apter

apter is a lightweight, noise-free helper and porcelain tool for the apt, apt-get, and dpkg infrastructure on Debian and Ubuntu-derived Linux distributions (such as Linux Mint).

It focuses on providing a clean, fast, UNIX-style CLI experience without the clutter, verbose metadata, and localized string variations of raw APT utilities.

---

Key Features

• Noise-Free Anchored Search: apter search anchors search queries to primary package names and versioned variants (e.g. clang returns clang and clang-19, filtering out clangd or libclang-dev). Supports unanchored search (-a) when desired.
• Shell Glob Expansion: Native shell glob pattern matching (*, ?, [...]) across matching commands (info, search, what).
• Clean Package Info: apter info strips technical hashes, maintainers, and build metadata, showing only plain-text descriptions alongside Installed vs Candidate versions.
• World File Package Tracking: apter install and apter remove require exact package names (no wildcards) and track your explicitly installed software in ${XDG_STATE_HOME:-~/.local/state}/apter_world.log (or ~/.apter_world.log).
• Curbed, Deterministic Output: Installation and removal operations force LC_ALL=C -q=2 and stream-filter output to highlight installation/configuration actions without walls of technical status text.
• File Ownership & Contents: Instantly find which package installed a command or file (apter who), or list files installed by a package (apter what).
• Clean History Timeline: Parses /var/log/apt/history.log into an easy-to-read chronological timeline.

---

Installation

apter is a single, self-contained Bash script with no external dependencies beyond standard Debian/Ubuntu core utilities (apt-get, apt-cache, dpkg-query, bash, awk, sed).

git clone https://github.com/.../apter.git
cd apter
chmod +x apter
sudo cp apter /usr/local/bin/

---

Command Reference

apter search [options] <query>

Searches the package index. Anchored by default to prevent package clutter.

apter search clang               # Search for 'clang' and versioned variants (clang-14..clang-20)
apter search 'clang-*'           # Search using shell glob pattern matching
apter search -a vim              # Broad search across names and descriptions

apter info <package|glob...>

Displays clean description and version status (Installed vs Candidate).

apter info clang                 # Info for clang package
apter info 'clang-1?'            # Info for all matching glob packages (clang-14..clang-19)

apter install [apt-options] <package...>

Installs exact packages and records them in your world file. Wildcards disallowed.

apter install sl htop            # Install packages and track in world file
apter install -y neovim          # Pass options directly to apt-get

apter remove [apt-options] <package...>

Removes exact packages and prunes them from your world file.

apter remove sl                  # Uninstall package and remove from world file
apter purge sl                   # Uninstall package and purge configuration files

apter world

Lists all packages tracked in the world log file (apter_world.log), formatted into columns.

apter world                      # Show tracked packages in world log

apter update

Quietly updates the APT package index.

apter update

apter upgrade [apt-options]

Displays a clean summary of upgradable packages (Installed -> Candidate) before prompting to upgrade.

apter upgrade

apter orphans [options]

Lists or cleans unneeded auto-installed dependency packages.

apter orphans                    # List orphaned dependency packages
apter orphans --clean            # Cleanly remove orphaned packages (or 'apter autoremove')

apter who <file|command...>

Finds which package installed a given file or binary command.

apter who /usr/bin/gcc           # Returns package 'gcc'
apter who bash                   # Resolves command in $PATH and returns package 'bash'

apter what <package|glob...>

Lists all files installed by specified package(s). Supports shell glob patterns.

apter what adduser               # List files installed by adduser
apter what 'gcc-*'               # List files installed by matching installed packages

apter history [options]

Displays a clean timeline of past package operations from /var/log/apt/history.log.

apter history                    # Show last 10 package operations
apter history -n 5               # Show last 5 package operations

---

License

Dedicated to the public domain under the CC0 1.0 Universal License.