How can I find the name of a Package?

Question

I want to create links to software within Software Center using the APTURL - However, I'm not sure how to find out the true "package name". What is the easiest way to discover a package's name for use with the APTURL or apt-get command?

Answer 1

To create an APT link, open up Ubuntu Software Center ( Applications -> Ubuntu Software Center ), search for and find a package:

Now click Edit -> Copy Web Link or hit Shift+Ctrl+C:

You should now have an APT link in your clipboard, like this: http://apt.ubuntu.com/p/moovida

Answer 2

You can find the name of a package through the Ubuntu Software Center:

Once launched type the name of the software you wish to find the package name for in the top right search box.

Once you find the software you are looking for select "More Info"

At the bottom of the additional information page you'll find Version information which contains, in parentheses, the name of the package

This is the package name you'll want to use in either apt-get commands or in APTURL links. Also - as demonstrated in the above picture - the package names of available add-ons are listed in parentheses next to each respective add-on.

Answer 3

You can search for package names using the command line and the apt-cache command. For example, enter the following command to find out what the package name is for firefox

apt-cache search firefox

If you get a long list of results, you can view (pipe) the results in a viewer or a text file

apt-cache search firefox | less

apt-cache search firefox > ~/firefox-list.txt

The command apt-cache search searchstring performs a full text search over all the software sources registered on your Ubuntu system. It will search the package names and the descriptions for an occurrence of the searchstring and prints out the package name and the short description, including virtual package names.

if --names-only is given then the long description is not searched, only the package name is. This option usually gives a smaller set of results.

Answer 4

How about just using:

aptitude search <search_terms>

And then you will have some info to use.