What is the difference between apt and dpkg?

Question

This is probably a dumb question--I'm pretty new to Linux, so I apologize in advance.

Doing some research for a gestures app, I discovered libinput-gestures. This Medium article suggests that it is compatible with Ubuntu 20.04. I know that I had installed something similar, and now I want to check if that was the one I had installed. With that background, I did some investigating into how to check if packages are installed. I found apt list --installed and dpkg --list. I know that if I filter down to apt list --installed | grep lib I do see a couple of lib-type packages, as does dkpg --list | grep libinput.

My question is twofold--what are these two package managers used for (clearly they serve different purposes, but Zanna's answer here suggests that the two operate together in some capacity), and how do I know where to search for a package like libinput-gestures?

Does this website answer your question? You can search for APT there as well. https://linux.die.net/man/1/dpkg — Raffles, Jul 12 '20 at 22:02
Do your searching in apt (See https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/104592/what-is-the-difference-between-apt-get-and-dpkg for why). Note that nobody has packaged libinput-gestures for Debian/Ubuntu, so you WILL find the dependencies, but you WON'T find a package by that name. Neither apt nor dpkg install random github files. — user535733, Jul 12 '20 at 22:13
The most significant difference from a user POV is probably that apt (and apt-get) automatically take care of package dependencies. See for example Do Dpkg and apt-get install dependencies? — steeldriver, Jul 12 '20 at 22:19
Does this answer your question? What is the difference between dpkg and aptitude/apt-get? — Ajay, Jul 13 '20 at 02:39
@Ajay That definitely answers my question about how dpkg and apt act in tandem, thanks. The follow-up question is, if apt essentially manages packages the same way dpkg does, and does it better in a way, then why do I see different packages when I run apt list vs. dpkg --list? — Yehuda, Jul 13 '20 at 13:16

user535733 · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-13T13:40:58.817

The question "What is the difference between apt and dpkg?" is a duplicate of https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/104592/what-is-the-difference-between-apt-get-and-dpkg.

Short answer: They do different jobs, and work together. Most of your interaction will be with apt.
Your REAL question seems to be "How do I install libinput-gestures?"

Answer: You follow the install instructions at https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures

Nobody has packaged libinput-gestures for Debian/Ubuntu, so you will find the dependencies in the Ubuntu repositories and installable by apt, but you WON'T find a package by that name.

Neither apt nor dpkg install random github files.

What is the difference between apt and dpkg?

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