Main Window

Overview

When you start Synaptic Package Manager, the following window is displayed.

Figure 1. Synaptic Package Manager Start Up Window


					Shows Synaptic Package Manager main window.

Table 1. Synaptic Package Manager Window Components

ComponentDescription
Menubar Contains menus that provide access to all functions of Synaptic Package Manager to you.
Toolbar Provides direct access to the main functions refresh, system upgrade, apply and find.
Package list Lists all known packages. The list can be narrowed down using filters.
Package details Provides information about a selected package.
Statusbar Displays the current status of Synaptic Package Manager.

Toolbar

The toolbar provides access to the main actions and a quick search for packages.

Figure 2.  Synaptic Package Manager toolbar


						Shows the toolbar of the Synaptic Package Manager main window
Actions
Refresh List

Queries all repositories and rebuild the list of known packages.

Upgrade System

Marks all available upgrades.

Apply

Applies all marked changes.

Find Field

Jump to the fist package in the package list whose name matches the entry.

Tip

For detailed instructions on the find field see the section called “ To Find Packages ”.

Package List

The package list shows all known packages by default. You can apply filters to narrow down the list of shown packages, see the section called “ Filters ”.

Figure 3. Package List


						Shows the package list in the Synaptic Package Manager main window.

To arrange the packages, you can choose the following modes from the View menu:

Table 2.  View Modes

View Description
Flat list Lists all packages non hierarchically.
Alphabetic tree Groups the packages by their initial name letter.
Section tree Groups the packages by their section, e.g. "admin", "base", "gnome", etc.
Status tree Groups the packages by their status, e.g. "installed", "not installed", "obsolete" etc.
Tag tree Debian only: Groups the packages by their tag. Tags are keywords provided by third parity. For further instructions and help see the documentation of dwww.

The column order and the used colours can be changed in the preferences.

Package Details

The package details area provides information about the selected package and also controls to modify the status, e.g. mark a package for installation.

Figure 4. Package Details


						Shows the package details area in the Synaptic Package Manager main window.

The notebook exists of the following tabs:

Table 3.  Tabs of the details notebook

Tab Description
Common Shows basic information of the package: name, short description, maintainer, status, priority, tags (if supported) and version.
Description Shows a long description of the package.
Dependencies Lists required, depending, provided, suggested and recommended packages.
Installed files Lists all installed files of the package.
Expert Allows to override the default version selection of Synaptic Package Manager.