i'm using debian wheezy and i've read a lot online about apt-get and aptitude.
after reading those things i decided that i didn't need the extra functionality aptitude provides and that i would stick to apt-get.

however, after doing a small test, i'm not really sure about my decision
for the test i first tried "aptitude install wicd" and cancelled
then i did the same but with apt-get "apt-get install wicd"

i thought both instructions would do the exact same but that isn't true:
apt-get wanted to install wicd and use 52.7MB
aptitude wanted to install wicd and use 52.3MB (which is less)
so i looked further and saw that apt-get would only install wicd but that aptitude would install wicd AND remove libreadline5

not that my HDD isn't big enough but why does aptitude want to remove libreadline5 when installing wicd and apt-get doesn't?
and how is "aptitude install" different from "apt-get install"??

thanks in advance,
Pieter

May it be possible that libreadline5 is remnant from a former installation that is no longer needed? IIRC, aptitude automatically removes not longer needed dependencies, while you need the autoremove command to do the same with apt-get.
Since autoremove can be dangerous (do a web search for Debian meta-package problem) I would consider using apt-get to be more save.

apt-get requires you to explicitly autoremove if you so desire. I use apt-get myself (and never autoremove, since I have a large hard drive).

My experience with aptitude has been great. I have had no issues at all with it. It asks if it wants me to allow it to remove a package. I just make sure to read all that it is doing. Upgrades, installs, removes.

aptitude keep <individual package, temporary. Use hold for something permenant>
aptitude keep-all
aptitude hold <package>
aptitude unhold <package>

BTW: apt-get is more safe as mentioned already. Good to use until a person gets use to things better.

autoremove is pretty much automatic with aptitude while apt-get has to be told.

Aptitude user's manual - http://algebraicthunk.net/~dburrows/...titude/doc/en/
Basics of the Debian package management system - http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-pkg_basics.html
Debian package management : http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/de...e/ch02.en.html
Debian package management tools http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/de...gtools.en.html

Pick one and stick with it, personally I have always used apt-get.

I seem to be the oddball here :-) . I love aptitude. While autoremove is very much automatic as you said it still shows you what it is going to do before it does it.

I like this because many times it is telling me what packages I don't really need anymore. It is not always correct which makes the above commands I mentioned in my previous reply more important.

However, as mentioned, yes pick one only and stay with it. if apt-get works for you or anyone else, then that is all that matters. there is no right or wrong way of doing it. The great thing about linux is that there are so many choices and we have the freedom to choose what we want.

I wonder though. I can't be the only one who uses aptitude, am I? lol

I use aptitude all the time, but I never do aptitude install foo, I always open it as a curses program. That way, I can see the effects of every operation I do, and undo them before actually downloading/installing anything.