Basic Linux Admin Tasks (Debian/Ubuntu)

How do I...

Become root?

Best way is to log in as yourself and type "sudo tcsh". (Or some other shell of your choice.) It'll ask for a password, use your regular login password. If that still doesn't work, contact your supervisor or group's CSCF Research Point of Contact.

See if a package is installed?

Try: dpkg -l "*PKGNAME*" (that's a lower case L option, not the digit One)

Install a piece of software?

Best way is to become root, then run apt-get update to update the list of possible packages. After, you can search for Debian package names with apt-cache search foo. Once you have a package name, try apt-get install packagename.

Update my install?

Try apt-get update followed by apt-get upgrade to upgrade currently installed packages.

If you want to get all of the recommended packages for a complete distribution upgrade, do apt-get dist-upgrade or apt-get -f dist-upgrade to fix any dependency problems.

Find out what package "owns" a file?

Do dpkg -S /path/to/file.

Use a CD for Package updating?

• you need a debian packages CD
• as root:

    apt-cdrom add
    apt-get update
    apt-get [upgrade|install|dist-upgrade]

What should my =/etc/apt/sources.list file look like?

• Debian: UwDebianMirror
• Ubuntu: MirroringUbuntu

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