gdebi

Gdebi is a lightweight package installer for Debian-based systems, such as Debian and Ubuntu. It installs .deb packages while automatically resolving and installing dependencies from configured repositories, a task that dpkg alone does not perform. By leveraging the system’s APT data, gdebi aims to ensure that the required dependencies are satisfied and that the installation proceeds cleanly.

Two interfaces are available: a command-line tool and a graphical frontend. The CLI is invoked as gdebi or sudo gdebi package.deb, depending on user permissions. The graphical version, commonly provided as gdebi-gtk or similar, presents a simple dialog to review the package details and confirm the installation, including the list of dependencies.

How it works: when a user attempts to install a local .deb file, gdebi reads the package’s metadata, queries the APT repositories for any missing dependencies, and installs the necessary packages in the correct order. It fetches the needed files from configured sources and then performs the installation as a single operation. If a required dependency cannot be found in the available repositories, gdebi aborts with a message.

Usage considerations: gdebi is typically used for installing locally downloaded .deb packages. It provides a safer alternative to dpkg -i by attempting to resolve and install dependencies automatically. It relies on network access to retrieve dependencies from configured repositories and on the availability of those dependencies in the repositories.

Availability: gdebi is included in most Debian-based distributions’ official repositories. It can usually be installed with a command such as apt install gdebi, and the package may be split into gdebi and gdebi-core components depending on the distribution.