MX Linux Forum

Can I ask a silly question?

What is the difference between apt and apt-get?

I have always used apt-get in the past, does apt on it's own work?
for instance.. is what I use to update.

Key differences: apt vs. apt-get

The difference between apt and apt-get is not just that apt is a newer version of apt-get. The apt command was designed as a more user-friendly alternative to apt-get, combining the functionality of multiple package management tools for user convenience.

https://aws.amazon.com/compare/the-diff ... d-apt-get/

Use apt in terminal, use apt-get in scripts.

Very nice link that explains it well.

If this was what confused you: Yes, you can do it with apt-get, as you're used to:
:)

Also, as mentioned in that page apt has some advantages, say, rather than apt-cache blah blah you can simply:

Or... as mentioned, it's compatible, i.e. I always do this and suggest frequently on forum:
actually (technically / by syntax) it's wrong, cause it should be either:

... apt-get dist-upgrade

or

... apt full-upgrade

But it's already linked to full-upgrade and apt knows what you mean :)

Thank you for explaining :)

I'm just so used to typing apt-get, I don't think I can get used to apt :) :)

Ok.. I guess you're also used to &&

rather than ;

ok... no problem, you can use whichever you like :)

Or use "nala upgrade" which does both in one shot.

Is apt-get now just a shortcut to apt, in Debian Stable?

Charlie Brown wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2023 5:58 pm Ok.. I guess you're also used to &&

rather than ;

ok... no problem, you can use whichever you like :)

I have the same muscle memory effect...

asqwerth wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2023 7:59 pm Is apt-get now just a shortcut to apt, in Debian Stable?

No, it's not.

apt provides a high-level commandline interface for the package management system. It is intended as an end
user interface and enables some options better suited for interactive usage by default compared to more
specialized APT tools like apt-get(8) and apt-cache(8).

Being very not technically minded, I have no idea what this means

apt provides a high-level commandline interface for the package management system. It is intended as an end
user interface and enables some options better suited for interactive usage by default compared to more
specialized APT tools like apt-get(8) and apt-cache(8).

Spider, I have also long used apt-get as my core command for installations etc but I have after reading this thread and some other material on the subject, started to use sudo apt update or sudo apt upgrade instead of sudo apt-get. Essentially, I think the former is the more modern approach and as such it's probably better to embrace the modern :)

linexer2016 wrote: Wed Nov 15, 2023 3:48 am it's probably better to embrace the modern :)

If you really want to embrace the modern; use Nala.

Yes, Nala looks interesting enough. That said, it did worry me a little when I researched it and one post talked about AI. With all the machine learning controversies at present, I think I will stick to the slightly less modern and very tried and proven APT mechanisms. For more info on Nala see https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-use-nala-on-ubuntu/

sudo apt update

sudo apt install nala



Ok, ok , I know it's ootb on MX23 ...