NAME Linux::APT - Interface with APT for Debian distributions DESCRIPTION Perl interface to "apt-get" and "apt-cache". If Debian's "aptpkg" modules were on CPAN, this module (probably) wouldn't be necessary. This is just a wrapper around the "apt" tools along with some regular expression magic to capture interesting pieces of information/warnings/errors in the process. It doesn't do *everything* that is possible, but it should fill the most typical needs. Features will be added on request or my own need. Please file a wishlist bug report on the CPAN bug tracker with your feature requests. All (or almost all?) features require root privileges. If you can use "sudo" to provide this functionality, see "new" to see how to do this. It's not ready for production use, but you're welcome to give it a try. *Please* file bug reports if you come across any problems/bugs/etc. Patches are always welcomed, of course. EXAMPLE my $apt = Linux::APT->new; my $update = $apt->update; my $toupgrade = $apt->toupgrade; my $upgraded = $apt->install(keys(%{$toupgrade->{packages}})); METHODS new my $apt = Linux::APT->new; # only if you _really_ want to see what's going on... my $apt = Linux::APT->new(debug => 1); # if you want to use an alternate apt-get/apt-cache binary my $apt = Linux::APT->new( aptget => '/some/path/to/apt-get', aptcache => '/some/path/to/apt-cache', ); # if you have special needs (like sudo, etc) my $apt = Linux::APT->new( aptget => '/usr/bin/sudo /some/path/to/apt-get -s', # sudo and no-act aptcache => '/usr/bin/sudo /some/path/to/apt-cache', # sudo ); Creates an instance of Linux::APT, just like you would expect. If you have special needs for only one function (install maybe?), make a separate instance with your special needs (flags, sudo, etc) and use that instance for your special need. If your special need can't be accommodated via the "aptget" option above, let me know and I'll attempt to implement whatever it is that you need within the module or make your special need a bit more "accessible" to you. File a bug report on the CPAN bug tracker. Patches welcome, of course. Arguments available: debug Set to 1 to enable, defaults to 0. aptget Specify the "apt-get" binary to use along with any special flags or command line tricks (sudo, chroot, fakeroot, etc). Defaults to `which apt-get`. aptcache Specify the "apt-cache" binary to use along with any special flags or command line tricks (sudo, chroot, fakeroot, etc). Defaults to `which apt-cache`. update my $update = $apt->update; warn "There were errors...\n" if $update->{error}; warn "There were warnings...\n" if $update->{warning}; Update apt cache. Basically equivalent to "apt-get update". Returns hashref containing these items: error Arrayref of errors. warning Arrayref of warnings. speed Network transfer speed of update. time Wallclock time it took to update. size Amount of received transferred during update. toupgrade my $toupgrade = $apt->toupgrade; Returns hashref of packages, errors, and warnings: warning Warnings, if any. error Errors, if any. packages Contains a hashref of updateable packages. Keys are package names. Each update is a hashref containing these items: current Currently installed version. new Version to be installed. search my $search = $apt->search('^t\w+d$', 'perl'); my $search = $apt->search({in => ['all']}, '^t\w+d$', 'perl'); # 'all' is default my $search = $apt->search({in=>['name', 'description']}, 'linux[\s-]image', 'linux[\s-]source', 'linux kernel image'); my $search = $apt->search({in => ['description']}, 'linux kernel source'); Requires one or more search arguments in regex format. Optional options as first argument in hashref format. Return a hashref of packages that match the regex search. packages Multiple searches can be specified. Each search is a hash key then broken down by each matching package name and it's summary. install # install or upgrade the specified packages (and all deps) my $install = $apt->install('nautilus', 'libcups2', 'rhythmbox'); # just a dry run my $install = $apt->install('-test', 'nautilus', 'libcups2', 'rhythmbox'); # upgrade all upgradable packages with a name containing "pulseaudio" (and all deps) my $toupgrade = $apt->toupgrade; my $install = $apt->install(grep(m/pulseaudio/i, keys(%{$toupgrade->{packages}}))); Install a list of packages. If the packages are already installed, they will be upgraded if an upgrade is available. Pass in these optional options: -force If you wish to force an update (eg: "WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!"), pass "-force" as one of your arguments (same effect as "apt-get --force-yes install $packages"). -test If you just want to know what packages would be installed/upgraded/removed, pass "-test" as one of your arguments. No actions will actually take place, only the actions that would have been performed will be captured. This is useful when you want to ensure some bad thing doesn't happen on accident (like removing "apache2-mpm-worker" when you install "php5") or to allow you to present the proposed changes to the user via a user interface (GUI, webapp, etc). Returns hashref of packages, errors, and warnings: warning Warnings, if any. error Errors, if any. packages Contains a hashref of installed/upgraded packages. Keys are package names. Each item is a hashref containing these items: current Currently installed version (after install/upgrade attempt). This version is found via an experimental technique and might fail (though it has yet to fail for me). Let me know if you find a bug or have a problem with this value. new Version to be installed. If "new == current", the action seems to have succeeded. old Version that was installed before the upgrade was performed. If "old == current", the action seems to have failed. remove my $removed = $apt->remove('php5', 'php5-common'); # just a dry run my $removed = $apt->remove('-test', 'php5', 'php5-common'); Remove a list of packages. Arguments are the exact same as "install". Returns the exact same as "install". purge my $removed = $apt->purge('php5', 'php5-common'); # just a dry run my $removed = $apt->purge('-test', 'php5', 'php5-common'); Purge a list of packages. Arguments are the exact same as "install". Returns the exact same as "install". TODO (update this todo list...) Add functions to modify the "sources.list". Add "dist-upgrade" functionality. Add function to show version(s) of currently installed specified package(s). Determine other necessary features. (please use the CPAN bug tracker to request features) BUGS/WISHLIST REPORT BUGS! Report any bugs to the CPAN bug tracker. Bug reports are adored. To wishlist something, use the CPAN bug tracker (set as wishlist). I'd be happy to implement useful functionality in this module on request. PARTICIPATION I'd be very, very happy to accept patches in diff format. Or... If you wish to hack on this code, please fork the git repository found at: If you have some goodness to push back to that repository, just use the "pull request" button on the github site or let me know where to pull from. THANKS Nicholas DeClario Patch to provide initial search function for version 0.02. COPYRIGHT/LICENSE Copyright 2009 Megagram. You can use any one of these licenses: Perl Artistic, GPL (version >= 2), BSD. Perl Artistic License Read it at . This is the license we prefer. GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 2 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ See the full license at . GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 3 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ See the full license at . BSD License Copyright (c) 2009 Megagram. All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. * Neither the name of Megagram nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. 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