knowing whether a package is installed or not using apt tool

matrix13 · 02-12-2009, 12:37 AM

Can I know the status of a package using apt-cache or apt-get or etc? I mean can I know whether a package is installed in the machine or not using apt.

I know that, when I try to install a package using:

Quote:

apt-get install pkg-name

it outputs that the package is already installed, if it is so.

But, I want to search for a package and know whether it is previously installed or not.

Do I have to use tools other that apt for this?

Thanks and regards

jdkaye · 02-12-2009, 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matrix13

Can I know the status of a package using apt-cache or apt-get or etc? I mean can I know whether a package is installed in the machine or not using apt.

I know that, when I try to install a package using:

it outputs that the package is already installed, if it is so.

But, I want to search for a package and know whether it is previously installed or not.

Do I have to use tools other that apt for this?

Thanks and regards

If you have aptitude installed this is quite easy:

Code:

aptitude search [package name]

(you don't have to be root to run aptitude search ...)
For example if I run aptitude search gnutls I get this:

Code:

p   gnutls-bin                      - the GNU TLS library - commandline utilitie
v   gnutls-dev                      -
p   gnutls-doc                      - the GNU TLS library - documentation and ex
p   guile-gnutls                    - the GNU TLS library - GNU Guile bindings
p   libapache2-mod-gnutls           - Apache2 module for SSL and TLS encryption
i A libcurl3-gnutls                 - Multi-protocol file transfer library (GnuT
v   libcurl3-gnutls-dev             -
p   libcurl4-gnutls-dev             - Development files and documentation for li
i A libgnutls-dev                   - the GNU TLS library - development files
i   libgnutls13                     - the GNU TLS library - runtime library
i   libgnutls26                     - the GNU TLS library - runtime library
p   libgnutls26-dbg                 - GNU TLS library - debugger symbols
c   libgnutlsxx13                   - the GNU TLS library - C++ runtime library
p   libneon26-gnutls                - An HTTP and WebDAV client library (GnuTLS
p   libneon26-gnutls-dbg            - Detached symbols for libneon26 (GnuTLS ena
p   libneon26-gnutls-dev            - Header and static library files for libneo
p   libneon27-gnutls                - An HTTP and WebDAV client library (GnuTLS
p   libneon27-gnutls-dbg            - Detached symbols for libneon27 (GnuTLS ena
p   libneon27-gnutls-dev            - Header and static library files for libneo
p   libxmlsec1-gnutls               - Gnutls engine for the XML security library
p   python-gnutls                   - Python wrapper for the GNUTLS library
v   python2.4-gnutls                -
v   python2.5-gnutls

The packages whose lines begin with "i" are installed.
Cheers,
jdk

matrix13 · 02-12-2009, 03:57 AM

Thank you