How to use DPKG commands in Linux

Author : Piyush Gupta

DPKG is the main package management program in Debian and Debian based System. It is used to install, build, remove, and manage packages. Aptitude is the primary front-end to dpkg.

Some the most commonly used dpkg commands along with their usages are listed in below table:

COMMAND DETAILS	DPKG COMMAND
Install a package	dpkg -i {file.deb}
Update package	dpkg -i {file.deb}
Remove an installed package	dpkg -r {package}
List all installed packages	dpkg -l
List files in an installed package	dpkg -L {package}
Show information about installed package	dpkg -p {package}
Show information about package file	dpkg -I {file.deb}
List files in a package file	dpkg -c {file.deb}

Example:

For installing packages on debian based system we use dpkg (Debian Package Management System) command.

sudo dpkg -i package.deb

Installing Package:

To install a Google chrome from a deabian package file (google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb) use -i command line switch.

$ sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb

Removing Package:

In case if we need to remove any package use -r command line switch with package name.

$ sudo dpkg -r google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb