These were the first package management tools for Debian. The dpkg command still does all of the work, since all the newer tools use it as a backend. As such, ithas all the functions required to install, remove, configure, and report on packages. Itis a command line tool.
One of the limitations of dpkg is that it does very little in the way of dependency checking, other than to offer an error message when there is a dependency problem. Itrequires the user to examine the dependency report and include the necessary packages during installation. Another limitation is that dpkg only works on packages that have already been downloaded. However, both of these limitations are addressed by the dselect utility.
The dselect command is a menu-driven utility that provides access to information on packages in the Debian repositories, and also checks and helps resolve software dependencies. This greatly simplifies package selection and installation. Once packages are selected and all dependencies satisfied, either automatically or with user assistance, dpkg is run automatically to perform the actual installation.
