#! /bin/sh # pre, a script to scan the rpm or deb database for package names. # Time-stamp: <2009-11-06 09:11:03 ccurley pre> # Copyright 2000 through the last date of modification Charles # Curley. Released under the GPL. # I keep my copy in /usr/local/bin, where both root and non-root users # can use it. # Typical usage: pre libpng zlib | sort # You can also use the output field delimiters to select the field you # want. For example, virulent vociferous vi villeins can get rid of # emacs with the following: # for i in $( pre emacs | cut -f1 ) ; do aptitude purge $i ; done # Nattering nabobs of nano can use a regex similarly: # for i in $( pre emacs ^vim | cut -f1 ) ; do aptitude purge $i ; done GREPCMD=egrep argc="${#@}"; # echo there are ${argc} arguments. if [ $argc -gt 1 ] ; then # build multiple alternatives argument to egrep, e.g. (foo|bar|baz). args="("; for arg in "$@"; do # echo $arg args="${args}${arg}|"; done args=$(echo $args | sed s/"|$"/")"/) else args=$@; fi # Why tab as the delimiter? That's cut's default delimiter. OK, it's # ugly. If you don't like it, change it: # pre emacs | sed 's/\t/|/g' # echo "${args}"; if [ -e /bin/rpm ] ; then rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}\t%{VERSION}\t%{RELEASE}\t%{ARCH}\n" | ${GREPCMD} -i "${args}" else dpkg-query --showformat='${Package}\t${Version}\t${Revision}\t${Architecture}\n' --show | ${GREPCMD} "$args" fi
"pre" is short for "present", i.e. which packages are present?
Another use is finding out exactly which kernels you have installed. On Ubuntu:
root@dragon:~# pre ux-im | sort ; uname -r linux-image-2.6.31-17-generic 2.6.31-17.54 i386 linux-image-2.6.31-19-generic 2.6.31-19.56 i386 linux-image-2.6.31-20-generic 2.6.31-20.58 i386 linux-image-generic 2.6.31.20.33 i386 2.6.31-20-generic root@dragon:~#
Addendum, 2010-10-27: You can also pipe the output to other tools. Here's how I use it to clean out multiple kernels after an upgrade:
for i in $( pre linux-image-2.6.31 | cut -f1 ) ; do echo $i ; done | xargs aptitude -y purge