Anyone good with dpkg/apt

Steven W. Orr steveo at syslang.net
Thu Mar 22 11:10:33 EDT 2007


On Wednesday, Mar 21st 2007 at 21:50 -0400, quoth Paul Lussier:

=>
=>> On Wednesday 21 March 2007 12:06 pm, Steven W. Orr wrote:
=>>> I need to see the list of files in an uninstalled package. The rpm equiv
=>>> would be
=>
=>"Michael ODonnell" <michael.odonnell at comcast.net> writes:
=>
=>>    ar tv somePackage.deb               # What's in the .deb ?
=>
=>Neil Joseph Schelly <neil at jenandneil.com> writes:
=>
=>> Install apt-file, which will build a searchable index of all files
=>> in the APT repositories.
=>
=>"Seth Cohn" <sethcohn at gnuhampshire.org> writes:
=>
=>> all debs have a file which is generated upon installation:
=>>
=>> /var/lib/dpkg/info/[packagename].list
=>>
=>> Just view that, and it's the list of what files are(were) in the package.
=>
=>Oh, and if you *have* the .deb, there's also:
=>
=> dpkg-deb --contents package.deb
=>
=>
=>Among other things, dpkg-deb is really just a nice wrapper around ar and tar.  Use the following options:
=>
=> --extract, -x, --vextract, -X
=>        Extracts the filesystem tree from a  package  archive  into  the
=>        specified directory.
=>
=>        --vextract  (-X)  prints  a listing of the files extracted as it
=>        goes, while --extract (-x) is silent unless an error occurs.
=>
=>        Note that extracting a package to the root  directory  will  not
=>        result  in a correct installation! Use dpkg to install packages.
=>
=> --fsys-tarfile
=>        Extracts the filesystem tree data  from  a  binary  package  and
=>        sends  it to standard output in tar format. Together with tar(1)
=>        this can be used to extract a particular  file  from  a  package
=>        archive.
=>
=>For those still reading this thread and who may care, here's a list of
=>dpkg and apt related commands currently installed on my home system:
=>
=>  apt                   apt-file              apt-key
=>  apt-cache             apt-ftparchive        apt-rdepends
=>  apt-cdrom             apt-get               apt-show-versions
=>  apt-config            apt-index-watcher     apt-sortpkgs
=>  apt-extracttemplates  aptitude              
=>
=>  dpkg-architecture    dpkg-genbuilddeps    dpkg-reconfigure
=>  dpkg-buildpackage    dpkg-genchanges      dpkg-scanpackages
=>  dpkg-checkbuilddeps  dpkg-gencontrol      dpkg-scansources
=>  dpkg-deb             dpkg-name            dpkg-shlibdeps
=>  dpkg-depcheck        dpkg-parsechangelog  dpkg-source
=>  dpkg-distaddfile     dpkg-preconfigure    dpkg-split
=>  dpkg-divert          dpkg-query           dpkg-statoverride
=>
=>One of the *really* nice things about debian is how they've managed to
=>replace a nice small tool like rpm with about 50 *different* tools all
=>with somewhat overlapping capabilities, arcane and difficult to
=>remember names, and strange options.  Oh, and all of these tools must
=>be installed individually and seperately...  Yes, a major coup for the
=>debian folks there! ;)

Paul, I'm really glad you wrote this. I'm as good any anyone with rpm but 
for the life of me I've been struggling with deb files. I just wasn't 
getting the docs I wanted, couldn't find the functionality I wanted, but 
now at least I have an idea of why, and how to correct the problem, if I 
actually want or have to. 

Your mail is now saved.

-- 
Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. Stranger things have  .0.
happened but none stranger than this. Does your driver's license say Organ ..0
Donor?Black holes are where God divided by zero. Listen to me! We are all- 000
individuals! What if this weren't a hypothetical question?
steveo at syslang.net


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