apt experimental

System packages for Debian-family Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, ...).

[system.packages]
"apt:libssl-dev" = "latest"
"apt:curl" = "8.5.0-2ubuntu10" # version pin
"apt:gcc:arm64" = "latest"     # architecture qualifier

Behavior

• Package state is checked with dpkg-query (read-only, never elevates).
• Missing packages are installed with apt-get install -y, elevated with sudo when necessary (see sudo).
• Version pins are passed to apt as its native name=version syntax; name:arch qualifiers pass through in the package name.
• DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive is set so installs never block on configuration prompts.
• mise system upgrade runs apt-get update and then apt-get install --only-upgrade for the configured packages, so nothing not already installed gets pulled in.

Metadata refresh

If /var/lib/apt/lists contains no package lists (fresh containers), mise runs apt-get update automatically before installing. Otherwise it does not touch apt metadata — if an install fails with "Unable to locate package", refresh explicitly:

mise system install --update

Version pins

A pinned entry ("apt:curl" = "8.5.0-2ubuntu10") shows as version mismatch in mise system status when a different version is installed, and mise system install passes the pin to apt to correct it. "latest" entries are satisfied by any installed version — use mise system upgrade to move them to the newest available version.