MEWBIES@:  Facebook  Twitter  G+  YouTube  DeviantArt  Forum  Wall
 SHARE:
    ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
   ██                                                                       ██
  █▌    -   HOW TO PACKAGE INFORMATION, STATUS, VERSION, AND CONTENTS   -    █▌
 █▌                                   LINUX                                   █▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ Various methods how to view package information such as status, version,   ▐▌
 █ list of all contents, search packages for a file, e-mail changelog, etc.   ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █                            ____.----.                                      ▐▌
 █                  ____.----'          \                                     ▐▌
 █                  \                    \                                    ▐▌
 █                   \                    \                                   ▐▌
 █                    \                    \                                  ▐▌
 █                     \          ____.----'`--.__                            ▐▌
 █                      \___.----'          |     `--.____                    ▐▌
 █                     /`-._                |       __.-' \                   ▐▌
 █                    /     `-._            ___.---'       \                  ▐▌
 █                   /          `-.____.---'                \                 ▐▌
 █                  /            / | \                       \                ▐▌
 █                 /            /  |  \                   _.--'               ▐▌
 █                 `-.         /   |   \            __.--'                    ▐▌
 █                    `-._    /    |    \     __.--'     |                    ▐▌
 █                      | `-./     |     \_.-'           |                    ▐▌
 █                      |          |                     |                    ▐▌
 █                      |          |                     |                    ▐▌
 █                      |          |                     |                    ▐▌
 █                      |          |                     |                    ▐▌
 █                      |          |                     |   VK               ▐▌
 █                      |          |                     |                    ▐▌
 █               _______|          |                     |_______________     ▐▌
 █                      `-.        |                  _.-'                    ▐▌
 █                         `-.     |           __..--'                        ▐▌
 █                            `-.  |      __.-'                               ▐▌
 █                                `-|__.--'                                   ▐▌
 █ STATUS OF A PACKAGE                                                        ▐▌
 █ HOW TO VIEW THE STATUS OF ALL PACKAGES INSTALLED                           ▐▌
 █ HOW TO VIEW THE STATUS AND VERSION OF AN INSTALLED PACKAGE                 ▐▌
 █ HOW TO VIEW RECENTLY INSTALLED PACKAGES WITH DATE                          ▐▌
 █ HOW TO REMOVE OR PURGE ALL PACKAGES WITH THE SAME STATUS                   ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ LIST ALL FILES AND INSTALL LOCATION OF AN INSTALLED PACKAGE                ▐▌
 █ HOW TO VIEW CONTENTS OF A .DEB FILE                                        ▐▌
 █ HOW TO VIEW THE CONTENTS OF A PACKAGE INSTALLED OR NOT                     ▐▌
 █ HOW TO VIEW WHICH PACKAGE A FILE BELONGS TO                                ▐▌
 █ HOW TO QUICKLY VIEW ALL LOCATIONS ON THE SYSTEM OF A FILE                  ▐▌
 █ HOW TO VIEW PACKAGE CHANGELOG ENTRIES FROM DEBIAN PACKAGE ARCHIVE          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ Status of a package is represented by the three characters in the first    ▐▌
 █ column, for example:                                                       ▐▌
 █ ii  libsdl1.2debian:i386           1.2.15-5             i386               ▐▌
 █ rc  libsdl1.2debian-alsa           1.2.14-6.1           i386               ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ First character is the 'desired' state:                                    ▐▌
 █ h: hold                                                                    ▐▌
 █ i: install                                                                 ▐▌
 █ p: purge                                                                   ▐▌
 █ r: remove                                                                  ▐▌
 █ u: unknown state                                                           ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ Second character is the 'current' state:                                   ▐▌
 █ c: configuration files are present                                         ▐▌
 █ f: failed - configuration files failed to remove                           ▐▌
 █ h: half installed - partially installed                                    ▐▌
 █ i: installed                                                               ▐▌
 █ n: not installed                                                           ▐▌
 █ U: unpacked                                                                ▐▌
 █ W: wait                                                                    ▐▌
 █ t: trigger pending                                                         ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ Third character:                                                           ▐▌
 █ R: reinstall required                                                      ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █                          ___________..___________                          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ TO VIEW THE STATUS OF ALL PACKAGES INSTALLED:                              ▐▌
 █ dpkg -l | less                                                             ▐▌
 █ Output example:                                                            ▐▌
 █ [snip]                                                                     ▐▌
 █ ii  libsdl1.2debian:i386           1.2.15-5             i386               ▐▌
 █ rc  libsdl1.2debian-alsa           1.2.14-6.1           i386               ▐▌
 █ [snip]                                                                     ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ To view only selected packages' status; add the package's name(s), i.e.:   ▐▌
 █ dpkg -l gcc make openssh-server mysql-server libmysql++-dev                ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ To search for a package in the repository, for example libmysql++-dev:     ▐▌
 █ aptitude search libmysql++-dev                                             ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █                          ___________..___________                          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ TO VIEW THE STATUS AND VERSION OF AN INSTALLED PACKAGE:                    ▐▌
 █ dpkg -s <packagename>                                                      ▐▌
 █ For example: dpkg -s python                                                ▐▌
 █ Or: aptitude show python                                                   ▐▌
 █ Or: apt-cache show python                                                  ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ Each will differ slightly in their output.                                 ▐▌
 █ Output example:                                                            ▐▌
 █ Package: python                                                            ▐▌
 █ Source: python-defaults                                                    ▐▌
 █ Version: 2.7.3-4+deb7u1                                                    ▐▌
 █ Installed-Size: 658                                                        ▐▌
 █ [snip]                                                                     ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ To view a package's version only:                                          ▐▌
 █ dpkg -s python | grep -i "version:"                                        ▐▌
 █ aptitude show python | grep -i "version:"                                  ▐▌
 █ apt-cache show python | grep -i "version:"                                 ▐▌
 █ Output example: Version: 2.7.3-4+deb7u1                                    ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █                          ___________..___________                          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ HOW TO VIEW RECENTLY INSTALLED PACKAGES WITH DATE                          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ To view recent 'apt-get' history:                                          ▐▌
 █ cat /var/log/apt/history.log | grep "\ install\ "                          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ To view all recently installed packages, with date, listed in the current  ▐▌
 █ log:	                                                                      ▐▌
 █ cat /var/log/dpkg.log | grep "\ install\ "                                 ▐▌
 █ In the previous log:                                                       ▐▌
 █ cat /var/log/dpkg.log.1 | grep "\ install\ "                               ▐▌
 █ In an archived log, e.g. 2.gz:                                             ▐▌
 █ zcat /var/log/dpkg.log.2.gz | grep "\ install\ "                           ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ Jose Catre-Vandis at UbuntuForums.org wrote a nice script, here, to output ▐▌
 █ a full list of all packages installed with date:                           ▐▌
 █ cd ~ && pico pkginstalls.sh                                                ▐▌
 █ paste in the code (copy here in case link goes dead), save file then:      ▐▌
 █ chmod a+x pkginstalls.sh && ./pkginstalls.sh                               ▐▌
 █ cat pkginstalls.txt | less                                                 ▐▌
 █ Or for example to list only packages installed in year 2014:               ▐▌
 █ cat pkginstalls.txt | less | grep 2014                                     ▐▌
 █ After you are done rm pkginstalls.txt or rename it so that next run of     ▐▌
 █ pkginstalls.sh output is correct; as it appends to the file.               ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █                          ___________..___________                          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ TO REMOVE OR PURGE ALL PACKAGES WITH THE SAME STATUS:                      ▐▌
 █ To, for example, only show all packages marked as 'rc':                    ▐▌
 █ dpkg -l |grep "^rc"                                                        ▐▌
 █ Output example:                                                            ▐▌
 █ rc  libeggdbus-1-0                 0.6-1                i386               ▐▌
 █ rc  libept0                        0.5.22               i386               ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ To show only package 'names' marked as 'rc':                               ▐▌
 █ dpkg -l |grep "^rc" | cut -d " " -f 3                                      ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ To purge (remove binary and its configuration files) a single package:     ▐▌
 █ dpkg -P <package name>                                                     ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ To purge all packages marked as rc:                                        ▐▌
 █ dpkg -l |grep "^rc" | cut -d " " -f 3 | xargs dpkg -P                      ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █                          ___________..___________                          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ LIST ALL FILES AND INSTALL LOCATION OF AN INSTALLED PACKAGE:               ▐▌
 █ To view a list of files and their paths of an install package, time for    ▐▌
 █ example:                                                                   ▐▌
 █ dpkg -L time                                                               ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █                          ___________..___________                          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ HOW TO VIEW CONTENTS OF A .DEB FILE:                                       ▐▌
 █ To view the contents of a deb file:                                        ▐▌
 █ dpkg -c name.deb                                                           ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █                          ___________..___________                          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ HOW TO VIEW THE CONTENTS OF A PACKAGE INSTALLED OR NOT:                    ▐▌
 █ To view the contents of a package regardless if it is installed or not:    ▐▌
 █ su                                                                         ▐▌
 █ aptitude update && aptitude install apt-file                               ▐▌
 █ Then sync the packages from their sources:                                 ▐▌
 █ apt-file update                                                            ▐▌
 █ exit                                                                       ▐▌
 █ Then to view contents of a package:                                        ▐▌
 █ apt-file list mew-bin                                                      ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ If you want to cache the list in your home directory:                      ▐▌
 █ apt-file update                                                            ▐▌
 █ To switch back to system-wide cache directory:                             ▐▌
 █ apt-file purge                                                             ▐▌
 █ Help: apt-file -h and man apt-file                                         ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █                          ___________..___________                          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ HOW TO VIEW WHICH PACKAGE A FILE BELONGS TO:                               ▐▌
 █ This is handy when you have an x error file is missing to find the         ▐▌
 █ original install location of a file:                                       ▐▌
 █ apt-file search file.name                                                  ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █                          ___________..___________                          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ HOW TO QUICKLY VIEW ALL LOCATIONS ON THE SYSTEM OF A FILE:                 ▐▌
 █ Instead of searching the entire system for x file you can use locate which ▐▌
 █ builds a db of all files and you search that.                              ▐▌
 █ su                                                                         ▐▌
 █ aptitude update && aptitude install locate                                 ▐▌
 █ Then build to build slocate database of files (wait for it to finish):     ▐▌
 █ updatedb                                                                   ▐▌
 █ exit                                                                       ▐▌
 █ To find all locations for a file, for example libmysqlclient.so:           ▐▌
 █ locate libmysqlclient.so                                                   ▐▌
 █ Any new files on the system will not be in its database until updatedb is  ▐▌
 █ run again.                                                                 ▐▌
 █ If your setup isn't running updatedb daily, like mine, I just added it to  ▐▌
 █ cron. Find location of your updatedb:                                      ▐▌
 █ which updatedb                                                             ▐▌
 █ My output: /usr/bin/updatedb                                               ▐▌
 █ su                                                                         ▐▌
 █ crontab -e                                                                 ▐▌
 █ Paste in at the bottom, with the correct path to your updatedb, and save   ▐▌
 █ changes to have updatedb run once daily at 6:30 A.M:                       ▐▌
 █ 30 06 * * *     /usr/bin/updatedb  /dev/null 2 &1                          ▐▌
 █ exit                                                                       ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █                          ___________..___________                          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ HOW TO VIEW PACKAGE CHANGELOG ENTRIES FROM DEBIAN PACKAGE ARCHIVE:         ▐▌
 █ "The tool apt-listchanges can compare a new version of a package with the  ▐▌
 █ one currently installed and show what has been changed, by extracting the  ▐▌
 █ relevant entries from the Debian changelog and NEWS files.                 ▐▌
 █ It can be run on several .deb archives at a time to get a list of all      ▐▌
 █ changes that would be caused by installing or upgrading a group of         ▐▌
 █ packages. When configured as an APT plugin it will do this automatically   ▐▌
 █ during upgrades."                                                          ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ su                                                                         ▐▌
 █ aptitude install apt-listchanges                                           ▐▌
 █ Configure apt-listchanges:                                                 ▐▌
 █ dpkg-reconfigure apt-listchanges                                           ▐▌
       apt-listchanges Configuring
 █ These are the settings I selected:                                         ▐▌
 █ pager                                                                      ▐▌
 █ Yes (to skip)                                                              ▐▌
 █ Remove text 'root' and enter the e-mail address for apt-listchanges output ▐▌
 █ sent to.                                                                   ▐▌
 █ Details: both                                                              ▐▌
 █ Prompt: No                                                                 ▐▌
 █ Done                                                                       ▐▌
 █ exit                                                                       ▐▌
 █ man apt-listchanges                                                        ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ //----------------------------------------------------------------------   ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ If you find mistakes, have suggestions, and or questions please post at    ▐▌
 █ mewbies forum HERE - thank you.                                            ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █ Last update on 31 Mar '14                                                  ▐▌
 █                                                                            ▐▌
 █▌                                                                           █▌
  █▌                          -   mewbies.com   -                            █▌
   █▌                                                                       █▌
    ██▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄██