DPKG (Debian Package)

dpkg is the software at the base of the package management system in the free operating system Debian and its numerous derivatives. While apt downloads packages from the internet and resolves dependencies, dpkg is the tool that actually installs, builds, removes, and manages Debian packages (.deb files) locally.

When to use DPKG?

You typically use dpkg when you have downloaded a .deb file directly from a vendor's website (like Google Chrome, Discord, or specific drivers) because it is not available in the official APT repositories.

Essential Commands

Installing a package

sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

Note: If dpkg fails due to missing dependencies, run sudo apt --fix-broken install immediately after to let APT download and fix the missing requirements.

Listing installed packages

dpkg -l | grep "chrome"

Removing a package

# Remove software but keep configs
sudo dpkg -r google-chrome-stable

# Purge software and configs
sudo dpkg -P google-chrome-stable

Viewing package contents

To see what files a .deb package will install without actually installing it:

dpkg -c package.deb