Debian Package of the Day (static archived copy)

Entry submitted by Chris Lamb. DPOTD needs your help, please contribute !

Wajig is a simplified command line administrator for Debian written by Graham Williams.

It merges apt, apt-cache, dpkg and the start and stop scripts (among many, many others) into a single command, centralising typical Debian administration tasks and making commands easier to remember. Some commands are even overloaded to give them extra functionality.

For example, wajig install will accept the name of the package as an argument á la apt-get and aptitude:

$ wajig install lighttpd

But it will also accept a path to a local file:

$ wajig install ./lighttpd_1.4.13-9_i386.deb - install local package

Other useful commands that Wajig provides:

auto-download

Do an update followed by a download of all updated packages

bug

Check reported bugs in package using the Debian Bug Tacker

build

Retrieve/unpack sources and build .deb for the named packages

changelog

Retrieve latest changelog for the package

dependees

List of packages which depend on the specified package

installs

Install package and associated suggested packages

installr

Install package and associated recommended packages

installrs

Install package and recommended and suggested packages

install/dist

Install packages from specified distribution

large

List size of all large (>10MB) installed packages

last-update

Identify when an update was last performed

remove-depend

Remove package and those it depend on and not required by others

showdistupgrade

Trace the steps that a dist-upgrade would perform

showupgrade

Trace the steps that an upgrade would perform

start

stop

Start or stop a service

A full list is available from the Wajig homepage, and also running wajig list-commands.

Wajig is ideal for users who simply wish to administer their system with a minimal amount of fuss, but is perhaps even more useful for users wishing to learn more about Debian’s package system with a hands-on approach. For example, the --teaching/-t command line option toggles the display of the underlying commands being executed. Even power users may also find a use for Wajig when performing less common tasks, or when they are simply feeling lazy.

Wajig is run as a normal user, but will invoke sudo when necessary. Tab completion of commands inside a Bash shell is available too.

Wajig has been available for ages in both Debian and Ubuntu.