GNU/Linux Desktop Survival Guide by Graham Williams
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Wajig Overview

Wajig is designed to run in such a way as to suit the system it is running on and the policies of the system administrators. It can be run as a normal user, but once a privileged command is required it will use either su and ask for the root user's password, or else it can use sudo and rely on the normal user's password. It can also be run directly as root without any extra setup (i.e., without the need for sudo or regularly supplying passwords). Using sudo requires a little setting up as described below in Section 6.5.

Try the help command for a list of common commands provided by wajig:

  $ wajig help

Examples commands include:

  $ wajig update               (= dselect update)
  $ wajig install less         (= apt-get install less)
  $ wajig new                  (list new packages since last update)
  $ wajig newupgrades          (list packages upgraded since last update)
  $ wajig toupgrade            (list all packages to be upgraded) 
  $ wajig updatealts editor    (update the default "editor")
  $ wajig restart apache       (restart the apache daemon)
  $ wajig listfiles less       (list the files supplied by the "less" pkg)
  $ wajig whichpkg stdio.h     (what package supplies this header file)
  $ wajig whatis rats          (one line description of the package "rats")
  $ wajig orphans              (list libraries not required by other pkgs)

For a complete list of available commands increase the level of verbosity of the help command (or issue the command list-commands:

$ wajig -v help
All wajig commands:

 addcdrom       Add a CD-ROM to the list of available sources of packages
 auto-alts      Mark the alternative to be auto set (using set priorities)
 auto-clean     Remove superseded deb files from the download cache
 auto-download  Do an update followed by a download of all updated packages
 auto-install   Perform an install without asking questions (non-interactive)
 available      List versions of packages available for installation
 bug            Check reported bugs in package using the Debian Bug Tracker
 build          Retrieve/unpack sources and build .deb for the named packages
 build-depend   Retrieve packages required to build listed packages
 changelog      Retrieve latest changelog for the package
 clean          Remove all deb files from the download cache
 commands       List all the JIG commands and one line descriptions for each
 daily-upgrade  Perform an update then a dist-upgrade
 dependents     List of packages which depend/recommend/suggest the package
 describe       One line description of packages (-v and -vv for more detail)
 describe-new   One line description of new packages
 detail         Provide a detailed description of package (describe -vv)
 detail-new     Provide a detailed description of new packages (describe -vv)
 dist-upgrade   Upgrade to new distribution (installed and new rqd packages)
 docs           Equivalent to help with -verbose=2
 download       Download package files ready for an install
 file-download  Download packages listed in file ready for an install
 file-install   Install packages listed in a file
 file-remove    Remove packages listed in a file
 find-file      Search for a file within installed packages
 find-pkg       Search for an unofficial Debian package at apt-get.org
 fix-configure  Perform dpkg --configure -a (to fix interrupted configure)
 fix-install    Perform apt-get -f install (to fix broken dependencies)
 fix-missing    Perform apt-get --fix-missing upgrade
 force          Install packages and ignore file overwrites and depends
 help           Print documentation (detail depends on --verbose)
 hold           Place listed packages on hold so they are not upgraded
 init           Initialise or reset the JIG archive files
 install        Install (or upgrade) one or more packages or .deb files
 installr       Install package and associated recommended packages
 installrs      Install package and recommended and suggested packages
 installs       Install package and associated suggested packages
 install/dist   Install packages from specified distribution
 integrity      Check the integrity of installed packages (through checksums)
 large          List size of all large (>10MB) installed packages
 last-update    Identify when an update was last performed
 list           List the status and description of installed packages
 list-all       List a one line description of every known package
 list-alts      List the objects that can have alternatives configured
 list-cache     List the contents of the download cache
 list-commands  List all the JIG commands and one line descriptions for each
 list-daemons   List the daemons that JIG can start/stop/restart
 list-files     List the files that are supplied by the named package
 list-hold      List those packages on hold
 list-installed List packages (with optional argument substring) installed
 list-log       List the contents of the install/remove log file (filtered)
 list-names     List all known packages or those containing supplied string
 list-orphans   List libraries not required by any installed package
 list-scripts   List the control scripts of the package or deb file
 list-section   List packages that belong to a specific archive section
 list-section   List the sections that are available in the archive
 list-status    Same as list but only prints first two columns, not truncated
 list-wide      Same as list but avoids truncating package names
 local-dist-upgrade Dist-upgrade using packages already downloaded
 local-upgrade  Upgrade using packages already downloaded, but not any others
 move           Move packages in the download cache to a local Debian mirror
 new            List packages that became available since last update
 news           Obtain the latest news about the package
 new-upgrades   List packages newly available for upgrading
 non-free       List installed packages that do not meet the DFSG
 orphans        List libraries not required by any installed package
 package        Generate a .deb file for an installed package
 policy         From preferences file show priorities/policy (available)
 purge          Remove one or more packages and configuration files
 purge-depend   Purge package and those it depend on and not required by others
 purge-orphans  Purge orphaned libraries (not required by installed packages)
 readme         Display the package's README file from /usr/share/doc
 recursive      Download package and any it depends on
 recommended    Install package and associated recommended packages
 reconfigure    Reconfigure the named installed packages or run gkdebconf
 reinstall      Reinstall each of the named packages
 reload         Reload daemon configs, e.g., gdm, apache (see list-daemons)
 remove         Remove one or more packages (see also purge)
 remove-depend  Remove package and its dependees not required by others
 remove-orphans Remove orphaned libraries (not required by installed packages)
 repackage      Generate a .deb file for an installed package
 reset          Initialise or reset the JIG archive files
 restart        Stop then start a daemon, e.g., gdm, apache (see list-daemons)
 rpm2deb        Convert a RedHat .rpm file to a Debian .deb file
 rpminstall     Install a RedHat .rpm package
 rpmtodeb       Convert a RedHat .rpm file to a Debian .deb file
 search         Search for packages containing listed words
 search-apt     Find local Debian archives suitable for sources.list
 setup          Configure the sources.list file which locates Debian archives
 show           Provide a detailed description of package [same as detail]
 showdistupgrade Trace the steps that a dist-upgrade would perform
 showinstall    Trace the steps that an install would perform
 showremove     Trace the steps that a remove would perform
 showupgrade    Trace the steps that an upgrade would perform
 size           Print out the size (in K) of all, or listed, installed packages
 sizes          Print out the size (in K) of all, or listed, installed packages
 source         Retrieve and unpack sources for the named packages
 start          Start a daemon, e.g., gdm, apache (see list-daemons)
 status         Show the version and available version of packages
 status-match   Show the version and available version of matching packages
 status-search  Show the version and available version of matching packages
 stop           Stop a daemon, e.g., gdm, apache (see list-daemons)
 suggested      Install package and associated suggested packages
 tasksel        Run the Gnome task selector to install groups of packages
 toupgrade      List packages with newer versions available for upgrading
 unhold         Remove listed packages from hold so they are again upgraded
 unofficial     Search for an unofficial Debian package at apt-get.org
 update         Update the list of down-loadable packages
 update-alts    Update default alternative for things like x-window-manager
 upgrade        Upgrade all of the installed packages or just those listed
 versions       List version and distribution of (all) packages.
 whatis         A synonym for describe
 whichpkg       Find the package that supplies the given command or file 

Command line options:

 -h|--help      Print usage message. 
 -n|--noauth    Allow packages from unathenticated archives.
 -q|--quiet     Do system commands everything quietly. 
 -s|--simulate  Trace but don't execute the sequence of underlying commands. 
 -t|--teaching  Trace the sequence of commands performed. 
 -v|--verbose=n Increase (or set) the level of verbosity (to n). 
 -y|--yes       Assume yes for any questions asked.

Wajig expects a command and will call upon other Debian tools to perform the command. Commands can be in mixed case and with hyphens and underscores, and internally these are mapped to the one command. Thus, the commands `Install', `INSTALL', `install' and even `in-stall' are interpreted identically.