On Debian (but not Fedora or RHEL), to see a list of all "master alternative names":

update-alternatives --get-selections

--get-selections list master alternative names and their status.

And for each of those listed, you can run --list $ALTERNATIVE_NAME, e.g.

update-alternatives --list editor

--list name Display all targets of the link group.

If you would like to see a list of all alternatives in their respective groups, you could run the following in fish shell:

for alternative in (update-alternatives --get-selections)
    echo $alternative 
    update-alternatives --list (echo $alternative | cut -d" " -f1)
    echo
end | pager

The (ba|z)?sh syntax should be something similar.

To change the alternatives, run sudo update-alternatives --config $ALTERNATIVE_NAME

Answer from kzh on serverfault.com
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The Fedora Project
fedoraproject.org › wiki › Changes › Use-Update-Alternatives-For-usr-bin-cc
Changes/Use-Update-Alternatives-For-usr-bin-cc - Fedora Project Wiki
February 11, 2021 - Modify the gcc package so that the /usr/bin/cc and /usr/bin/c++ symlinks are managed by update-alternatives.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/distrohopping › fedora alternatives?
r/DistroHopping on Reddit: Fedora alternatives?
July 4, 2024 -

I’ve been using fedora for a while I’ll make this thread short

I like how fedora is bogus stable with good updates.

After all the Red Hat drama I wanna to switch to an alternative, I mainly just do a lot of hacking,programming, browsing.

Please drop your recommendation!

I’ve also thought about Tumbleweed but I don’t want stuff to break.

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Debian
wiki.debian.org › DebianAlternatives
DebianAlternatives - Debian Wiki
for i in /etc/alternatives/*; do ... software such as /usr/sbin/sendmail. On RHEL/Fedora /usr/sbin/sendmail is an alternatives symlink to either the classic Sendmail or to Postfix as alternative implementations of an MTA....
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/linux › looking for fedora alternatives.
r/linux on Reddit: Looking for fedora alternatives.
July 13, 2023 -

Hey, been using using fedora for a year and a halfish now and I'm interested to know what else is out there. I like fedora bc it's a good balance of up to date and stuble software. Debian is too far behind and I'm using my pc for work and study so I don't want to have to start managing an arch distro. Any recommendations? I also have baise for Linux from scratch distros.

Edit: yeah... I think I mis phrased this one judging by the comments, I used fedora as an example bc that's what I like but in the end unless I'll find something I like more this'll probably be just a distro hop period from a dual boot. Sorry for the confusion XD

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Fedora
packages.fedoraproject.org › pkgs › chkconfig › alternatives › fedora-42-updates.html
alternatives-1.33-3.fc42 - Fedora Packages
View alternatives-1.33-3.fc42 in Fedora 42. alternatives: A tool to maintain symbolic links determining default commands
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Fedora Discussion
discussion.fedoraproject.org › project discussion › change proposals
F43 Change Proposal: Use update-alternatives for managing NodeJS symlinks (self contained) - Fedora Discussion
July 10, 2025 - Use update-alternatives for managing NodeJS symlinks This is a proposed Change for Fedora Linux. This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive community feedback.
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RPMfind
rpmfind.net › linux › rpm2html › search.php
RPM resource /usr/sbin/update-alternatives
The search service can find package by either name (apache), provides(webserver), absolute file names (/usr/bin/apache), binaries (gprof) or shared libraries (libXm.so.2) in standard path. It does not support multiple arguments yet · The System and Arch are optional added filters, for example ...
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Baeldung
baeldung.com › home › administration › the update-alternatives command in linux
The update-alternatives Command in Linux | Baeldung on Linux
July 24, 2024 - $ update-alternatives --version Debian update-alternatives version 1.21.1. This is free software; see the GNU General Public License version 2 or later for copying conditions. There is NO warranty. Let’s notice that the command is of Debian origin, but it’s also adopted in other distributions like Fedora...
Find elsewhere
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Fedora Discussion
discussion.fedoraproject.org › ask fedora
Alternatives and multiple php's - Fedora Discussion
July 25, 2024 - Please check the following: mario@fedora:~$ sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/php php /usr/bin/php74 90 mario@fedora:~$ sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/php php /usr/bin/php84 80 mario@fedora:~$ sudo update-alternatives --config php There are 3 programs which provide 'php'.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/fedora › update-alternatives - java
r/Fedora on Reddit: Update-alternatives - Java
April 21, 2019 -

I know that using update-alternatives, one can switch between different versions of java installed on the systems.

The problem I have with this is that one should not only switch the java and javac command, but also all those binaries like: jar, javap, javadoc and so one. Is that not hard and tedious to do? Am I doing it wrong?

I don't really need or want to switch java versions, I'm just curious what is the solution for this problem.

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Red Hat
redhat.com › en › blog › alternatives-command
Introduction to the alternatives command in Linux
November 20, 2025 - Originally, this was a convenience utility, written in Perl, from the Debian Linux project, called update-alternatives. Red Hat rewrote the command without Perl, and it's been propagated throughout Fedora-based distributions such as Red Hat ...
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DEV Community
dev.to › datkumar › the-preferred-way-to-install-and-manage-java-jdks-on-linux-4mb2
The preferred way to install and manage Java JDKs on Linux - DEV Community
April 20, 2025 - The update-alternatives command in Linux (also called just alternatives in Fedora) creates, removes, maintains and displays information about the symbolic links comprising the alternatives system.
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Chris's Wiki
utcc.utoronto.ca › ~cks › space › blog › linux › FedoraEmacsAlternativesIssue
Chris's Wiki :: blog/linux/FedoraEmacsAlternativesIssue
July 3, 2024 - I don't use Wayland, so more or less as soon as I upgraded to Fedora 40, I ran 'alternatives --config emacs' and switched my 'emacs' to the gtk+x11 version, which also sets this alternative to be manually configured and thus it's supposed to be left alone. Fedora 40 shipped with Emacs 29.3. Recently, Emacs 29.4 was released to deal with a security issue, so of course I updated to it when Fedora had an updated package available.
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AlternativeTo
alternativeto.net › software › fedora
Great Fedora Alternatives: Top Linux Distros & Operating Systems in 2025 | AlternativeTo
The best Fedora alternatives are Linux Mint, Ubuntu and Debian. Our crowd-sourced lists contains more than 100 apps similar to Fedora for Linux, Self-Hosted, Mac, Windows and more.
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Linux Man Pages
linux.die.net › man › 8 › update-alternatives
update-alternatives(8) - Linux man page
A directory, by default /var/lib/alternatives, containing alternatives' state information. ... A set of related symlinks, intended to be updated as a group.
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SourceForge
sourceforge.net › software › product › Fedora › alternatives
Best Fedora Alternatives & Competitors
It is optimized for gaming with features like improved CPU schedulers, up-to-date GPU drivers, HDR and VRR support, and controller-friendly interfaces, enabling smooth and responsive gameplay without requiring manual configuration. Bazzite follows an “immutable” system design, meaning core system files are read-only and updated atomically, improving stability and allowing users to roll back updates if needed. ... Compare vs. Fedora View Software
Rating: 5 ​ - ​ 1 votes
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guvi.in
studytonight.com › linux-guide › update-alternatives-command-in-linux
update-alternatives Command in Linux
February 13, 2023 - It allows the user to specify which version of a program should be used by default, and provides an easy way to switch between alternatives if needed. By using the various flags and options available with the update-alternatives command, users ...