Other Uses

Basic package management is only the main purpose of wajig. Several special functions are also included in wajig's sub-commands, such as:

• Building source packages with build, build-depend, and package.
• Converting .rpm packages to .deb packages, with rpm2deb, as alien does.
• Reconfiguring sub-systems such as the window manager with update-alts, as dpkg-reconfigure does.
• Creating a daily cronjob using daily-upgrade as part of the basic command structure.
• Syncing the contents of multiple machines by writing a list of packages to a file, then copying the file to another machine and doing an install with wajig file-install. The file's list of packages can be generated by redirecting wajig list-log to a file. Syncing can also be done with file-remove.

Togaware's GNU/Linux Survival Guide also lists scripts to run outside of wajig for related purposes [4].

The Target Audience

Wajig is not a complete replacement for every package-related utility in Debian or its derivatives. For example, the capabilities of apt-spy, which finds the fasted mirror site for installation, are not included in wajig.

Even more importantly, wajig is not a tool for beginners. If anything, wajig is more efficient if you already have a working knowledge of Debian's package system and its main utilities. The way wajig is designed, it is most efficient when you already know the sub-commands of basic Debian commands but are perhaps a little hazy on the exact syntax. Instead of scanning through a man page to find how the command you need should be structured, you can instead go directly to wajig and enter a sub-command after it with a strong chance that it will run.

Alternatively, if you are unsure of the sub-command you need, you can try entering a one- or two-word description after the main command. Wajig has just enough redundancy in its sub-commands that you might get lucky.

For true experts, wajig can be like a grammar-checker: If you know enough of what you are doing to use it effectively, you probably don't need it. Wajig is best-suited to those who know just enough about Debian package management that logic and a few hints can help them with administrative tasks. For such users, wajig might be just what they need.