--- name: "apt-mark" section: "8" platform: "linux" package: "apt" version: "3.3.5-1" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/apt-mark" --- # apt-mark(8) show, set and unset various settings for a package ## NAME apt-mark - show, set and unset various settings for a package ## SYNOPSIS **apt-mark** {**-f=***filename* \| {auto \| manual} *pkg*... \| {showauto \| showmanual} \[*pkg*...\] } \| {-v \| --version} \| {-h \| --help} **apt-mark** {hold \| unhold \| install \| remove \| purge} *pkg*... \| {showhold \| showinstall \| showremove \| showpurge} \[*pkg*...\] ## DESCRIPTION **apt-mark** can be used as a unified front-end to set various settings for a package, such as marking a package as being automatically/manually installed or changing **dpkg** selections such as hold, install, deinstall and purge which are respected e.g. by **apt-get dselect-upgrade** or **aptitude**. ## AUTOMATICALLY AND MANUALLY INSTALLED PACKAGES When you request that a package is installed, and as a result other packages are installed to satisfy its dependencies, the dependencies are marked as being automatically installed, while the package you installed explicitly is marked as manually installed. Once an automatically installed package is no longer depended on by any manually installed package it is considered no longer needed and e.g. **apt-get** or **aptitude** will at least suggest removing them. **auto** auto is used to mark a package as being automatically installed, which will cause the package to be removed when no more manually installed packages depend on this package. **manual** manual is used to mark a package as being manually installed, which will prevent the package from being automatically removed if no other packages depend on it. **minimize-manual** minimize-manual is used to mark (transitive) dependencies of metapackages as automatically installed. This can be used after an installation for example, to minimize the number of manually installed packages; or continuously on systems managed by system configuration metapackages. **showauto** showauto is used to print a list of automatically installed packages with each package on a new line. All automatically installed packages will be listed if no package is given. If packages are given only those which are automatically installed will be shown. **showmanual** showmanual can be used in the same way as showauto except that it will print a list of manually installed packages instead. ### Options **-f=***filename*, **--file=***filename* Read/Write package stats from the filename given with the parameter *filename* instead of from the default location, which is extended\_states in the directory defined by the Configuration Item: Dir::State. ## PREVENT CHANGES FOR A PACKAGE **hold** hold is used to mark a package as held back, which will prevent the package from being automatically installed, upgraded or removed. **unhold** unhold is used to cancel a previously set hold on a package to allow all actions again. **showhold** showhold is used to print a list of packages on hold in the same way as for the other show commands. ## SCHEDULE PACKAGES FOR INSTALL, REMOVE AND PURGE Some front-ends like **apt-get dselect-upgrade** can be used to apply previously scheduled changes to the install state of packages. Such changes can be scheduled with the **install**, **remove** (also known as **deinstall**) and **purge** commands. Packages with a specific selection can be displayed with **showinstall**, **showremove** and **showpurge** respectively. More information about these so called dpkg selections can be found in [**dpkg**(1)](/dpkg/1.md). ## OPTIONS - **-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)](/apt.conf/5.md) 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)](/apt/8.md) behave like the 2.x series. The default value is the current APT version for [**apt**(8)](/apt/8.md) 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)](/apt/8.md) 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)](/apt.conf/5.md) for information on that. ## FILES /var/lib/apt/extended\_states Status list of auto-installed packages. Configuration Item: Dir::State::extended\_states. ## SEE ALSO [**apt-get**(8)](/apt-get/8.md), [**aptitude**(8)](/aptitude/8.md), [**apt.conf**(5)](/apt.conf/5.md) ## DIAGNOSTICS **apt-mark** returns zero on normal operation, non-zero on error. ## BUGS **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)](/reportbug/1.md) command. ## AUTHORS **Mike O'Connor** **APT team** ## NOTES - 1\. APT bug page https://bugs.debian.org/src:apt