Synaptic Package Manager

Synaptic Package Manager is a graphical package management tool based on APT. It enables you to install, update and remove packages in a user friendly GUI. Synaptic serves as a graphical front-end to APT and makes the process of software management much easier, especially if you are not familiar with the command-line. Some of the features Synaptic offers are:

• install, remove, and upgrade packages.
• upgrade your whole system.
• search and filter the list of available packages.
• perform smart system upgrades.
• fix broken package dependencies.
• edit the list of used repositories (sources.list).

To install Synaptic in Ubuntu, use the sudo apt-get install synaptic command:

Once the installation completes, start the program and you should see the main application window:

To find a package you would like to install, enter the keyword in the search box:

Once you’ve found the package you would like to install, select the checkbox next to it and choose Mark for installation:

If the package requires the installation of other packages, choose Mark to install them as well:

Click on the Apply button to start the installation:

Review the changes and click Apply:

To remove a package, select it from the menu and choose Mark for Removal (choose the Mark for Complete Removal option if you want to remove configuration files associated with the package as well):

Click Apply to apply the changes.

To display information about an installed package, such as its dependencies, version, and description, select the package and click the Properties button:

This will open up a window with information about the installed package:

To keep your system up-to-date and upgrade all packages, first click the Reload button to reload the package information:

After the reload process finished, click the Mark all Upgrades button:

In the window that opens, click Mark to mark all additional required changes:

Click Appy to apply the changes.