Master deb-get: A Powerful APT-Style Manager for DEB Packages

Published Apr 13, 2023, 1:30 PM EDT

David is a freelance writer with a background in print journalism, and a love of Free and Open Source Software. He has been using Linux since the early 2000s, and is a regular contributor to Linux Format magazine in the UK. He runs a range of sites and services from a Raspberry Pi perched precariously atop his living room couch, and never passes up a chance to take a stray edX course to better his understanding of technology, humanity, and other, related matters.

David is a terrible guitar player, and he spends his free time touring the British Isles, off-grid, with his caravan and dogs. Occasionally, he writes books. No-one likes them. See what he's up to at davidrutland.com

One of the joys of using Debian and Ubuntu-based distros is the Advanced Package Tool (APT) which helps you to quickly search for packages online, then install, update, or remove them with a single command.

Another way of installing packages is using DEB files. You can find these on random sites across the internet, and to update them you need to re-download and install the newest version.

deb-get is a tool that aims to replicate APT functionality. You can use it to search dedicated DEB repositories and install, update, and remove software—just like APT.

APT Is the Gold Standard Package Manager for Debian-Based Distros

When you're first getting to grips with Debian or Ubuntu, APT is an amazing tool. By default, you'll be able to install thousands of Canonical-supported FOSS packages from the main repository, as well as tens of thousands of community-supported FOSS projects from the Universe repository.

Installing a package, along with all its dependencies is as simple as opening a terminal, and entering:

sudo apt-get install package-name

You're not restricted to these two repositories either. There's also the Restricted repository, which contains officially supported non-free software such as drivers and codec, and the Multiverse repository, which contains software that is neither free nor officially supported.

As if that wasn't enough, it's simple to add third-party Personal Package Archives (PPAs) and use APT to install software from them.

If the repository names above confuse you, you need to learn more about the different types of software repositories available on Ubuntu.

Why Install Software Using DEB Packages?

As awesome as the APT tool is, it does have some drawbacks. Software isn't always packaged in this way—meaning that apps you want may be missing, and packages in the repositories aren't always up to date.

If you're searching through GitHub for cool and interesting projects to try out on your Debian or Ubuntu system, you'll often find that the tool you want to test is available only as a bunch of binaries on a releases page.

Sometimes developers won't even bother posting their DEB files to GitHub, pinning them instead to a personal website on a private server. This can be problematic if you want to stay with the most current version.

But installing DEB files means you need to keep an eye on the READMEs and direct download pages where you found the file. It's tedious, and something you'll barely ever do unless you have to.

deb-get gives you the functionality of apt-get, meaning that you'll never have to worry about installing or updating your DEBs again!

How to Install deb-get on Linux

As you don't yet have deb-get installed, you can't use it to install itself. Instead, use the curl command and pipe the installation script to Bash.

First, install curl with:

sudo apt install curl

Now run the following command to install deb-get:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wimpysworld/deb-get/main/deb-get | sudo -E bash -s install deb-get

Use deb-get to Keep Up to Date With the Latest DEB Releases

If you're familiar with APT, you'll be at home with deb-get.

The first thing you should do is update the list of installed and available software in the repositories using:

deb-get update

To search for a particular package or app, use:

deb-get search packagename

For instance, if you want to find the excellent Lutris PC games manager for Linux, you would enter:

deb-get search lutris

Having found the package you want, install it with:

sudo deb-get install packagename

deb-get will fetch and install the package and its dependencies.

Install as much software as you like, then resynchronize it with:

deb-get update

If there's installed software that needs to be upgraded, use the upgrade command:

sudo deb-get upgrade 

You can reinstall individual packages with:

sudo deb-get reinstall packagename

There are many more deb-get commands available. Check them out in the deb-get usage documentation.

deb-get Makes It Easy to Install and Update DEB Binaries on Ubuntu

It's great to be able to install DEB packages on Ubuntu without having to worry that you're using an old or out-of-date version.

There are plenty of other ways to install software on Linux including compiling from source, Flatpaks, snaps, or AppImages.