remote package information: Name, version, description, etc.
pacman -Si
dnf info
apt-cache show or aptitude show
zypper info
emerge -pv and emerge -S or equery meta
Display files provided by local package
pacman -Ql
rpm -ql
dpkg -L
rpm -ql
equery files or qlist
Display files provided by a remote package
pacman -Fl
dnf repoquery -l or repoquery -l (from package yum-utils)
apt-file list
pfl
Query the package which provides FILE
pacman -Qo
rpm -qf (installed only) or dnf provides (everything) or repoquery -f (from package yum-utils)
dpkg -S or dlocate
rpm -qf (installed only) or zypper search -f (everything)
equery belongs or qfile
List the files that the package holds. Again, this functionality can be mimicked by other more complex commands.
pacman -Ql or pacman -Fl
dnf repoquery -l
dpkg-query -L
rpm -ql
equery files or qlist
Displays packages which provide the given exp. aka reverse provides. Mainly a shortcut to search a specific field. Other tools might offer this functionality through the search command.
pacman -F
dnf provides
apt-file search
zypper what-provides or zypper wp
equery belongs (only installed packages) or pfl
Search all packages to find the one which holds the specified file.
pacman -F
dnf provides
apt-file search or auto-apt is using this functionality.
zypper search -f
equery belongs or qfile
Show the changelog of a package
pacman -Qc
dnf changelog
apt-get changelog
rpm -q —changelog
equery changes -f
Querying package lists
Action
Arch
Red Hat/Fedora
Debian/Ubuntu
SLES/openSUSE
Gentoo
Search for package(s) by searching the expression in name, description, short description. What exact fields are being searched by default varies in each tool. Mostly options bring tools on par.
pacman -Ss
dnf search
apt search
zypper search or zypper se -s
emerge -S or eix
Lists packages which have an update available. Note: Some provide special commands to limit the output to certain installation sources, others use options.
pacman -Qu
dnf list updates or dnf check-update
apt list —upgradable
zypper list-updates or zypper patch-check (just for patches)
emerge -uDNp @world
Display a list of all packages in all installation sources that are handled by the packages management. Some tools provide options or additional commands to limit the output to a specific installation source.
pacman -Sl
dnf list available
apt-cache dumpavail or apt-cache dump (Cache only) or apt-cache pkgnames
zypper packages
portageq all_best_visible /
Generates a list of installed packages
pacman -Q
dnf list installed
dpkg —list | grep ^i
zypper search —installed-only
qlist -IC
List packages that are installed but are not available in any installation source (anymore).
pacman -Qm
dnf list extras
apt —installed list | grep ,local
zypper se -si | grep ‘System Packages’
eix-test-obsolete
List packages that were recently added to one of the installation sources, i.e. which are new to it.
dnf list recent
aptitude search ‘~N’ or aptitude forget-new
eix-diff
List installed local packages along with version
pacman -Q
rpm -qa
dpkg -l or apt list —installed
zypper search -s or rpm -qa
qlist -ICv
Search locally installed package for names or descriptions
pacman -Qs
rpm -qa ‘**’
aptitude search ‘~i(~n $name|~d $description)’
eix -S -I
List packages not required by any other package
pacman -Qtt
dnf leaves or package-cleanup —leaves —all
deborphan -anp1
emerge -pc
List packages installed explicitly (not as dependencies)
pacman -Qe
dnf history userinstalled
apt-mark showmanual
grep -E ‘^i\+’ (workaround)
emerge -pvO @selected or eix —selected
List packages installed automatically (as dependencies)
pacman -Qd
grep -E ‘^i[^+]’ (workaround)
apt-mark showauto
Querying package dependencies
Action
Arch
Red Hat/Fedora
Debian/Ubuntu
SLES/openSUSE
Gentoo
Display packages which require X to be installed, aka show reverse dependencies.
pacman -Sii or pacman -Qii
dnf repoquery —alldeps —whatrequires or repoquery —whatrequires
apt-cache rdepends or aptitude search ~D$pattern
zypper search —requires
equery depends
Display packages which conflict with given expression (often package). Search can be used as well to mimic this function.
pacman -Si or pacman -Qi
dnf repoquery —conflicts
aptitude search ‘~C$pattern’
List all packages which are required for the given package, aka show dependencies.
pacman -Si or pacman -Qi
dnf repoquery —requires or repoquery -R
apt-cache depends or apt-cache show
zypper info —requires
emerge -ep
List what the current package provides
pacman -Sii or pacman -Qii
dnf repoquery —provides
dpkg -s or aptitude show
zypper info —provides
equery files or qlist
List all packages that require a particular package
pacman -Sii
dnf repoquery —installed —alldeps —whatrequires
aptitude search ~D:$pattern or aptitude why or apt-cache rdepends
zypper search —requires
equery depends -a
Display all packages that the specified packages obsoletes.
pacman -Si or pacman -Qi
dnf list obsoletes
apt-cache show
Generates an output suitable for processing with dotty for the given package(s).
apt-cache dotty
Installation sources management
Action
Arch
Red Hat/Fedora
Debian/Ubuntu
SLES/openSUSE
Gentoo
Installation sources management
edit /etc/pacman.conf
edit /etc/yum.repos.d/$.repo
edit /etc/apt/sources.list
edit /etc/zypp/repos.d/$.repo
layman or eselect repository
Add an installation source to the system. Some tools provide additional commands for certain sources, others allow all types of source URI for the add command. Again others, like apt force editing a sources list. apt-cdrom is a special command, which offers special options design for CDs/DVDs as source.
edit /etc/pacman.conf
dnf config-manager
apt-cdrom add
zypper ar
layman or overlays
Refresh the information about the specified installation source(s) or all installation sources.
pacman -Sy (always upgrade the whole system afterwards)
dnf clean expire-cache and then dnf check-update
apt-get update
zypper refresh or zypper ref
emerge —sync or layman -S
Prints a list of all installation sources including important information like URI, alias etc.
cat /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
cat /etc/yum.repos.d/*
apt-cache policy
zypper repos or zypper lr
layman -l or eselect repository list
List all packages from a certain repo
paclist
zypper search -r or zypper se -r
eix —in-overlay
Disable an installation source for an operation
dnf —disablerepo=
emerge package::repo-to-use
Download packages from a different version of the distribution than the one installed.
pacman -S repo_name/package
dnf —releasever=
apt-get install -t release package or apt-get install package/release (dependencies not covered)
zypper install -r package
echo «category/package ~amd64» >> /etc/portage/package.keywords and then emerge package
Overrides
Action
Arch
Red Hat/Fedora
Debian/Ubuntu
SLES/openSUSE
Gentoo
Add a package lock rule to keep its current state from being changed
edit /etc/pacman.conf modifying IgnorePkg array
edit dnf.conf adding/amending the exclude option
apt-mark hold pkg
zypper al or put package name in /etc/zypp/locks
/etc/portage/package.mask
Delete a package lock rule
edit /etc/pacman.conf removing package from IgnorePkg line
apt-mark unhold pkg
zypper rl or remove package name from /etc/zypp/locks
/etc/portage/package.mask (or package.unmask )
Show a listing of all lock rules
cat /etc/pacman.conf
/etc/apt/preferences
zypper ll or view /etc/zypp/locks
cat /etc/portage/package.mask
Set the priority of the given package to avoid upgrade, force downgrade or to overwrite any default behavior. Can also be used to prefer a package version from a certain installation source.
edit /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords adding a line with =category/package-version
Remove a previously set priority
/etc/apt/preferences
zypper mr -p
edit /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords removing offending line
Show a list of set priorities
apt-cache policy or /etc/apt/preferences
zypper lr -p
grep -r . /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords
Ignore problems that priorities may trigger.
n/a
Verification and repair
Action
Arch
Red Hat/Fedora
Debian/Ubuntu
SLES/openSUSE
Gentoo
Verify single package
pacman -Qk (can add another k )
rpm -V
debsums
rpm -V
equery check
Verify all packages
pacman -Qk (can add another k )
rpm -Va
debsums
rpm -Va
equery check
Reinstall given package; this will reinstall the given package without dependency hassle
pacman -S
dnf reinstall
apt install —reinstall
zypper install —force
emerge -1O
Verify dependencies of the complete system; used if installation process was forcefully killed
pacman -Dk
dnf repoquery —requires
apt-get check
zypper verify
emerge -uDN @world
Use some magic to fix broken dependencies in a system
for pacman dependency level, use pacman -Dk ; for shared library level, use findbrokenpkgs AUR or lddd (from devtools )
dnf repoquery —unsatisfied
apt-get —fix-broken and then aptitude install
zypper verify
revdep-rebuild
Add a checkpoint to the package system for later rollback
(unnecessary, it is done on every transaction)
n/a
Remove a checkpoint from the system
n/a
n/a
n/a
Provide a list of all system checkpoints
n/a
dnf history list
n/a
Rolls entire packages back to a certain date or checkpoint
n/a
dnf history rollback
n/a
Undo a single specified transaction
n/a
dnf history undo
n/a
Using package files and building packages
Action
Arch
Red Hat/Fedora
Debian/Ubuntu
SLES/openSUSE
Gentoo
Query a package supplied on the command line rather than an entry in the package management database
pacman -Qp
rpm -qp
dpkg -I
List the contents of a package file
pacman -Qpl
rpmls rpm -qpl
dpkg -c
rpm -qpl
Install local package file, e.g. app.rpm and uses the installation sources to resolve dependencies
pacman -U
dnf install
apt install
zypper in
emerge
Updates package(s) with local packages and uses the installation sources to resolve dependencies
pacman -U
dnf upgrade
debi
emerge
Add a local package to the local package cache mostly for debugging purposes.
cp package-filename /var/cache/pacman/pkg/
apt-cache add package-filename
n/a
cp package-filename /usr/portage/distfiles
Extract a package
tar -xvf
rpm2cpio | cpio -vid
dpkg-deb -x
rpm2cpio | cpio -vid
tar -jxvf
Install/Remove packages to satisfy build-dependencies. Uses information in the source package
Use ABS and makepkg -seoc
dnf builddep
apt-get build-dep
zypper si -d
emerge -o
Display the source package to the given package name(s)
dnf repoquery -s
apt-cache showsrc
n/a
Download the corresponding source package(s) to the given package name(s)
Use ABS and makepkg -o
dnf download —source
apt-get source or debcheckout
zypper source-install
emerge —fetchonly
Build a package
makepkg -s
rpmbuild -ba (normal) or mock (in chroot)
debuild
rpmbuild -ba , then build, and then osc build
ebuild or quickpkg
Check for possible packaging issues
namcap (requires namcap )
rpmlint
lintian
rpmlint
repoman
Log file rotation
By default, Arch Linux does not rotate pacman.log . See, for example, FS#11272 and FS#20428#comment66480. This is in contrast to the default policy of most other Linux distributions. Some distributions, notably Gentoo, hardly write log files by default.