- This topic has 14 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated May 10-1:35 pm by Brian Masinick.
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anticapitalista
Do any of you use this app?
It needs updating and if you do use it, please post suggestions for what packages to include/edit.
antiX is all about window managers and we will not provide any iso files that include any desktop environment.
However, I think it would be useful to edit/add various desktop-environments in cli-aptiX that do not need systemd/elogind at all ie lxde, Xfce, lxqt, mate and cinnamon. All would default to installing conslekit.This would enable any user of the core version to easily install a systemd/elogind -free setup with a desktop environment.
Comments appreciated.
Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.
antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.
Brian Masinick
I seldom use the tool but I have used it before. While I don’t personally need it, I really like your idea about adding additional environments so that the tool can be used straight from Core to add additional desktop environments.
I presume it would be available and functional in full too; that could also be useful to the command line tools.
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Brian Masinick
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christophe
I use cli-aptiX all the time. (I love it!)
I do like the additional items showing up now and then, when I search “antix”.
I noticed that it appears there are old versions with different names on some packages. For example, I saw iso-snapshot-antix, as well as iso-snapshot-gui-antix & iso-snapshot-cli-antix. I assume that one/some are older version(s). If so, perhaps an antiX version number in comments would help the user choose.
And of course, the old “one or more list files appears to be missing” warning needs an update.
antiX on everything, since 2017
fivedeadlyvenoms
I use it on occasion, feel like it should be marketed a little more as it’s a great way for someone new to the ecosystem to get a metric ton of cool toys with very little effort.
The main function for me is more just a ‘cool list of software’ like this kinda thing: https://kmandla.wordpress.com/software/
It would be nice to see more software and the lists being updated, but appreciate this is likely not a pressing issue.
It would be nice to be able to somehow select stuff to install more easily, the number entry system and having to page down on term/tmux is pain, or maybe a UI where you can just use space to toggle stuff for install like kernel/T2SDE/rangerfm kinda stuff.
AntiX seems all about Desktops to me, that’s what it does: presents loads of desktop options..a window manager is not much use alone and duct tapping on the bloat of dmenu and status bars is into the world of desktops. XFCE would be the one to go for imo, flagship MX so plenty solid resources to draw upon and portable from the ground up well beyond the linux and even bsd worlds.
XFCE seems to work pretty well as is when installed via cli tool, but I’ve only played with it.
I’d like to see a tiling option integrated into the -full AntiX Desktop experience, herbsluftwfm just gives big ‘unsupported’ pop ups out of the box which seems weird. I’ve installed i3 and currently deciding if it’s worth trying to kill with fire all the stuff that pops up via lightdm and see if I can integrate things with AntiX….but may just retreat back to startx.
anti-apXos
I don’t use cli-aptiX, but I just looked through the list and I see lxde, lxqt, mate, cinnamon, and xfce already there on my antix-23 system.
As for CLI programs, I’d like to nominate cmus for some stars, that’s a great and really-full-featured music application. It’s already in the “0-stars” section, but I think it should be highlighted.
There’s also Wordgrinder, which is a nice and very clean word processing application.
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beras
Yes. Using it with antix-net, antix-core and mx-cli
My comments is if first update fail it just exit. I want continue to edit repo default Debian mirror de and us to deb.debian.org with https
Edit antiX repo with httpswhat packages to include/edit ?
I dont know. Look good for me.What i do
antix-core > cli-aptiX > install xorg, init, antix- openbox > startx
then continue using package installer GUIRobin
Since not running antiX core, and using for install of whatever tools or programs always apt directly on console, I won’t be of great help here. But shouldn’t this cli tool simply reflect the same set of programs what also the GUI antiX Package Installer provides?
Windows is like a submarine. Open a window and serious problems will start.
anticapitalX
But shouldn’t this cli tool simply reflect the same set of programs what also the GUI antiX Package Installer provides?
exactly .
The cli-aptiX interface is confusing for me .
I was forced to search for entries .
then I searched for “xfce”
and provided a long list of 50 leading results ,
76 any name results ,
and 94 description results
…
then What?
the Procedure is confusing .
better for this script is the user selects xfce , and a basical xfce gets installed .master@Master-PC:~ $ cli-aptiX Warning: This script must be run as root [sudo] password for master: Checking source files ... It appears that at least one list file is missing You should probably run apt-get update now Run apt-get update now? > yes = no Press <Enter> to select the highlighted entry Use 'h' for help, 'r' to redraw, 'q' to quit Checking for package upgrades ... There are 30 packages that can be upgraded ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Upgrade Menu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please select an action > Upgrade 30 packages now > View a list of packages to be upgraded = Ignore these upgrades for now > Update package index (last update Sun Apr 19 07:01:54 AM +0330 2026) Press <Enter> to select the highlighted entry Use 'h' for help, 'r' to redraw, 'q' to go back to the main menu Creating database ... database generation took 1.13 seconds =============================================================================== antiX Command Line Package Installer =============================================================================== Main Menu = Search for packages to mark or install > View a list of 84 suggested Command Line packages > View a list of 165 suggested GUI packages > Search for antiX kernels > Search for all kernels > Update package index (last update Sun Apr 19 07:01:54 AM +0330 2026) > Edit the repo source files > View or perform 30 upgrades now > Quit Press <Enter> to select the highlighted entry Use 'h' for help, 'r' to redraw, 'q' to quit ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Search for packages ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please enter the term you want to search for Standard globbing wildcards '*' and '?' work Use an empty string or q<Enter> to return to main menu > xfce Found 0 exact name matches Found 50 leading name matches Found 76 any name matches Found 94 name or description matches searches took 0.26 seconds Search Result Menu Please select an action = View 50 leading results > View 76 any name results > View 94 description results > Do a different search Press <Enter> to select the highlighted entry Use 'h' for help, 'r' to redraw, 'q' to go back to the main menu 50 packages were found In the next step you will be shown a list of packages that you can scroll Use <up-arrow>, <down-arrow>, <page-up>, and <page-down> to scroll the list Position the package you want near the bottom and then press 'q' to continue Press <Enter> to see the list Use 'q' to go to the main menu Use 'r' to repeat same search Use 's' to do new search 1) xfce4-appfinder - Application finder for the Xfce4 desktop environment 2) xfce4-appmenu-plugin - Application Menu plugin for xfce4-panel 3) xfce4-battery-plugin - battery monitor plugin for the Xfce4 panel 4) xfce4-clipman - clipboard history utility 5) xfce4-clipman-plugin - clipboard history plugin for Xfce panel 6) xfce4-cpufreq-plugin - cpufreq information plugin for the Xfce4 panel 7) xfce4-cpugraph-plugin - CPU load graph plugin for the Xfce4 panel 8) xfce4-datetime-plugin - date and time plugin for the Xfce4 panel 9) xfce4-dev-tools - Script to help building Xfce from git 10) xfce4-dict - Dictionary plugin for Xfce4 panel 11) xfce4-diskperf-plugin - disk performance display plugin for the Xfce4 p> 12) xfce4-docklike-plugin - Modern, minimalist taskbar for Xfce 13) xfce4-eyes-plugin - eyes that follow your mouse for the Xfce4 panel 14) xfce4-fsguard-plugin - filesystem monitor plugin for the Xfce4 panel 15) xfce4-genmon-plugin - Generic Monitor for the Xfce4 panel 16) xfce4-goodies - enhancements for the Xfce4 Desktop Environment 17) xfce4-helpers - helpers for the Xfce4 desktop environment 18) xfce4-indicator-plugin - plugin to display information from application> 19) xfce4-mailwatch-plugin - mail watcher plugin for the Xfce4 panel 20) xfce4 - Meta-package for the Xfce Lightweight Desktop Environment 21) xfce4-mount-plugin - mount plugin for the Xfce4 panel 22) xfce4-mpc-plugin - Xfce panel plugin which serves as client for MPD mus> 23) xfce4-netload-plugin - network load monitor plugin for the Xfce4 panel 24) xfce4-notes - Notes application for the Xfce4 desktop 25) xfce4-notes-plugin - Notes plugin for the Xfce4 desktop 26) xfce4-notifyd - simple, visually-appealing notification daemon for Xfce 27) xfce4-panel - panel for Xfce4 desktop environment 28) xfce4-panel-profiles - layout manager for the Xfce panel 29) xfce4-places-plugin - quick access to folders, documents and removable > 30) xfce4-power-manager-data - power manager for Xfce desktop, arch-indep f> 31) xfce4-power-manager-plugins - power manager plugins for Xfce panel 32) xfce4-power-manager - power manager for Xfce desktop 33) xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin - Xfce4 panel plugin to control pulseaudio 34) xfce4-screensaver - screen saver and locker that is integrated with the> 35) xfce4-screenshooter - screenshots utility for Xfce 36) xfce4-sensors-plugin - hardware sensors plugin for the Xfce4 panel 37) xfce4-session - Xfce4 Session Manager 38) xfce4-settings - graphical application for managing Xfce settings 39) xfce4-smartbookmark-plugin - search the web via the Xfce4 panel 40) xfce4-systemload-plugin - system load monitor plugin for the Xfce4 panel 41) xfce4-taskmanager - process manager for the Xfce4 Desktop Environment 42) xfce4-terminal - Xfce terminal emulator 43) xfce4-time-out-plugin - Time out plugin for the Xfce4 panel 44) xfce4-timer-plugin - timer plugin for Xfce panel 45) xfce4-verve-plugin - Verve (command line) plugin for Xfce panel 46) xfce4-wavelan-plugin - wavelan status plugin for the Xfce4 panel 47) xfce4-weather-plugin - weather information plugin for the Xfce4 panel 48) xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin - Alternate menu plugin for the Xfce desktop e> 49) xfce4-windowck-plugin - window buttons, title & menu on Xfce panel 50) xfce4-xkb-plugin - xkb layout switch plugin for the Xfce4 panel Press <Enter> to skip picking a package Or enter the number of each package you want to mark or install Use - to indicate a range of numbers Use q<Enter> to go to main menu Use r<Enter> to see the results again Use s<Enter> to do a new search > q =============================================================================== antiX Command Line Package Installer =============================================================================== ^[[BMain Menu ^[[BMain Menu ^[[BMain Menu Main Menu > Search for packages to mark or install > View a list of 84 suggested Command Line packages > View a list of 165 suggested GUI packages > Search for antiX kernels > Search for all kernels > Update package index (last update Sun Apr 19 07:01:54 AM +0330 2026) > Edit the repo source files > View or perform 30 upgrades now > Quit Press <Enter> to select the highlighted entry Use 'h' for help, 'r' to redraw, 'q' to quit Press q again to quit master@Master-PC:~ $Let's accept antiX as it is
Pure and Elegant by its natureandfree
shouldn’t this cli tool simply reflect the same set of programs what also the GUI antiX Package Installer provides?
As far as I can remember, I have never given it a try, but I have always considered cli-aptiX as a terminal alternative to Synaptic. Both of them have the same name (Manage Packages) in Control Centre. Moreover, one can read in antiX-FAQ (or in help documentation of cli-aptiX):
In some ways it is similar to the GUI based Synaptic program. If you been wanting something like Synaptic that works in the command line then “cli-aptiX” might be what you’ve been looking for.
So, I rephrase your question:
Shouldn’t this cli tool simply reflect the same set of programs what also the GUI Synaptic provides?antiX utilities for processing PDF files (posted by ChPol)
Brian Masinick
One reason that I don’t bother with this is that I have my own personal alias commands that take care of things:
1) alias u=’sudo apt-get update;sudo apt-get dist-upgrade’
2) alias inst=’sudo apt-get update;sudo apt-get install $@’
For 1) it quickly installs or updates anything I’ve already installed; does nothing if there are no changes.
For 2) I type inst and the name(s) of one or more packages I want to install, then press Enter; I did the setup, but now it’s very easy to manage my systems!If I’m using some other system, for example when I have an Arch-based system, I modify what’s behind u, but issue the same commands; similar if I’m running Slackware; I change the commands that are executed, but I use the same alias command; that way once I have them configured, everything else is trivial. It’s much easier than most commands.
By the way, if you switch to root, antiX has some pretty handy alias commands too, such as agu, ag, etc.
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Brian Masinick
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The whole purpose of this tool, however, is NOT the appearance or fanciness; it’s a quick way for someone unfamiliar with the details of what’s available to get something configured quickly; once you’ve done that you can use other tools. It’s also handy for someone who is familiar and just wants to do it quickly without typing everything in themselves!
Veteran users can use it, or as is often the case, there are many different ways to do things; this is just one of many tools; some find it very useful; others find it confusing. To get down to it, there are PLENTY of different ways to set up your system.
For example, if you want to set up an Xfce desktop, our software installer has two different Xfce entries; each one performs a general Xfce configuration; from there you can add, remove or tweak the choice of packages; another way to do it is to find a metapackage and start from that; a third way is to string together the list of Xfce packages you intend to use and install them yourself; these are just three of the many ways you can configure a system, and that’s just using Xfce as an example. Your own preferences and creativity permit you to do it whatever way works for you.
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Brian Masinick
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I’m not. But in general I find this program is a masterpiece, congrats! (Tested it briefly, while working on translations.)
When in command line, I use apt and dpkg. Long time ago on Debian servers I used aptitude, now I always use “apt” commands.
On antiX desktops (“Full”) I use GUI tools (primarily Synaptic, for seeing description, searching by text parts, etc) and on CLI the apt commands (most often apt-cache search, and apt show)
As others noted, probably it would be best if you could keep this tool in sync with the Package Installer, so that problems with the (shared) configuration would be easier to discover in time. I rarely use Package Installer unfortunately, because sometimes it didn’t install, and it’s not always easy to figure out what is what. (However until this very moment, I didn’t notice there is a “More info” option on the items. Good to know.)
I’m not using Desktop Environments – just IceWM. 🙂 I wasn’t even sure if they are “fully supported”, are them? (Those that are listed in Package Installer.)
(First post from antiX 26! 🙂 Works great! Just installed back ~100 packages, examining one by one, based on my_installed_debs.txt… 🙂 )
But shouldn’t this cli tool simply reflect the same set of programs what also the GUI antiX Package Installer provides?
exactly .
The cli-aptiX interface is confusing for me .
I was forced to search for entries .
then I searched for “xfce”
and provided a long list of 50 leading results ,
76 any name results ,
and 94 description results
…
then What?
the Procedure is confusing .
better for this script is the user selects xfce , and a basical xfce gets installed .master@Master-PC:~ $ cli-aptiX Warning: This script must be run as root [sudo] password for master: Checking source files ... It appears that at least one list file is missing You should probably run apt-get update now Run apt-get update now? > yes = no Press <Enter> to select the highlighted entry Use 'h' for help, 'r' to redraw, 'q' to quit Checking for package upgrades ... There are 30 packages that can be upgraded ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Upgrade Menu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please select an action > Upgrade 30 packages now > View a list of packages to be upgraded = Ignore these upgrades for now > Update package index (last update Sun Apr 19 07:01:54 AM +0330 2026) Press <Enter> to select the highlighted entry Use 'h' for help, 'r' to redraw, 'q' to go back to the main menu Creating database ... database generation took 1.13 seconds =============================================================================== antiX Command Line Package Installer =============================================================================== Main Menu = Search for packages to mark or install > View a list of 84 suggested Command Line packages > View a list of 165 suggested GUI packages > Search for antiX kernels > Search for all kernels > Update package index (last update Sun Apr 19 07:01:54 AM +0330 2026) > Edit the repo source files > View or perform 30 upgrades now > Quit Press <Enter> to select the highlighted entry Use 'h' for help, 'r' to redraw, 'q' to quit ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Search for packages ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please enter the term you want to search for Standard globbing wildcards '*' and '?' work Use an empty string or q<Enter> to return to main menu > xfce Found 0 exact name matches Found 50 leading name matches Found 76 any name matches Found 94 name or description matches searches took 0.26 seconds Search Result Menu Please select an action = View 50 leading results > View 76 any name results > View 94 description results > Do a different search Press <Enter> to select the highlighted entry Use 'h' for help, 'r' to redraw, 'q' to go back to the main menu 50 packages were found In the next step you will be shown a list of packages that you can scroll Use <up-arrow>, <down-arrow>, <page-up>, and <page-down> to scroll the list Position the package you want near the bottom and then press 'q' to continue Press <Enter> to see the list Use 'q' to go to the main menu Use 'r' to repeat same search Use 's' to do new search 1) xfce4-appfinder - Application finder for the Xfce4 desktop environment 2) xfce4-appmenu-plugin - Application Menu plugin for xfce4-panel 3) xfce4-battery-plugin - battery monitor plugin for the Xfce4 panel 4) xfce4-clipman - clipboard history utility 5) xfce4-clipman-plugin - clipboard history plugin for Xfce panel 6) xfce4-cpufreq-plugin - cpufreq information plugin for the Xfce4 panel 7) xfce4-cpugraph-plugin - CPU load graph plugin for the Xfce4 panel 8) xfce4-datetime-plugin - date and time plugin for the Xfce4 panel 9) xfce4-dev-tools - Script to help building Xfce from git 10) xfce4-dict - Dictionary plugin for Xfce4 panel 11) xfce4-diskperf-plugin - disk performance display plugin for the Xfce4 p> 12) xfce4-docklike-plugin - Modern, minimalist taskbar for Xfce 13) xfce4-eyes-plugin - eyes that follow your mouse for the Xfce4 panel 14) xfce4-fsguard-plugin - filesystem monitor plugin for the Xfce4 panel 15) xfce4-genmon-plugin - Generic Monitor for the Xfce4 panel 16) xfce4-goodies - enhancements for the Xfce4 Desktop Environment 17) xfce4-helpers - helpers for the Xfce4 desktop environment 18) xfce4-indicator-plugin - plugin to display information from application> 19) xfce4-mailwatch-plugin - mail watcher plugin for the Xfce4 panel 20) xfce4 - Meta-package for the Xfce Lightweight Desktop Environment 21) xfce4-mount-plugin - mount plugin for the Xfce4 panel 22) xfce4-mpc-plugin - Xfce panel plugin which serves as client for MPD mus> 23) xfce4-netload-plugin - network load monitor plugin for the Xfce4 panel 24) xfce4-notes - Notes application for the Xfce4 desktop 25) xfce4-notes-plugin - Notes plugin for the Xfce4 desktop 26) xfce4-notifyd - simple, visually-appealing notification daemon for Xfce 27) xfce4-panel - panel for Xfce4 desktop environment 28) xfce4-panel-profiles - layout manager for the Xfce panel 29) xfce4-places-plugin - quick access to folders, documents and removable > 30) xfce4-power-manager-data - power manager for Xfce desktop, arch-indep f> 31) xfce4-power-manager-plugins - power manager plugins for Xfce panel 32) xfce4-power-manager - power manager for Xfce desktop 33) xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin - Xfce4 panel plugin to control pulseaudio 34) xfce4-screensaver - screen saver and locker that is integrated with the> 35) xfce4-screenshooter - screenshots utility for Xfce 36) xfce4-sensors-plugin - hardware sensors plugin for the Xfce4 panel 37) xfce4-session - Xfce4 Session Manager 38) xfce4-settings - graphical application for managing Xfce settings 39) xfce4-smartbookmark-plugin - search the web via the Xfce4 panel 40) xfce4-systemload-plugin - system load monitor plugin for the Xfce4 panel 41) xfce4-taskmanager - process manager for the Xfce4 Desktop Environment 42) xfce4-terminal - Xfce terminal emulator 43) xfce4-time-out-plugin - Time out plugin for the Xfce4 panel 44) xfce4-timer-plugin - timer plugin for Xfce panel 45) xfce4-verve-plugin - Verve (command line) plugin for Xfce panel 46) xfce4-wavelan-plugin - wavelan status plugin for the Xfce4 panel 47) xfce4-weather-plugin - weather information plugin for the Xfce4 panel 48) xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin - Alternate menu plugin for the Xfce desktop e> 49) xfce4-windowck-plugin - window buttons, title & menu on Xfce panel 50) xfce4-xkb-plugin - xkb layout switch plugin for the Xfce4 panel Press <Enter> to skip picking a package Or enter the number of each package you want to mark or install Use - to indicate a range of numbers Use q<Enter> to go to main menu Use r<Enter> to see the results again Use s<Enter> to do a new search > q =============================================================================== antiX Command Line Package Installer =============================================================================== ^[[BMain Menu ^[[BMain Menu ^[[BMain Menu Main Menu > Search for packages to mark or install > View a list of 84 suggested Command Line packages > View a list of 165 suggested GUI packages > Search for antiX kernels > Search for all kernels > Update package index (last update Sun Apr 19 07:01:54 AM +0330 2026) > Edit the repo source files > View or perform 30 upgrades now > Quit Press <Enter> to select the highlighted entry Use 'h' for help, 'r' to redraw, 'q' to quit Press q again to quit master@Master-PC:~ $Hi.
You can install Xfce4 lite desktop fromView a list of 165 suggested GUI packages
or Xfce4 full
20) xfce4 - Meta-package for the Xfce Lightweight Desktop Environment
rokytnji
I use it. Installed 6.6 kernel using it I think, Head kinda cloudy so hard to remember such things with the meds I am on.
Installing pinxi would be nice but l can this with terminal commands so no worries.
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How to Search for AntiX solutions to your problemsBrian Masinick
The bottom line is that I believe there are enough people who DO use cli-aptiX to justify it’s continued use, and furthermore, those who desire to explore one or more of the light desktop environment configurations can do so effectively with cli-aptiX.
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