On a Debian system you have downloaded a single .deb file that is not in any configured repository, and you want to install it. Which command is designed for that job?
LPIC-1 Exam 101-500, objective 102. Linux installation and package management medium
Draft — not checked yet. This question was written from the published exam objectives and cites the clause it comes from, but nobody has yet read it against that clause and signed for it.
It is kept out of search results and out of mock exams until they have. Read the source below before you take the answer as settled.
The options
Not correct apt-cache install package
Wrong. apt-cache only queries the package index — search, show, depends, policy. It has no install subcommand and never modifies the system.
Not correct apt-get install package
Wrong. apt-get installs by package name from the repositories listed in sources.list; this package is in no configured repository, so apt-get reports that it cannot find it and never looks at the file you downloaded.
Correct dpkg -i package.deb
Correct. dpkg is the low-level tool that operates on package files on disk. It unpacks and configures the package, but it will not fetch missing dependencies — it stops and reports them instead.
Not correct dpkg-reconfigure package
Wrong. dpkg-reconfigure re-runs the debconf configuration of a package that is already installed; it takes a package name, not a file, and cannot install anything.
Why
The dividing line in Debian tooling is where the package comes from: dpkg handles .deb files already on disk and does no dependency resolution, while apt-get/apt work from repository metadata and pull in dependencies. The common recovery after a failed 'dpkg -i' is 'apt-get -f install' (or 'apt install -f'), which fixes the broken dependencies dpkg reported. Modern apt can also install a local file when given a path such as ./package.deb.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- LPI exam objective 102.4
- What it says
- Install, upgrade and uninstall Debian binary packages with dpkg and apt.
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a set from objective 102 and space the ones you get wrong.