# Need for aptitude to perform apt upgrades?

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/need-for-aptitude-to-perform-apt-upgrades/18602>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [June 25, 2015, 8:36am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/need-for-aptitude-to-perform-apt-upgrades/18602 "2015-06-25T08:36:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Phyks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/35a633/32.png) [@Phyks](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Phyks)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 8:36am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/need-for-aptitude-to-perform-apt-upgrades/18602/1 "2015-06-25T08:36:15Z")

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Hi,

It seems that aptitude is needed by the apt module to handle apt upgrades. Is there any way to cut this dependency?

Thanks

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**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/need-for-aptitude-to-perform-apt-upgrades/18602/2 "2015-06-26T16:40:44Z")

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I would be open to a patch for the module to use an alternative if it  
is not present.

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**Author:** ![Phyks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/35a633/32.png) [@Phyks](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Phyks)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/need-for-aptitude-to-perform-apt-upgrades/18602/3 "2015-06-27T20:24:01Z")

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There is no strict alternative in apt. The closest would be `apt-get  
upgrade` which does not install or remove dependencies. See  
[https://askubuntu.com/questions/117088/aptitude-safe-upgrade-equivalence-with-apt-get](https://askubuntu.com/questions/117088/aptitude-safe-upgrade-equivalence-with-apt-get).

But there is also this bug which may be annoying  
[https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=146207](https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=146207) (see also  
[http://www.boxever.com/controlling-os-upgrades-with-ansible](http://www.boxever.com/controlling-os-upgrades-with-ansible)).

I am not sure what the correct and expected behaviour would be. I think  
it not obvious that an apt module requires aptitude (and I did not see  
it in the documentation, but this may be my fault) but on the other  
hand, I am not sure what the expected default behaviour of upgrade  
should be.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 12:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/need-for-aptitude-to-perform-apt-upgrades/18602/4 "2015-06-30T12:03:12Z")

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aptitude is listed in the module requirements, I understand the  
puzzlement for those that are used to using apt directly, but this was  
added as aptitude added a convenient way to add some features and is  
generally present in most .deb distros.