This program parses the APT lists for source packages and the dpkg status file and then lists every package with a higher version number than the one installed.
It may prove very useful if the “deb” entries in your APT sources.list point to stable and the “deb-src” entries point to unstable. With this program you are easily able to find out if there is a newer version of eg. Program XXXX in unstable.
Install apt-show-source in Debian
#apt-get install apt-show-source
Install apt-show-source in Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install apt-show-source
This will complete the installation.
apt-show-source Syntax
apt-show-source [options] [pkgs …]
Example
# apt-show-source bash
Output looks like below
Inst. Package (Version) | Newest Source Package (Version)
——————————————————————————-
notification-daemon (0.3.5-1+b1) | notification-daemon (0.3.5-1)
libkpathsea4 (3.0-24) | tetex-bin (3.0-27)
libgtksourceview-common (1.8.1-2) | gtksourceview (1.8.2-1)
gnome-volume-manager (1.5.15-1+b1) | gnome-volume-manager (1.5.15-1)
If you want to know more available options check apt-show-source man page