I have a fresh install of Lubuntu and would like to install packages from a given list, without having to type sudo apt-get install package_name. Is it possible?
I'm not talking about the post-install scripts, that is something entirely different.
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syntagma
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possible duplicate of How do I make post-install scripts? – Alvar Oct 26 '14 at 09:08
3 Answers
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If you have file (say pkglist) which contains list of packages to be installed like:
pkg1
pkg2
pkg3
or
pkg1 pkg2 pkg3
Then you can install those packages with apt by any of the following commands:
sudo apt-get install $(cat pkglist)xargs sudo apt-get install < pkglistfor i in $(cat pkglist); do sudo apt-get install $i; done
3rd one is recommended as it does work even if some pkgs are not found in the repository whereas 1st two would fail to install the available packages as addressed in this comment
For more information on apt-get install visit man apt-get install section.
Pandya
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5If you want this to install along any requirements you'll have to do
xargs sudo apt-get -y install < pkglist– Emanuel Ey Apr 13 '16 at 17:31 -
2+1 If you list one package per line, the file must use Unix line endings or apt-get will fail. – rath Sep 09 '18 at 12:52
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You can also pass the filename directly to xargs with the -a or --arg-file option:
xargs -a pkglist sudo apt install. – Ryan Dec 30 '18 at 15:48 -
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sudo apt-get install -y $(cat pkglist)andxargs -a pkglist sudo apt-get install -yare not reliable. Evidence: Let the content ofpkglistbeidnotexist sbcl definitelynot. Neither of the one-liners above will install sbcl. – John Smith Jan 01 '24 at 12:19 -
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@Pandya, I think it would be nice to add that the line endings in the “pkglist” file should be in UNIX format. For EditorConfig users this is resolved by adding
end_of_line = lf. This is important to add because in case of non-UNIX line endings the user receives an uninformative error messageE: Unable to locate packageand may not understand what the problem is. Thanks. – Саша Черных Jan 09 '24 at 07:48 -
I’m using the command
sudo apt install $(egrep --invert-match "^(#|$)" pkglist). It allows adding single-line comments starting with#(for example,# This is my Comment) and blank lines to the “pkglist” file. Thanks. – Саша Черных Jan 09 '24 at 08:07 -
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Yep, just list all packages in a line separated by a space. e.g.
sudo apt-get install package_name1 package_name2 package_name3 package_name4
Sparhawk
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Thanks, how can I stop apt-get from asking me Y/n questions whether I really want to install the package? – syntagma Oct 26 '14 at 09:13
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3Add the
-yoption. It's pretty long, but you can readman apt-getfor more information. – Sparhawk Oct 26 '14 at 09:13
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Put all the package names into a file (one package name for each line). And then run the below command to install the given packages automatically.
while read -r line; do sudo apt-get -y install "$line"; done < /path/to/the/packages/file
Example:
$ cat file
vlc
firefox
$ while read -r line; do sudo apt-get install "$line"; done < file
[sudo] password for avinash:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
vlc is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 499 not upgraded.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Suggested packages:
ttf-lyx
The following packages will be upgraded:
firefox
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 498 not upgraded.
Need to get 35.8 MB of archives.
After this operation, 24.3 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://ftp.cuhk.edu.hk/pub/Linux/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main firefox amd64 33.0+build2-0ubuntu0.14.04.1 [35.8 MB]
0% [1 firefox 67.0 kB/35.8 MB 0%] 10.4 kB/s 57min 16s^
Avinash Raj
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1Wouldn't this be a lot slower than just putting the packages on one line, as it has to read package lists and build dependency trees, etc. for each package, rather than doing it once? – Sparhawk Oct 27 '14 at 00:22