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This is really useful if you have a mixed stable/testing environment and want to list all packages which are from testing and can be upgraded in testing.
apt-show-versions uses caching for the status information of installed and available packages. If you run apt-show-versions as root the cache is updated as needed. If you run as non-root uses the newest available information, but can’t update the cache. If you run as root with the option -i the cache is initialized or updated only.
Install apt-show-versions in Debian
#apt-get install apt-show-versions
Install apt-show-versions in Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install apt-show-versions
Examples
If you want to run this command from the command line
#apt-show-versions
output looks like below
libdb1-compat/testing uptodate 2.1.3-9
libhtml-mason-perl/testing uptodate 1:1.33-2
libmailtools-perl/testing uptodate 1.74-0.1
libfile-scan-perl/testing uptodate 1.43-1
liborbit2/testing upgradeable from 1:2.14.0-2 to 1:2.14.3-0.1
discover1/testing uptodate 1.7.18
auto-apt/testing uptodate 0.3.21
mutt/testing uptodate 1.5.13-1
egroupware-phpsysinfo/testing upgradeable from 1.2-104.dfsg-3 to 1.2-105.dfsg-2
libssl0.9.8/testing upgradeable from 0.9.8b-3 to 0.9.8c-3
libgtk2.0-0/testing upgradeable from 2.8.20-1 to 2.8.20-3
If you want to see available upgraded you need to use -u option
#apt-show-versions -u
output looks like
ruby1.8/testing uptodate 1.8.5-3
bsdmainutils/testing uptodate 6.1.4
libtime-modules-perl/testing uptodate 2003.1126-2
slang1a-utf8 1.4.9dbs-8 installed: No available version in archive
tmpreaper/testing uptodate 1.6.6
eject/testing uptodate 2.1.4-2.1
ssh/testing upgradeable from 1:4.3p2-3 to 1:4.3p2-5
To get a list of all available versions of libc6
#apt-show-versions -a -p libc6
To upgrade all packages in testing:
#apt-get install ‘apt-show-versions -u -b | fgrep testing’
If you want to know more available options for apt-show-versions check man page
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November 17th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
The last command that let’s you upgrade all the packages in testing doesn’t work. I think we should enclose the whole ‘apt-show-versions -u -b | fgrep testing’ part in command substitutions quotes/ticks (`).
Cheers
–arky
November 17th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
you are right and i have updated the article thanks