An experimental branch of the package management tools APT 3.3.0 (Advanced Package Tool) has been released, with plans to stabilize it and prepare a stable release 3.4 in the future. This new branch has been accepted in Debian Unstable, paving the way for further development and improvements. The branch is based on the code available on GitHub at https://github.com/Debian/apt.
Some notable changes in this new version include the removal of a warning message about using an unstable console interface in the apt utility. An “–cli-version” option has been added to display the CLI version. Additionally, on supported architectures, the sqv utility written in Rust is now included as an assembly dependency, replacing gpgv to verify digital signatures on Ubuntu. The “apt history-list” command has been updated to automatically adapt to the terminal width, improving user experience. The code has also been modernized using the C++17 standard for better performance and compatibility.