apt-config - Man Page

apt-config [--empty] [--format '%f "%v";%n'] [-o=config_string] [-c=config_file] {shell | dump | {-v | --version} | {-h | --help}}

apt-config is an internal program used by various portions of the APT suite to provide consistent configurability​. It accesses the main configuration file /etc/apt/apt​.conf in a manner that is easy to use for scripted applications​.

Unless the -h, or --help option is given, one of the commands below must be present​.

shell

shell is used to access the configuration information from a shell script​. It is given pairs of arguments, the first being a shell variable and the second the configuration value to query​. As output it lists shell assignment commands for each value present​. In a shell script it should be used as follows:

OPTS="-f"
RES=`apt-config shell OPTS MyApp::options`
eval $RES

This will set the shell environment variable $OPTS to the value of MyApp::options with a default of -f​.

The configuration item may be postfixed with a /[fdbi]​. f returns file names, d returns directories, b returns true or false and i returns an integer​. Each of the returns is normalized and verified internally​.

dump

Just show the contents of the configuration space​.

All command line options may be set using the configuration file, the descriptions indicate the configuration option to set​. For boolean options you can override the config file by using something like -f-,--no-f, -f=no or several other variations​.

--empty

Include options which have an empty value​. This is the default, so use --no-empty to remove them from the output​.

--format '%f "%v";%n'

Defines the output of each config option​. %t will be replaced with its individual name, %f with its full hierarchical name and %v with its value​. Use uppercase letters and special characters in the value will be encoded to ensure that it can e​.g​. be safely used in a quoted-string as defined by RFC822​. Additionally %n will be replaced by a newline, and %N by a tab​. A % can be printed by using %%​.

-h,  --help

Show a short usage summary​.

-v,  --version

Show the program version​.

--audit

Show audit (and notice) messages​. This overrides the quiet option, but only for notice messages, not progress ones​.

-c,  --config-file

Configuration File; Specify a configuration file to use​. The program will read the default configuration file and then this configuration file​. If configuration settings need to be set before the default configuration files are parsed specify a file with the APT_CONFIG environment variable​. See apt.conf(5) for syntax information​.

-o,  --option

Set a Configuration Option; This will set an arbitrary configuration option​. The syntax is -o Foo::Bar=bar​. -o and --option can be used multiple times to set different options​.

--cli-version

Requests a specific CLI version​. This is a pattern that takes a MAJOR​.MINOR version​. You may omit the MINOR version, in which case the latest supported minor level will be used​.

Version tracks are presented as follows: The version 3​.2 has equivalent versions 0​.32, 1​.22, and 2​.12, implementing new features for their specified major versions​.

A special case is the X​.9 version pattern: A version like 2​.9 is followed by 3​.0, but 2​.10 follows directly on 2​.8; given that we use odd version numbers as development series (2​.9 is the 3​.0 development series)​.

This feature has been introduced in APT 3​.1​.10, and replaces the binary-specific configuration​. You may use the APT::Version to similar effect on older binaries, for example, use -o APT::Version=2 to make apt(8) behave like the 2​.x series​.

The default value is the current APT version for apt(8) and 0​.(10 * major + minor) for the classic commands​. The 0​.X series is soft-deprecated and the other commands will roll over to the 2​.x series in the future​.

--no-color,  --color

Turn colors on or off​. Colors are on by default on supported terminals for apt(8) and can also be disabled using the NO_COLOR or APT_NO_COLOR environment variables, or further configured by the APT::Color configuration option and scope, see apt.conf(5) for information on that​.

apt.conf(5)

apt-config returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error​.

APT bug page​^[1]​. If you wish to report a bug in APT, please see /usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting​.txt or the reportbug(1) command​.

Jason Gunthorpe

APT team

1.

APT bug page
https://bugs.debian.org/src:apt

apt(8), apt.conf(5), apt-get(8).