List installed Programs

philthee · 10-07-2005, 08:47 AM

Hi there, sorry for what seems a very easy question but how do i list the installed programs on linux?
command line job!

Cheers

Phil

MensaWater · 10-07-2005, 08:56 AM

It depends on your distro. For RedHat, Fefora and others its:

rpm -qa

Note that will only list packages installed by rpms. If you have a commercial package or did your own compile they might not be in the list.

philthee · 10-07-2005, 08:59 AM

thank you!

pippo · 10-07-2005, 01:59 PM

You can also go into /usr/bin and type ls

b0nd · 10-07-2005, 02:06 PM

Hello,

List the packages

Code:

rpm -qa | less

What packages does package "P" regquires ??

Code:

rpm -q --requires P

What package do require package P??

Code:

rpm -q --which - requires P

To see if a particular package is installed

Code:

rpm -qa | grep < pkg. name > ( without <>)

if you don't know the exact pkg. name

Code:

rpm -qa | grep -i <pkg. name>

regards

MensaWater · 10-07-2005, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pippo
You can also go into /usr/bin and type ls

This would show you SOME executables but two issues with this:

1) It doesn't show ALL executables by a long shot. (what about sbin, opt, local etc...?)

2) Most packages have multiple executables included which may or may not have anything to do with the name of the package. (see binutils package for example).

pippo · 10-07-2005, 02:22 PM

I was aware of that.

But it seems to me to be the most immediate way to to see most of the executable programs you have.

Of course, some packages have executables that don't have much to do with the name of the package itself (e. g. net-utils). But, any way, it still gives you the names of the executable files.

Of course, these files can be in other places but most of them will be in /usr/bin.

MensaWater · 10-07-2005, 02:56 PM

Most...

Just as a quick check on one of my RedHat servers: 347 files in /usr/bin and 123 in /usr/sbin. That means 25% (ignoring all other directories) are in /usr/sbin. So while you'e correct that 75% is technically "most" the other 25% could be considered "significant".

Look at it this way: I could probably or play tennis with only 75% of my limbs but wouldn't be willing to get rid of 25% of them to do it. And of course it would depend a lot on what the 25% missing was - one hell of a lot easier if its an arm rather than a leg.

Wasn't trying to put you down in prior post - just noting issues with the method you mentioned. The point in forums is to learn. On more than one occasion someone has pointed out things I didn't know and I saw no need to take umbrage at it.

pippo · 10-07-2005, 03:35 PM

When I saw someone was asking to see what programs were installed, I instantly thought the most direct (although incomplete) way would be to take a look into /usr/bin and /usr/sbin. Then I had second thoughts about sbin since it contains things that are more exotic (I explain below what I mean).

Since the person introduced himself as a newbie, I assumed that he just wanted to see what programs (like firefox, kmail...) were installed. And the simplest way to help was to suggest him to take a peek in /usr/bin. Of course, there are a lot of things in sbin but I felt that the user was looking for things like firefox rather than sshd or traceroute.

I know where programs are. In /usr/bin but also sbin and elsewhere. My goal was not to be technically flawless but rather to provide with a simple and immediate answer. It seemed to me more simple than exploring the packages and it probably met the needs of the person who posted the message.

I still think that looking in /usr/bin is the simplest way to answer questions like 'do I have mozilla?' which what I understood was the purpose athough it will miss a lot of things.