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donatello
Asked: 2011-08-04 21:19:52 +0800 CST

How to display package upgrade details on command line?

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On desktop machines, the Update Manager application is able to show the details of a package upgrade in the section called "Description of update" in the bottom half of the screen. Is there a way to see this information for a server machine using the command line?

10.04

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Install apt-listchanges, it will show the changes through pager and also mail them (to root, I think).

    • 2

  2. You can combine the names of upgradable packages, obtained by

    /usr/lib/update-notifier/apt-check -p

    with the packages description obtained by apt-cache. Here is a script that do that:

    #!/bin/bash

{ /usr/lib/update-notifier/apt-check -p 2>&1; echo; } |
  while read pkg; do
    echo "Package: " $pkg
    echo "Description:"
    apt-cache --no-all-versions show $pkg | 
      awk '/^ /'
    echo
  done

    Some difficulties resolved above are that apt-check -p send output to stderr and do not write a newline on the last line.

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