How do I find packages to install via apt-get

Solution 1:

I always use packages.ubuntu.com

Also you can use apt-cache search for command-line searching. Or you can use the GUI package manager (Ubuntu Software Center / Synaptic) for searching software.

Solution 2:

If you search for "nvidia settings".

apt-cache search nvidia settings

The output is:

nvidia-settings - Werkzeug für die Konfiguration des NVIDIA-Grafiktreibers
nvidia-settings-updates - Tool of configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver

You see 2 packages nvidia-settings and nvidia-settings-updates.

To find the related binary to the package nvidia-settings.

dpkg -L nvidia-settings | grep bin

The output is:

/usr/bin
/usr/lib/nvidia-settings/bin
/usr/lib/nvidia-settings/bin/nvidia-settings

nvidia-settings is the binary name to start the program.

Solution 3:

With binaries in particular there is an application that is automatically run if you run a command that is not installed. For example,

$ bonnie++
The program 'bonnie++' is currently not installed.  You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install bonnie++

Other than that, there are searches: apt-cache search <query> or aptitude search <query> which can be preferable if you want to get really involved with filters.

Solution 4:

You can try the program 'aptitude' from the command line. It is a graphical package manager. Remember to append sudo to the program to do any real installations. 'sudo aptitude'. You can also use aptitude just like apt-get; "sudo aptitude install". I prefer apt-get for single packages that I know the names for.

Also, are you just on a command line? If you have a desktop you can use System -> Preferences -Synaptic, or the Ubuntu Software Center. They function nearly the same however they have a simpler package search.