Thursday, December 09 2004 @ 11:41 PM EST Contributed by: glosser
Many people switch to Debian just for this one feature, it's called "apt-get" and it helps install software solving dependencies for you. Learn more about it, in this Linux.com tutorial.
If any single program defines the Debian Linux project, that program is apt-get. apt-get is Debian's main tool for installing and removing software. Working with the .deb package format, apt-get offers sophisticated package management that few Red Hat Package Manager RPM-based distributions can match.
Besides the convenience, an advantage of apt-get is that it reduces the chances of falling into dependency
hell, that limbo where software installation fails for lack of another piece of software, whose installation fails for lack of another piece of software, and so on. If you know how Debian's archive system works, and how to choose the sources that apt-get uses, and use a few precautions in your upgrades, then the chances are that dependency problems will never bedevil you. Should you descend into dependency hell anyway, apt-get offers useful tools for climbing out of it.
