dpkg

dpkg (1994) is a package management software used among others by Debian operating system. It can be used to install, remove, and provide information about .deb packages.

• dpkg --help

New package configurations will append a *.dpkg-old OR *.dpkg-dist.

Basic dpkg commands

• Install a .deb package:
  • dpkg -i filename.deb
  • dpkg -i -E filename.deb ( -E, --skip-same-version)

• Remove an installed package:
  • dpkg -r package_name

• Get Information about a package
  • dpkg -s package_name (-s --status). See also: apt-cache policy package_name

• List installed packages in your computer can be obtained with:
  • dpkg -l [optional pattern]
• List files in a package:
  • dpkg -L package_name
  • dpkg-query -L package_name

• Find package owner of a file:
  • dpkg -S `which file_to_search` (-S Search)

• List content of a package, content can be extracted suing ar command:
  • dpkg -c /path/to/package_name.deb

• Get a list of recently installed packages
  • zcat -f /var/log/dpkg.log* | grep "\ install\ " | sort

• Get a list of recently upgraded packages
  • zcat -f /var/log/dpkg.log* | grep "\ upgrade\ " | sort

• Get a list of recently installed or upgraded packages
  • zcat -f /var/log/dpkg.log* | egrep "\ install\ |\ upgrade\ " | sort -nk1

• dpkg --configure -a

• dpkg-reconfigure, dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server

Example Outputs of dpkg commands

• dpkg --status sysstat or dpkg -s sysstat

Activities

Basic

1. Read apt and snap page
2. Install a package using dkpg
3. Understand differences between apt and dpkg

Advanced

1. Read uscanhttps://manpages.debian.org/buster/devscripts/uscan.1.en.html and https://wiki.debian.org/debian/watch to understand how new packages are generated: https://manpages.debian.org/buster/devscripts/uscan.1.en.html
2. Learn about dpkg -V and dpkg -C options

See Also

• APT: wajig, apt-cache, add-apt-repository PPA, apt [ install | remove |purge | show | list | changelog | update | upgrade], do-release-upgrade, apt-mark, apt full-upgrade, sources.list, APT Automatic updates, unattended-upgrade, apt-transport-https, apt-get update, /etc/apt/, /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades, /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/, /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades, apt-file, apt-utils, /var/log/dpkg.log, apt autoremove
• Package managers: dpkg, APT, RPM, YUM, DNF, homebrew, pkgutil, opkg, Helm, pkg and snap, npm, Aptitude, alien, Conan, CRAN, Chocolatey, NuGet, PackageKit, Wajig, pacman, PIP, Apache Ivy, List packages, List files in packages, Spack
• dpkg, dpkg-query, update-alternatives, ar, debsums, dpkg -V, dpkg -S, dpkg -L, dpkg --configure -a, wajig, dpkg -i -E , dpkg --help, dpkg-source-gitarchive
• Snap: snap, snapd, snapctl, snapcraft, snap: [list | install |find | info | services | start| stop | remove | refresh | set | logs ] snapd | snap list | snap version | snap find aws | snap --help ]
• wikipedia:Deb_(file_format) to understand .deb internal format an included files: preinst, postinst, prerm and postrm.
• wikipedia:apt-file to view the contents of debian packages on remote repositories

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