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 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.
| Function |
zypper command |
apt command |
| Search package | zypper se "pkgname" |
apt-cache search "pkgname" |
| Install package | zypper in "pkgname" |
apt-get install "pkgname" apt install "pkgname" (newer) |
| Update package list from repository | zypper refresh |
apt-get update apt update (newer) |
| Update all packages | zypper update |
apt-get upgrade |
| Upgrade all packages to new major version* | zypper dist-upgrade |
apt-get dist-upgrade apt dist-upgrade (newer) |
| Update a single package | zypper update "pkgname" |
apt-get upgrade "pkgname" apt upgrade "pkgname" or "install" should also update the package |
| Uninstall/remove a package | zypper remove "pkgname" |
apt-get remove "pkgname" apt remove "pkgname" |
| Remove unused packages | N/A |
apt-get autoremove apt autoremove (newer) |
| Show all packages found in repo(s) | zypper packages |
apt-cache pkgnames |
| Show updateable packages | zypper list-updates |
apt-show-versions -u |
| Show dependencies of a package | N/A |
apt-cache depends "pkgname" |
| Show description of a package | zypper info "pkgname" |
apt-cache show "pkgname" apt show "pkgname" (newer) |
| Function |
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"
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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