Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Upgrading Software
In addition to installing and uninstalling packages,
apt
can be used to keep them up to date.
Upgrading a package through
apt
ensures that you've received the latest updates, bug ixes
and security patches.
Before trying to upgrade a package, make sure the
apt
cache is as fresh as possible by run-
ning an update:
sudo apt-get update
When upgrading software, you have two choices: you can upgrade everything on the system
at once or upgrade individual programs. If you just want to keep your distribution updated,
the former is achieved by typing the following:
sudo apt-get upgrade
To upgrade an individual package, simply tell
apt
to install it again. For example, to install a
thrust
upgrade, you would type this:
sudo apt-get install thrust
If the package is already installed,
apt
will treat it as an in-place upgrade. If you're already
running the latest version available,
apt
will simply tell you it cannot upgrade the software
and exit.
For more information on package management with
apt
—in particular, how certain packages
can be “kept back” and excluded from upgrades—type
man apt
at the terminal.
TIP
