apt-suggest-auto(1)

✨ NAME ✨

apt-suggest-auto — identify packages safe to mark as automatically installed 💅

So this little legend lives in the General Commands Manual, section 1 (that's the user-commands section, iykyk). She's a command-line girlie whose whole job is sniffing out which of your packages are lowkey safe to flip over to "automatically installed". Let's get into it. 🎀

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

apt-suggest-auto [OPTIONS]

That's it. No positional args, no drama, just vibes and options. 🦋

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so here's the situation bestie. Over time, packages that got installed as dependencies of manually-installed packages just... stay marked as manual in the APT database. Forever. They're giving squatter energy. And the whole problem with that is it prevents their autoremoval when no longer needed — APT won't touch a package it thinks you personally hand-picked, even if literally nothing needs it anymore. 😭

Enter apt-suggest-auto. What she does is: she simulates the effect of marking each one as automatically installed and checks whether it would then become eligible for autoremoval. Basically a vibe check for every package on your system — "if I made you auto, would you get kicked out?" 🧚

Only packages that remain required by other installed packages get suggested for reclassification. So like, if it's still needed, it's safe to downgrade its status to auto; if it's not needed, it's not in scope. No cap.

Fun fact: she's a modern replacement for debfoster(8) and deborphan(1) — those two are the elders, she's the main character now. 👑

Default behaviour, and this part matters: the tool runs in simulation mode and makes no changes to the system. She's just telling you things. Nothing happens until you say so. 🌸

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

• --apply — Actually do the thing: apply the suggested changes by marking the identified packages as automatically installed. This one requires root privileges, so get your sudo ready. 💅
• -r, --raw — Output only the list of safely markable package names, one per line. Perfectly plain, perfectly scriptable. Suitable for use in scripts. 🤖
• -o KEY=VALUE, --apt-option KEY=VALUE — Set an APT configuration option. You can use this multiple times. ✨ Careful though: it must be specified before cache initialization takes effect, so put it early or it just won't count. 🙈
• -h, --help — Show the help message and exit. The classic. The icon. 🎀

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Simulate and display packages that can be safely marked as automatic:

apt-suggest-auto

Apply the changes, marking packages as automatically installed:

sudo apt-suggest-auto --apply

Get a plain list of markable packages for scripting:

apt-suggest-auto --raw

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

• apt-mark(8)
• apt(8)
• apt-get(8)

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! she's from the General Commands Manual, she's apt-suggest-auto(1), and that's the source line + version + date energy all wrapped up in one iconic footer. go forth and let your packages be auto. periodt. 💜✨