Re: [tlug] Synaptic 17,316 Packages

[Edward Middleton <edward@example.com>]

Alain Hoang wrote:
> Edward Middleton wrote:
>   
>> Lyle H Saxon wrote:  
>>     
>>> I'm wondering if there is a list of all the packages, along with a description of each?   
>>>       
>> I use dselect on debian.  Is that available on ubuntu.  
>>     
> Huh?  How does dselect get you a *text file* with a short description of all the packages?
Yes that was poor quoting on my part.
> It's merely a frontend package manager tool that outputs to the console.  While it is true it gives you a listing of packages, it is NOT a text file and you have to learn the dselect interface (yuck) to be able to navigate.
dselect worked for me though system memory failure and resulting file
system corruption,  That was some time ago but I couldn't say the same
for any of the other interfaces at the time.
> Although, learning how to use dselect might not be a bad thing but I've found 'apt-get' and 'apt-cache search' to be more efficient once you get enough buzzwords into your personal jargon.
>   
Agreed apt-{get,cache}are great but I presume if he is asking for a text
file with package names he doesn't know the buzzwords.

You are probably better to stick with apt-get as Alan suggested and look at
http://packages.ubuntu.com/
to find package names

Edward