[Bug 1148012] Re: apt-get install * gives some not existing packages

[David Kalnischkies]

Theoretically
apt-get remove ".*:*"
(quotes so your shell isn't trying to expand it) would remove every package from your system.
apt-get install ".*"
on the other hand would install every available package (in the "best" architecture) on your system.

(apt-get uses regex, not globbing)

Both is only theoretical as you can't remove all packages from your
system as your system is just a big group of packages and whatever you
do you can't instruct a system to eradicate itself. With the command
above apt-get will try, but will fail along the way while trying to
remove packages it needs to remove packages …

On the other hand you can't install all packages as some of them do not
play nice with each other (and therefore conflict with each other).
Different mail-transport-agents (exim4, postfix, …) are a good example
for this. Beside, given the enormous size of the archive nowadays even
an install of all packages which could be co-installed is barely
useable. (An APT developer used to have an image with ~ 20.000 packages
installed just to get an idea of how APT and other components would
behave … fun to play with, but nothing you want to have in production.)

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1148012

Title:
  apt-get install * gives some not existing packages

Status in “apt” package in Ubuntu:
  Incomplete

Bug description:
  when i type sudo apt-get install *

  i get an result that my subfolders of my home folder doesnt exist.
  like documents and pictures

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