dselect(1)

📦
version 1.23.7ubuntu2 · 17 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

🎀 NAME 🎀

okay bestie, meet dselect — the Debian package management frontend 💖 and yes, this is the dselect(1) manual page from the dpkg suite. She's iconic, periodt 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

dselect [option...] [command...]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

dselect is one of the primary user interfaces for managing packages on a Debian system. At the dselect main menu, the system administrator can:

  • Update the list of available package versions,
  • View the status of installed and available packages,
  • Alter package selections and manage dependencies,
  • Install new packages or upgrade to newer versions.

dselect operates as a front-end to dpkg(1), the low-level Debian package handling tool. It features a full-screen package selections manager with package depends and conflicts resolver. When run with administrator privileges, packages can be installed, upgraded and removed. Various access methods can be configured to retrieve available package version information and installable packages from package repositories. Depending on the used access method, these repositories can be public archive servers on the internet, local archive servers or media discs. The recommended access method is apt, which is provided by the package apt(8). no cap ✨

Normally dselect is invoked without parameters. An interactive menu is presented, offering the user a list of commands. If a command is given as argument, then that command is started immediately. Several command line parameters are still available to modify the running behaviour of dselect or show additional information about the program. lowkey it's giving menu energy 🫶

🌈 OPTIONS 🌈

All options can be specified both on the command line and in the dselect configuration file /etc/dpkg/dselect.cfg or the files on the configuration directory /etc/dpkg/dselect.cfg.d/. Each line in the configuration file is either an option (exactly the same as the command line option but without leading hyphens) or a comment (if it starts with a #). iykyk 💖

  • --admindir directory — Changes the directory where the dpkg status, available and similar files are located. Defaults to /var/lib/dpkg if DPKG_ADMINDIR has not been set.
  • --instdir directory — Set the installation directory, which refers to the directory where packages get installed (since dpkg 1.21.2). Defaults to «/» if DPKG_ROOT has not been set.
  • --root directory — Set the root directory to directory, which sets the installation directory to «directory» and the administrative directory to «directory/var/lib/dpkg» (since dpkg 1.21.0).
  • -Dfile, --debug file — Turn on debugging. Debugging information is sent to file.
  • --expert — Turns on expert mode, i.e. doesn't display possibly annoying help messages. main character energy 😌
  • --color screenpart:[foreground],[background][:attr[+attr]...], --colour screenpart:[foreground],[background][:attr[+attr]...] — Configures screen colors. This works only if your display supports colors. This option may be used multiple times (and is best used in dselect.cfg). Each use changes the color (and optionally, other attributes) of one part of the screen. The parts of the screen (from top to bottom) are:
    • title — The screen title.
    • listhead — The header line above the list of packages.
    • list — The scrolling list of packages (and also some help text).
    • listsel — The selected item in the list.
    • pkgstate — In the list of packages, the text indicating the current state of each package.
    • pkgstatesel — In the list of packages, the text indicating the current state of the currently selected package.
    • infohead — The header line that displays the state of the currently selected package.
    • infodesc — The package's short description.
    • info — Used to display package info such as the package's description.
    • infofoot — The last line of the screen when selecting packages.
    • query — Used to display query lines.
    • helpscreen — Color of help screens.

After the part of the screen comes a colon and the color specification. You can specify either the foreground color, the background color, or both, overriding the compiled-in colors. Use standard curses color names. slay 🌈

Optionally, after the color specification is another colon, and an attribute specification. This is a list of one or more attributes, separated by plus (+) characters. Available attributes include (not all of these will work on all terminals): normal, standout, underline, reverse, blink, bright, dim, bold.

  • -?, --help — Print a brief help text and exit successfully. ate 💚
  • --version — Print version information and exit successfully. obsessed 🎀

👑 COMMANDS 👑

When dselect is started it can perform the following commands, either directly if it was specified on the command line or by prompting the user with a menu of available commands if running interactively: vibe check ✨

🌀 access 🌀

Choose and configure an access method to access package repositories.

By default, dselect provides several methods such as media, file or ftp, but other packages may provide additional methods, for example the apt access method provided by the apt(8) package.

The use of the apt access method is strongly recommended. fr fr 💅

🔄 update 🔄

Refresh the available packages database.

Retrieves a list of available package versions from the package repository, configured for the current access method, and update the dpkg database. The package lists are commonly provided by the repository as files named Packages or Packages.gz. These files can be generated by repository maintainers, using the program dpkg-scanpackages(1).

Details of the update command depend on the access method's implementation. Normally the process is straightforward and requires no user interaction. no cap 🦋

🎯 select 🎯

View or manage package selections and dependencies.

This is the main function of dselect. In the select screen, the user can review a list of all available and installed packages. When run with administrator privileges, it is also possible to interactively change packages selection state. dselect tracks the implications of these changes to other depending or conflicting packages. main character energy fr fr 👑

When a conflict or failed depends is detected, a dependency resolution subscreen is prompted to the user. In this screen, a list of conflicting or depending packages is shown, and for each package listed, the reason for its listing is shown. The user may apply the suggestions proposed by dselect, override them, or back out all the changes, including the ones that created the unresolved depends or conflicts.

The use of the interactive package selections management screen is explained in more detail below. not me reading ahead 🙈

📦 install 📦

Installs selected packages.

The configured access method will fetch installable or upgradable packages from the relevant repositories and install these using dpkg. Depending on the implementation of the access method, all packages can be prefetched before installation, or fetched when needed. Some access methods may also remove packages that were marked for removal. let's go 🔥

If an error occurred during install, it is usually advisable to run install again. In most cases, the problems will disappear or be solved. If problems persist or the installation performed was incorrect, please investigate into the causes and circumstances, and file a bug in the Debian bug tracking system. Instructions on how to do this can be found at <https://bugs.debian.org/> or by reading the documentation for bug(1) or reportbug(1), if these are installed. important bestie 🫶

Details of the install command depend on the access method's implementation. The user's attention and input may be required during installation, configuration or removal of packages. This depends on the maintainer scripts in the package. Some packages make use of the debconf(1) library, allowing for more flexible or even automated installation setups. the way that works ✨

⚙️ config ⚙️

Configures any previously installed, but not fully configured packages. tidy up queen 💅

🗑️ remove 🗑️

Removes or purges installed packages, that are marked for removal.

🚪 quit 🚪

Quit dselect.

Exits the program with zero (successful) error code. bye bestie 👋

👑 PACKAGE SELECTIONS MANAGEMENT 👑

💖 Introduction 💖

okay so real talk bestie: dselect straight up throws you, the administrator, into some of the messiest parts of managing huge piles of packages with a truly unhinged amount of interdependencies. if you're new to the concepts and the ways of the Debian package management system, it can be a lot. like, genuinely overwhelming. even though dselect is aimed at making package management and administration easier, it's only instrumental in doing that — it is not a stand-in for actual administrator skill and understanding, fr fr. you're required to be familiar with the concepts underlying the Debian packaging system. in case of doubt, go read the dpkg(1) manual page and the distribution policy. no cap.

unless dselect is run in expert or immediate mode, a help screen pops up first when you choose this command from the menu. strongly advised: study all the info in the online help screens whenever one pops up. and you can summon the online help screens at any time with the ? key. 💅

🦋 Screen layout 🦋

the select screen is by default split into a top half and a bottom half. the top half shows a list of packages. a cursor bar can select an individual package, or a group of packages if applicable, by selecting the group header. the bottom half shows some details about the package currently selected up top. the type of detail shown can be varied. ✨

pressing the I key toggles between a full-screen display of the packages list, an enlarged view of the package details, or the equally split screen. icon behavior honestly.

🌸 Package details view 🌸

the package details view by default shows the extended package description for the package currently selected in the packages status list. you can toggle the type of detail by pressing i. it alternates between:

  • the extended description
  • the control information for the installed version
  • the control information for the available version

in a dependency resolution screen, there's also the possibility of viewing the specific unresolved depends or conflicts related to the package and causing it to be listed. 👀

🎀 Packages status list 🎀

the main select screen displays a list of all packages known to the Debian package management system. this includes packages installed on the system and packages known from the available packages database.

for every package, the list shows the package's status, priority, section, installed and available architecture, installed and available versions, the package name and its short description — all in one line. slay, dense.

  • press A to toggle the display of the installed and available architecture on and off.
  • press V to toggle the display of the installed and available version on and off.
  • press v to toggle the package status display between verbose and shorthand. shorthand is the default.

the shorthand status indication consists of four parts: an error flag (which should normally be clear), the current status, the last selection state, and the current selection state. the first two relate to the actual state of the package; the second pair are about the selections set by the user.

these are the meanings of the shorthand package status indicator codes:

Error flag:

  • empty — no error
  • R — serious error, needs reinstallation;

Installed state:

  • empty — not installed;
  • * — fully installed and configured;
  • - — not installed but some config files may remain;
  • U — unpacked but not yet configured;
  • C — half-configured (an error happened);
  • I — half-installed (an error happened).

Current and requested selections:

  • * — marked for installation or upgrade;
  • - — marked for removal, configuration files remain;
  • = — on hold: package will not be processed at all;
  • _ — marked for purge, also remove configuration;
  • n — package is new and has yet to be marked.

🧚 Cursor and screen movement 🧚

the package selection list and the dependency conflict resolution screens can be navigated using motion commands mapped to the following keys:

  • p, Up, k — move cursor bar up
  • n, Down, j — move cursor bar down
  • P, Pgup, Backspace — scroll list 1 page up
  • N, Pgdn, Space — scroll list 1 page down
  • ^p — scroll list 1 line up
  • ^n — scroll list 1 line down
  • t, Home — jump to top of list
  • e, End — jump to end of list
  • u — scroll info 1 page up
  • d — scroll info 1 page down
  • ^u — scroll info 1 line up
  • ^d — scroll info 1 line down
  • B, Left-arrow — pan display 1/3 screen left
  • F, Right-arrow — pan display 1/3 screen right
  • ^b — pan display 1 character left
  • ^f — pan display 1 character right

🍓 Searching and sorting 🍓

the list of packages can be searched by package name. you do this by pressing / and typing a simple search string. the string is interpreted as a regex(7) regular expression. if you add /d to the search expression, dselect will also search in descriptions. if you add /i, the search becomes case insensitive. you may combine these two suffixes like this: /id. repeated searching is accomplished by repeatedly pressing the n or \ keys, until the wanted package is found. if the search reaches the bottom of the list, it wraps to the top and continues searching from there. 🔥

the list sort order can be varied by pressing the o and O keys repeatedly. the following nine sort orderings can be selected:

  1. alphabet
  2. priority+section
  3. section+priority
  4. available
  5. available+priority
  6. available+section
  7. status
  8. status+priority
  9. status+section

where not listed above explicitly, alphabetic order is used as the final subordering sort key.

💜 Altering selections 💜

the requested selection state of individual packages may be altered with the following commands:

  • +, Insert — install or upgrade
  • =, H — hold in present state and version
  • :, G — unhold: upgrade or leave uninstalled
  • -, Delete — remove, but leave configuration
  • _ — remove & purge configuration

when the change request results in one or more unsatisfied depends or conflicts, dselect prompts the user with a dependency resolution screen. this will be further explained below. 🙈

it's also possible to apply these commands to groups of package selections, by pointing the cursor bar onto a group header. the exact grouping of packages depends on the current list ordering settings.

⚠️ proper care should be taken when altering large groups of selections, because this can instantaneously create large numbers of unresolved depends or conflicts, all of which will be listed in ONE dependency resolution screen, making them very hard to handle. in practice, only hold and unhold operations are useful when applied to groups.

🌈 Resolving depends and conflicts 🌈

when the change request results in one or more unsatisfied depends or conflicts, dselect prompts the user with a dependency resolution screen. first, though, an informative help screen is displayed.

the top half of this screen lists all the packages that will have unresolved depends or conflicts as a result of the requested change, plus all the packages whose installation can resolve any of these depends or whose removal can resolve any of the conflicts. the bottom half defaults to showing the depends or conflicts that cause the currently selected package to be listed.

when the sublist of packages is displayed initially, dselect may have already set the requested selection status of some of the listed packages, in order to resolve the depends or conflicts that caused the dependency resolution screen to be displayed. usually, it's best to follow up the suggestions made by dselect. 🫶

the listed packages' selection state may be reverted to the original settings — as they were before the unresolved depends or conflicts were created — by pressing R. by pressing D, the automatic suggestions are reset, but the change that caused the dependency resolution screen to be prompted is kept as requested. and finally, by pressing U, the selections are again set to the automatic suggestion values. ✨

⭐ Establishing the requested selections ⭐

by pressing enter, the currently displayed set of selections is accepted. if dselect detects no unresolved depends as a result of the requested selections, the new selections will be set. however, if there are any unresolved depends, dselect will again prompt the user with a dependency resolution screen.

to alter a set of selections that creates unresolved depends or conflicts and force dselect to accept it, press Q. this sets the selections as specified by the user, unconditionally. generally, don't do this unless you've read the fine print. 💀

the opposite effect — backing out any selections change requests and going back to the previous list of selections — is attained by pressing the X or escape keys. by repeatedly pressing these keys, any possibly detrimental changes to the requested package selections can be backed out completely to the last established settings.

if you mistakenly establish some settings and wish to revert all the selections to what is currently installed on the system, press C. this is somewhat similar to using the unhold command on all packages, but provides a more obvious panic button for cases where the user pressed enter by accident. 😭

💅 EXIT STATUS 💅

  • 0 — The requested command was successfully performed.
  • 2 — Fatal or unrecoverable error due to invalid command-line usage, or interactions with the system, such as accesses to the database, memory allocations, etc.

🌱 ENVIRONMENT 🌱

  • DPKG_ROOT — If set and the --instdir or --root options have not been specified, it will be used as the filesystem root directory (since dpkg 1.21.0).
  • DPKG_ADMINDIR — If set and the --admindir or --root option have not been specified, it will be used as the dpkg database directory (since dpkg 1.21.0).
  • HOME — If set, dselect will use it as the directory from which to read the user specific configuration file.

💀 BUGS 💀

okay bestie, gather round, we need to talk. 🫶 this is the part where we're brutally honest, and ngl it's a lot.

  • the dselect package selection interface is confusing to some new users. and when we say "some", we mean… yeah. 😭 reportedly, it even makes seasoned kernel developers cry. grown adults. kernel maintainers. tears. we don't make the rules, we just report them 💀
  • the documentation is lacking. that's it. that's the bug. 🙈
  • there is no help option in the main menu. not one. you're on your own in there, girl, godspeed 🧚
  • the visible list of available packages cannot be reduced. you get what you get and you don't throw a fit, apparently ✨
  • the built in access methods can no longer stand up to current quality standards. this is the big one. the actual fix is: use the access method provided by apt(8). it is not only not broken, it is also much more flexible than the built in access methods. like, it's not even close. the built ins are giving 1998 and apt is giving main character energy 👑
fr fr, if you're still rawdogging the built in access methods: stop. apt(8) has the access method you want and it actually works. this is not a vibe, this is a warning 🚨

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

go read these, they're the supporting cast and they ate:

and that's the whole entire page, bestie!! 🥳 you made it to the end, which honestly makes you stronger than some kernel devs we could name 😭 this was dselect(1) at version 1.23.7, dated 2026-09-16 — slay, go forth, and maybe just use apt 💅💜

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