The following table shows a comparison of the most important and most used commands for package/software management in SuSE and Debian/Ubuntu systems.
The yum command is available on Enterprise Linux (such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RockyLinux, Almalinux, Oracle Linux and others) systems. Since EL8, the dnf command replaces the yum command.
The zypper command is available on SuSE systems.
The apt and related commands are available on Debian and Debian-based systems including Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Knoppix, and a lot more.
| Purpose | yum (and dnf) command |
zypper command |
apt command |
| Search a package |
yum search "pkgname" dnf search "pkgname" (newer) |
zypper se "pkgname" |
apt-cache search "pkgname" apt search "pkgname" (newer) |
| Install a package |
yum install "pkgname" dnf install "pkgname" |
zypper in "pkgname" |
apt-get install "pkgname" apt install "pkgname" (newer) |
| Update package list from repositories |
tbv |
zypper refresh | apt-get update apt update (newer) |
| Update all packages |
yum update dnf update |
zypper update | apt-get upgrade apt upgrade (newer) |
| Upgrade all packages to a new major version |
yum update dnf update |
zypper dist-upgrade | apt-get dist-upgrade apt dist-upgrade (newer) |
| Update a single package |
yum install "pkgname" dnf install "pkgname" |
zypper update "pkgname" | apt-get install "pkgname" apt install "pkgname" (newer) |
| Downgrade a single package |
yum downgrade "pkgname-versiontag" dnf downgrade "pkgname-versiontag" |
tbv |
apt-get install "pkgname=versiontag" apt install "pkgname=versiontag" |
| Show packages with updates |
yum check-update dnf check-update |
zypper list-updates | apt-show-versions -u |
| Re-Install a package |
yum reinstall "pkgname" dnf reinstall "pkgname" |
tbv |
apt-get install --reinstall "pkgname" |
| Uninstall/remove a package | yum remove "pkgname" dnf remove "pkgname" |
zypper remove "pkgname" | apt-get remove "pkgname" apt remove "pkgname" |
| Remove unused packages | yum autoremove dnf autoremove |
tbv |
apt-get autoremove apt autoremove |
| Show all packages found in repo(s) | yum list dnf list |
zypper packages | apt-cache pkgnames |
| Show all versions of a package in repo(s) |
dnf list "pkgname" --showduplicates |
tbv |
apt-cache show "pkgname" | grep "^Version" |
| Show description of a package | yum info "pkgname" dnf info "pkgname" |
zypper info "pkgname" | apt-cache show "pkgname" apt show "pkgname" |
| Show dependencies of a package | yum deplist "pkgname" dnf deplist "pkgname" dnf repoquery --deplist "pkgname" |
tbv |
apt-cache depends "pkgname" apt depends "pkgname" |
| Show contents (files) of a package |
repoquery -l "pkgname" dnf repoquery -l "pkgname" |
tbv |
apt content "pkgname" |
| Purpose |
rpm command |
dpkg command |
| List installed packages | rpm -qa | dpkg -l |
| List content of installed package | rpm -ql "pkgname" |
dpkg -L "pkgname" |
| List content of package file | rpm -qlp "pkgname".rpm |
dpkg --contents "pkgname".deb |
| Install package | rpm -i "pkgname".rpm |
dpkg -i "pkgname".deb |
| Show to which package a file belongs |
rpm -qf /path/to/file |
dpkg -S /path/to/file |
| Simulate installation of package | rpm -i --test "pkgname".rpm |
dpkg -i --simulate "pkgname" |
| Update a package | rpm -U "pkgname".rpm |
N/A (use dpkg -i) |
| Uninstall/remove a package | rpm -e "pkgname" |
dpkg -r "pkgname" |
If you know additional zypper/apt/rpm/dpkg commands which are worth to be compared and mentioned here, please drop a comment.
Update June 14th, 2013: Added apt-get dist-upgrade to the table. This command allows to upgrade to a newer major software version (e.g. MySQL 5.0 -> 5.1). However it should be mentioned, that although this command exists in Debian, it is unlikely that it's going be used (except for a distribution upgrade, e.g. lenny -> squeeze). The reason for this is the "stable software version" mind of Debian. Ubuntu handles this approach differently and frequently adds newer major versions to their repositories.
Update July 10th, 2015: Added "list content" rpm and dpkg commands.
Update September 16th, 2015: Added "Simulate installation of package" rpm and dpkg commands.
Update March 13th, 2019: Added "apt" short commands.
Update May 31st, 2019: Added "Show to which package a file belongs".
Update September 24th, 2020: Added "Remove unused packages"
Update December 19th, 2023: Added yum and dnf commands
Update January 17th, 2024: Added "Show contents of a package"
Update March 5th, 2024: Added "Show all versions of a package in repo(s)"
anon from wrote on Jan 11th, 2014:
The zypper equivalent for a distribution upgrade (apt-get dist-upgrade) is "zypper dup". See https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:System_upgrade
The Arch wiki has a similar comparison of more tools:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman_rosetta
Alexander from Zürich wrote on Jun 12th, 2013:
Might be worth mentioning, that for Debian the "Update all packages" would rather be:
apt-get dist-upgrade
Because of the "all packages" there. Don't know how that compares to zypper.
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