How to see packages installed on a given date using 'aptitude'?

Unfortunately, dpkg (the package handler aptitude works on top of) does not specifically save the install date of packages, although there's thoughts of adding it. However, the install date can be found by looking at the date stamp of files written to the directory /var/lib/dpkg/info.

By default, aptitude writes to a log file /var/log/aptitude. It produces output like this:

===============================================================================

Aptitude 0.8.12: log report
Sun, Oct  1 2021 23:59:59 +1300

  IMPORTANT: this log only lists intended actions; actions which fail
  due to dpkg problems may not be completed.

Will install 6 packages, and remove 0 packages.
31.3 MB of disk space will be used
========================================
[UPGRADE] libc-dev-bin:amd64 2.31-0ubuntu9 -> 2.31-0ubuntu9.2
[UPGRADE] libc6:amd64 2.31-0ubuntu9 -> 2.31-0ubuntu9.2
[UPGRADE] libc6:i386 2.31-0ubuntu9 -> 2.31-0ubuntu9.2
[UPGRADE] libc6-dbg:amd64 2.31-0ubuntu9 -> 2.31-0ubuntu9.2
[UPGRADE] libc6-dev:amd64 2.31-0ubuntu9 -> 2.31-0ubuntu9.2
[UPGRADE] libc6-i386:amd64 2.31-0ubuntu9 -> 2.31-0ubuntu9.2
========================================

Log complete.
===============================================================================

This shows the exact date and packages that aptitude installed. To configure this (in /etc/apt/apt.conf or in a separate file in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/), follow the Configuration file reference in aptitude manual (also available from "Help > User's Manual" in the menu):

Option:Aptitude::Log

Default:/var/log/aptitude

Description: If this is set to a nonempty string, aptitude will log the package
installations, removals, and upgrades that it performs. If the value of
Aptitude::Log begins with a pipe character (ie, ``|''), the remainder of its
value is used as the name of a command into which the log will be piped: for
instance, |mail -s 'Aptitude install run' root will cause the log to be emailed
to root. To log to multiple files or commands, you may set this option to a list
of log targets.

There is a simple way to see all packages installation date. Just execute:

grep " install" /var/log/dpkg.log*

As a result you will get a list of all installed packages with exact date and time.

Thanks for comments which lead me to that solution.

I found this one here on the web. It creates a history of dpkg out of the dpkg log file.

It looks very simple.

function apt-history(){
      case "$1" in
        install)
              cat /var/log/dpkg.log | grep 'install '
              ;;
        upgrade|remove)
              cat /var/log/dpkg.log | grep $1
              ;;
        rollback)
              cat /var/log/dpkg.log | grep upgrade | \
                  grep "$2" -A10000000 | \
                  grep "$3" -B10000000 | \
                  awk '{print $4"="$5}'
              ;;
        *)
              cat /var/log/dpkg.log
              ;;
      esac
}

Source

EDIT

I tried this script on Ubuntu 8.10 Server and it works very well. Could you provide some information, how you solved your problem?

• Use the dpkg logs

  locate dpkg.log | xargs cat {} | grep " install "
  

• OR if you don't have locate

  find /var/log/ -name 'dpkg.log' | xargs cat {} | grep " install "
  

• Use sort to ensure proper time based ordering

  locate dpkg.log | xargs cat {} | grep " install " | sort
  

• Use tac (reverse cat)*, head e.g to get latest 4 entries

  locate dpkg.log | xargs cat {} | grep " install " | sort | tac | head -n4
  

e.g For the last command, I get:

2014-10-08 18:56:12 install xorg-server-source:all <none> 2:1.16.1-1
2014-10-08 18:49:34 install libelementary-data:all <none> 0.7.0.55225-1
2014-10-08 18:46:57 install e17:i386 <none> 0.17.6-1
2014-10-08 18:46:56 install libedje-bin:i386 <none> 1.8.6-2.1+b1

You can also track down your previous actions by checking /var/log/apt/term.log, and older files term.log.1.gz etc.). It has timestamps and complete log from messages during install.

There is indeed an 'official' pkginstall.sh script that can do this. Follow the instructions in the official documentation. Briefly, download the script from the above link, make sure it is executable and then run with:

~/pkginstalls.sh

This will create pkginstalls.txt file in your home directory containing all the installed packages sorted by date.

BTW, this is the content of the script:

#!/bin/bash
#pkginstalls.sh
#creates text file with a list of all packages installed by date

#first append all info from archived logs

i=2
mycount=$(ls -l /var/log/dpkg.log.*.gz | wc -l)
nlogs=$(( $mycount + 1 ))

while [ $i -le $nlogs ]
do
if [ -e /var/log/dpkg.log.$i.gz ]; then
zcat /var/log/dpkg.log.$i.gz | grep "\ install\ " >> $HOME/pkgtmp.txt
fi
i=$(( $i+1 ))

done

#next append all info from unarchived logs

i=1
nulogs=$(ls -l /var/log/dpkg.log.* | wc -l)
nulogs=$(( $nulogs - $nlogs + 1 ))
while [ $i -le $nulogs ]
do
if [ -e /var/log/dpkg.log.$i ]; then
cat /var/log/dpkg.log.$i | grep "\ install\ " >> $HOME/pkgtmp.txt
fi
i=$(( $i+1 ))

done

#next append current log

cat /var/log/dpkg.log | grep "\ install\ " >> $HOME/pkgtmp.txt

#sort text file by date

sort -n $HOME/pkgtmp.txt > $HOME/pkginstalls.txt

rm $HOME/pkgtmp.txt

exit 0

[ANSWERING THE ACTUAL QUESTION], Yes, there is an EASY way to look up packages installed on a particular date, even if it was done inside of terminal using apt-get.

If you install the Synaptic Package Manager, which is freely installable from the Ubuntu Software Center, you need only open its FILE menu and choose the "History" option. There you will find an accounting of all added and removed application packages, organized by date, regardless of how they came to be installed or removed.