The "dpkg" suite contains the programs which
handle Debian (.deb) packages. It was developed on
Debian GNU/Linux but can be used on all Linux
distributions and most Unix systems. The "dpkg"
command can be used to install, remove and manage
.deb binary packages, and it maintains a package
database which gets updated on changes. It is also
a front-end to the low-level "dpkg-deb" tool,
which is oriented towards manipulating archives.
However, the primary interface to dpkg is the
"dselect" program, which is used to get and
display packages for the user to select for
(de)installation.
