How to view Linux packages

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How to view Linux packages

18.03.2023, 01:07

In the Linux operating system, packages are special archives that contain software and information about its installation and configuration. Each package is a set of files associated with a specific program or library.

What are packages

Packages in Linux are used to manage the installation, removal and updating of software. When you install the program, the package manager downloads the corresponding package from the repository, unpacks it and copies the files to your computer, as well as performs the necessary settings.

They have the .rpm extension (for Red Hat-based distributions such as Fedora and CentOS) or .deb (for Debian-based distributions such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint). There are many different package managers, for example, apt, yum, pacman, each of which uses its own package format.

What are they needed for

Packages allow you to easily manage the installation, updating and removal of programs on your system. There are several package formats in Linux, such as RPM (Red Hat Package Manager), DEB (Debian Package), TGZ (tarball) and others.

They also contain metadata such as the name, version and description of the program, as well as information about the author and license. This metadata allows you to manage dependencies and software updates.

Packages in Linux can be installed from the official repositories of the Linux distribution or from third-party sources. In addition, you can create your own packages to install on other Linux systems.

Viewing packages in different distributions

In most Linux distributions, you can view the list of installed packages using a special command in the terminal.

Debian and Ubuntu

In Debian and Ubuntu, you can use the dpkg-query command:

dpkg-query -l

This command will display a complete list of installed packages in the format "package, version, description".

Fedora, CentOS

In Fedora, CentOS and other distributions that use the package management utility yum or dnf, you can use the command:

yum list installed

As an option

dnf list installed

These commands will display a list of installed packages with their versions and descriptions.

Arch Linux

In Arch Linux and its derivatives, you can use the command:

pacman -Q

This command will list all installed packages.

OpenSUSE

In openSUSE, you can use the command:

zypper search -installed-only

Displays a list of all installed packages.

Slackware

In Slackware, you can use the command:

ls /var/log/packages/

Now you know how to view the list of packages in each of the distributions.

How to view Linux packages

What are packages

What are they needed for

Debian and Ubuntu

Fedora, CentOS

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