TASKSEL(8)

📦
version 3.90 · 7 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 TASKSEL(8) 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to tasksel — the Debian-specific manual page (section 8, system administration, iykyk). she's a user interface for installing tasks and she is, frankly, iconic. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

tasksel — a user interface for installing tasks 🫶

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

tasksel install <task>
tasksel remove <task>
tasksel [options]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

tasksel shows all available tasks and lets you pick which ones to install. that's it, that's the whole vibe. she's literally just a little menu of tasks and you go "yes queen, install that one." 👑

🦋 OPTIONS 🦋

  • -t, --test — test mode baybee!! she does not actually install or remove any packages, she's just pretending for the plot. no cap, nothing happens to your system. 💀
  • --new-install — automatically selects some tasks without even displaying them to you (not me deciding things behind your back 🙈), defaults the other tasks to on, and yes she's used during new Debian installs. main character energy during setup fr fr.
  • --list-tasks — lists on stdout the tasks that would be displayed in the tasksel interface. so you get the menu without the menu. peek behind the curtain, bestie ✨
  • --task-packages task — lists on stdout the packages that are available and part of the given task.
note that this option may be given more than once. like, multiple times. go off, honestly. 🔥
  • --task-desc task — outputs the extended description of the given task. the lore. the backstory. 📖
  • --debconf-apt-progress options — passes the specified options to the debconf-apt-progress command that tasksel runs. hand-delivering your options straight to the source, we love a relay. 🏃‍♀️

🔍 SEE ALSO 🔍

dpkg(8), apt-get(8) — the other girls in the friend group, go say hi. 👯‍♀️

🍓 FILES 🍓

/usr/share/tasksel/descs/*.desc and /usr/local/share/tasksel/descs/*.desc are used to define tasks.

that's where the task list lives. that's the source of truth. respect her. 💜

👑 AUTHOR 👑

tasksel was written by Randolph Chung <tausq@debian.org> and Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org> — absolute legends, both of them, we stan. 🫶

⭐ HISTORY ⭐

This document first appeared with tasksel-1.0. she's been around. she's a veteran. lowkey a grandmother and highkey still slaying. 💅

version 3.90, dated 2026-08-11 — and that's the whole page bestie, mwah, go install a task, ily, bye!! 💖✨🦋🎀

📦 where this page comes from