Ubuntu

How to Speed Up Slow apt-get install on Ubuntu

Apt-get is a powerful package management system that allows users to update, upgrade or install packages on Ubuntu systems. However, sometimes it fails to speed up the installation process especially when installing many packages on the system. To cope with the apt-get slow installation process, there is a tool called “apt-fast” that speeds up the installation process on Ubuntu systems. It uses the same mechanism followed by the “apt-get”, but with better speed and performance.

Follow this article’s guidelines to speed up apt-get install on Ubuntu using apt-fast.

Speed Up Slow apt-get install on Ubuntu

To speed up slow apt-get install process on Ubuntu system, follow the below-given steps:

Step 1: apt-fast requires aria2 download accelerator that needs to be installed on Ubuntu system through the following command:

$ sudo apt install aria2

Step 2: Then execute the following bash command to install apt-fast on Ubuntu.

$ /bin/bash -c “$(curl -sL https://git.io/vokNn)

Note: You can install curl on Ubuntu system from the following command if you find “curl command not found error” in the above step.

$ sudo apt install curl

Step 3: Now open the apt-fast configuration file on Ubuntu terminal through the following command:

$ sudo nano /etc/apt-fast.conf

Step 4: Inside the file, you have to uncomment the following MIRRORS line.

Step 5: Save the apt-fast configuration file using “CTRL+X”, add “Y” to accept the changes and enter to go back to the command line.

Step 6: After the changes, you can run the update and upgrade commands using “apt-fast” instead of “apt-get” and you will see that it speeds up the upgrade process.

Here, I am attaching a screenshot for installing VLC media player on Ubuntu system using the “apt-fast” command.

Conclusion

Speeding up the installation process on the Ubuntu system is helpful since it saves a lot of time. The installation done through apt-get command isn’t beneficial for installing many packages on the system since it may slow down the process. The Ubuntu users can install the apt-fast tool from the above-mentioned guidelines that works similar to the apt-get command, but it will speed up the installation process on the system.
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About the author

Awais Khan

I'm an Engineer and an academic researcher by profession. My interest for Raspberry Pi, embedded systems and blogging has brought me here to share my knowledge with others.