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⇱ Debian's APT 3.1 Released With Why/Why-Not Commands, New Solver Default On Ubuntu - Phoronix


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Debian's APT 3.1 Released With Why/Why-Not Commands, New Solver Default On Ubuntu

Written by Michael Larabel in Debian on 19 May 2025 at 08:23 PM EDT. 43 Comments
Following the release earlier this year of the big APT 3.0 package manager tool release, APT 3.1 was tagged today as another step forward to this key tool on Debian-based Linux distributions.

APT 3.0 introduced a new package solver and on Ubuntu with APT 3.1 that new solver is now used by default. The "3.0 solver" is now deemed to be in good enough shape for using by default on Ubuntu Linux moving forward for the CLI tools.

👁 Apt 3.0 on Ubuntu


APT 3.1 also introduces the "apt why" and "apt why-not" sub-commands. These are fairly similar to the Aptitude commands and will produce a solver trace for indicating why a particular package management decision was taken. APT 3.1 also adds new "Include" and "Exclude" options for limiting the packages used from a particular repository.

APT 3.1 also adds HTTPS support to dselect and brings a variety of other bug fixes and enhancements. APT 3.1 is now available via Debian Experimental. More details on today's APT 3.1 release via tracker.debian.org.

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.