Apt-get install -y

Question

When you run the commandsudo apt-get install -y Vivaldi Vivaldi being an example, but what does the

`-y`

Argument achieve?

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 11 '19 at 13:39

6

It basically stands for "yes", without it a prompt would appear before the download starts asking you if it is ok to install X and Y (maybe as dependencies) and occupy Z amounts of space. With the -y all answers default to yes and the installation procedes uninterrupted. I personally never use it because I want to know exactly what is being installed.

answered Jan 11 '19 at 13:39

dsSTORM

1,860

Well said. It's an important protection. Smart users read the output before agreeing to apt's proposal. – user535733 Jan 11 '19 at 13:49
@dsSTORM + others , perfect just the answer I was looking for, makes sense to not use this method if you want to know exactly what’s being installed, nice1 – Curiouskangaroo Jan 11 '19 at 13:59
Skipping prompts is more common in automated scripts which would otherwise hang indefinitely. – Arye Eidelman Aug 28 '19 at 23:56

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 11 '19 at 13:36

It means, that apt-get won't ask for confirmation, but assumes yes to all questions.

See man apt-get:

  -y, --yes, --assume-yes
       Automatic yes to prompts; assume "yes" as answer to all prompts and run non-interactively. If an undesirable situation, such as changing a held package, trying to install a unauthenticated
       package or removing an essential package occurs then apt-get will abort. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Assume-Yes.

Apt-get install -y

2 Answers2