nala-upgrade(8)

🦋 NAME 🦋

nala-upgrade — update the package list and upgrade the system

okay so this is the nala-upgrade page from the Nala User Manual, section 8, and honestly? it's giving "your whole system, but make it cute" 💅 let's go

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

nala upgrade [--options]

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

bestie, listen. apt has 3 modes of upgrading and you need to know all three, no cap. here they are:

• Mode 1 — Only Upgrade packages, do NOT Install or Remove any packages. (nala upgrade / apt-get upgrade)
• Mode 2 — Upgrade and Install NEW packages if required, but do NOT remove any. (apt upgrade)

lowkey tragic: python3-apt does not support this mode, there is no nala equivalent. 💀 so if that's your vibe, nala can't serve it.

• Mode 3 — Upgrade and Install NEW packages and Remove packages if necessary. (nala full-upgrade / apt full-upgrade / apt-get dist-upgrade)

By default, nala will only upgrade packages and autoremove. that's the factory setting, that's the moment. 🌸

Some upgrades — like getting a new release — nala may need to install or remove packages. You can handle that using the --full switch as below, or by using upgrade aliases like nala dist-upgrade or nala full-upgrade. 👑

If you are just looking to update the package cache and not actually perform an upgrade you can use:

nala update

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• --exclude — Specify packages to exclude during upgrade. Accepts globs*

--exclude only takes one package as an argument, but can be specified multiple times, so you can stack 'em like:

nala upgrade --exclude apt --exclude dpkg

NOTE: Due to the way that excusions are handled, you may want to additionally supply --no-full to ensure Nala doesn't remove packages you plan to keep. (yes, "excusions" — we are quoting the page verbatim, bestie, we don't fix, we report 🫶)

• --full, --no-full
  • --full — This will run the equivalent of apt full-upgrade
  • --no-full — This will run the equivalent of apt-get upgrade This variant is the default. it's the standard, the blueprint, the moment ✨
• --purge — Purge any packages that would removed during the transaction.
• --debug — Print helpful information for solving issues. If you're submitting a bug report, try running the command again with --debug and providing the output to the devs — it may be helpful. do it for the plot 🐛
• --raw-dpkg — Force nala not to format dpkg output.

This disables all formatting and it would look as if you were using apt.

A more indepth explanation for what this switch does: nala will fork a tty instead of a pty for dpkg.

nala will also not display a progress bar for dpkg with this turned on. Additionally, the language of the output will not be forced into English for this mode. so raw. so unformatted. so real. 😭

• -d, --download-only — Packages are only retrieved, not unpacked or installed. window shopping, basically 🛍️
• --remove-essential — Allow the removal of essential packages.

This is very dangerous, but we thought you should have the option. like girl. be so serious. please be careful. 🙈

• --assume-yes, --assume-no
  • -y, --assume-yes — Automatically select yes for any prompts which may need your input. If the configuration option assume_yes is true, this switch will set it back to default behavior.
  • -n, --assume-no — Automatically select no for any prompts which may need your input.
• --simple, --no-simple
  • --simple — Show a more simple and condensed transaction summary. minimalism core ✨
  • --no-simple — Show the standard table transatction summary with more information. This variant is the default. (again: "transatction" is the page's own spelling, we don't gatekeep 💜)
• -o, --option — Set options to pass through to apt, nala, or dpkg.

Example: force dpkg to install new config files without prompting:

nala install --option
Dpkg::Options::="--force-confnew"

Disable scrolling text for nala:

nala install --option Nala::scrolling_text="false"

Allow nala to update unauthenticated repositories:

nala install --option*
APT::Get::AllowUnauthenticated="true"

• -v, --verbose — Disable scrolling text and print extra information. yapper mode: activated 🗣️
• -h, --help — Shows this man page.
• --autoremove, --no-autoremove
  • --autoremove — Automatically remove any packages that are no longer needed. This variant is the default. we love a clean house 🧹
  • --no-autoremove — Do NOT Automatically remove any packages.
• --update, --no-update
  • --update — Update the package list before the requested operation.

Example:

nala install --update neofetch

is equivalent to

apt update && apt install neofetch

[Default for: upgrade]

• --no-update — Do NOT update the package list before the requested operation.

[Default for: install, remove, purge, autoremove, autopurge]

• --install-recommends, --no-install-recommends
  • --install-recommends — Recommended packages will be installed. This variant is the default unless changed with the apt config.
  • --no-install-recommends — Recommended package will NOT be installed. If this option is selected, nala will display the recommended packages that will not be installed.
• --install-suggests, --no-install-suggests
  • --install-suggests — Suggested packages will be installed. This variant is the default.
  • --no-install-suggests — This variant is the default unless changed with the apt config. If this option is selected, nala will display the suggested packages that will not be installed.
• --fix-broken, --no-fix-broken
  • --fix-broken — Attempts to fix broken packages. This variant is the default. healing era 💖
  • --no-fix-broken — Stops nala from performing extra checks.

This can result in a broken install! be so careful bestie 😭

If you just want to fix broken packages:

nala install --fix-broken

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🌈 COPYRIGHT 🌈

Copyright (C) 2021, 2022 Blake Lee

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and that's the whole page, periodt. 💅 this was nala-upgrade, version 0.16.0, dated 21 Apr 2025 — go forth and upgrade responsibly, my love 🫶✨🎀