dselect is a
computer program
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components.
A computer progra ...
used to manage
software packages in the
Debian
Debian (), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of De ...
operating system.
dselect is one of the oldest front-ends to
dpkg
dpkg is the software at the base of the package management system in the free operating system Debian and its numerous derivatives. dpkg is used to install, remove, and provide information about .deb packages.
dpkg (Debian Package) itself is a ...
, and the bulk of its development happened when it was originally written by
Ian Jackson, who wrote it alongside dpkg.
The work on dselect started in dpkg version 0.93.12, and the first alpha release of dselect was made on March 27, 1995 in version 0.93.32. dselect was distributed in the dpkg package until June 21, 2002; even after it was split out into its own package, it was kept as a pre-dependency of dpkg in order to assist upgrades. It has been a standalone package since March 3, 2005.
dselect has a text-mode user interface, a set of key bindings that is generally considered to be fairly non-intuitive, and its dependency resolution mechanism is suboptimal. dselect can now use
apt
Apt. is an abbreviation for apartment.
Apt may also refer to:
Places
* Apt Cathedral, a former cathedral, and national monument of France, in the town of Apt in Provence
* Apt, Vaucluse, a commune of the Vaucluse département of France
* A ...
as the back-end 'method' for installing packages.
Today, dselect is largely superseded by
Advanced Packaging Tool
Advanced package tool, or APT, is a free-software user interface that works with core libraries to handle the installation and removal of software on Debian, and Debian-based Linux distributions. APT simplifies the process of managing softwar ...
front-ends.
External links
The dselect documentation for beginners
{{Linux package management systems
Dpkg