deb-get

ID

deb-get

Link

Repository

Upstream stars

⭐ 1,761

Last commit

2026-09-20

Platforms

🐧 Linux

Operations

installed · outdated · search · install · upgrade · upgrade_all · remove · sync · cleanup

purl types

pkg:deb-get/

CLI name

deb-get

Issues and PRs

📦 manager: dpkg-based

Source

deb_get.py

deb-get installs third-party software on Debian and Ubuntu via .deb packages sourced from GitHub releases, direct URLs, and PPAs.

Note

deb-get wraps apt under the hood for actual package installation and removal, so all operations that modify the system require sudo.

What mpm adds to deb-get

Through mpm, deb-get gains --exact and --extended search, to narrow to exact names or match descriptions.

Bigger still, mpm reaches across every manager at once: mpm installed and mpm outdated cover deb-get alongside every other manager you run in one table, mpm upgrade --all updates them together, and mpm sbom exports the whole machine as one bill of materials.

Every mpm command also gains --dry-run and --plan previews, cross-scheme version comparison and purl identifiers. See manager augmentations for how each one is built.

Your deb-get commands, in mpm

You already know deb-get: each operation maps one-to-one onto mpm, in an interface shared by every manager.

To…	With deb-get	With mpm
List what’s installed	deb-get list --installed	mpm --deb-get installed
List outdated packages	sudo deb-get update	mpm --deb-get outdated
Search for a package	deb-get search zoom	mpm --deb-get search zoom
Install a package	sudo deb-get install ipscan	mpm install pkg:deb-get/ipscan
Upgrade one package	sudo deb-get install ipscan	mpm --deb-get upgrade ipscan
Upgrade everything	sudo deb-get upgrade	mpm --deb-get upgrade --all
Remove a package	sudo deb-get remove ipscan	mpm remove pkg:deb-get/ipscan
Clear caches	sudo deb-get clean	mpm --deb-get cleanup --cache

Prefix any command above with --dry-run to simulate the underlying manager calls without touching the system: the safe way to watch what mpm would do before trusting it.

Operations

Operation	Supported	Notes
installed	✅	The listing prints bare package names, with no version.
outdated	✅	Detection runs deb-get update, refreshing the index like a sync and escalating the same way.
orphans
search	✅	Results carry no version. Exact and extended search backfilled by mpm.
install	✅
upgrade	✅
upgrade_all	✅
remove	✅
sync	✅
cleanup	✅
doctor

Configuration

• Ignore deb-get on the mpm CLI by passing the --no-deb-get option.

• Ignore it for every run in your configuration:

  [mpm]
  deb-get = false
  

• Raise the timeout of all deb-get calls:

  [mpm.overrides.deb-get]
  timeout = 900
  

• Run mpm config-template deb-get to print all overridable settings for your configuration file:

  [mpm.overrides.deb-get]
  cli_names = [
      "deb-get",
  ]
  cli_search_path = []
  dry_run = false
  ignore_auto_updates = true
  plan = false
  post_args = []
  pre_args = []
  pre_cmds = []
  stop_on_error = false
  unmaintained = false
  version_cli_options = [
      "version",
  ]
  version_regexes = [
      "(?P<version>\\d+\\.\\d+\\.\\d+)",
  ]
  

Recipes

A few jobs you would otherwise script around deb-get, one mpm command each:

• Snapshot and clone a machine: mpm --deb-get dump deb-get.toml, then mpm restore deb-get.toml on the next one.

• Export a compliance SBOM: mpm --deb-get sbom (CycloneDX by default, --spdx for SPDX).

Privilege escalation

System-wide manager: mpm wraps its privileged operations in sudo out of the box. Instead of letting the tool prompt mid-run, mpm primes the credential cache up-front, with a single branded password prompt at most. Turn escalation off for rootless setups with --no-sudo or the per-manager sudo override.

Its privileged operations are cleanup, install, outdated, remove, sync, upgrade, upgrade_all.

See privilege escalation for the full policy.

Concurrency

mpm never runs deb-get at the same time as apt, apt-mint, aptitude, nala or pacstall: they all install through dpkg and serialize on its /var/lib/dpkg/lock. Each mutating operation waits for the previous one, even with a higher --jobs, while managers outside this group keep running in parallel.

Only mutations are held back. The read-only queries (installed, outdated, search) take no backend lock and stay fully concurrent.

Cooldown

State of deb-get’s release-age gating, from the cooldown support table:

Status: ❌ None

A cooldown only pays off where a compromised release can be withdrawn while the clock runs, and can only be emulated where the registry dates its releases. From the retraction table:

• Registry: Distro binary archives (pkg:deb, pkg:rpm, pkg:alpm, pkg:apk)

• Retraction: Index revert: removal is an archive operation and the mirror is rebuilt without the package. Debian, for one, requires filing an RM: bug against ftp.debian.org (developers-reference)

• Publish date: ❌ the version string is the distro maintainer’s build, carrying no upstream publication date

With --cooldown set, mpm skips this manager’s install and upgrade operations rather than run them unguarded (fail-closed); --cooldown best-effort opts back in.

Reference traces

A collection of raw native outputs captured from the manager’s own CLI and recorded in the manager source. If you know deb-get well and a transcript below looks wrong, or a newer release changed its output format, report it.

$ deb-get list --installed
activitywatch
anydesk
bitwarden
deb-get
freeplane
google-chrome-stable
ipscan
protonvpn
zoom

$ sudo deb-get update
Checking for updates to deb-get installed packages
  [+] ipscan (3.9.2) has an update pending. 3.9.3 is available.

Version check

The version is extracted from the output of deb-get version with:

r"(?P<version>\d+\.\d+\.\d+)"

Upstream project

Metrics	wimpysworld/deb-get
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Changelog

• 6.3.0 (2026-04-09)

  • Add deb-get package manager with installed, outdated, search, install, upgrade, remove, sync, and cleanup support. Closes #1609.