CHECK-SUPPORT-STAT(1)

💖 CHECK-SUPPORT-STAT 💖

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for check-support-status from the debian-security-support situation, and it's lowkey one of the most useful lil scripts ever. it goes through your installed packages and yells at you (politely!) about the ones whose security support is limited, already over, or ending sooner than your distro's end of life. main character energy honestly. 👑

📌 NAME 📌

check-support-status — check installed packages for security support (debian-security-support)

✨ VERSION ✨

Version 1:14+2026.05.07 🌸

🫶 SYNOPSIS 🫶

so like, want to search for packages whose support is limited, has already ended, or will end earlier than the distribution's end of life? just run it, no thoughts head empty:

check-support-status

OR, if you want to search for packages with ended support from a custom list, and report each package only once (no repetitive spam, we love that), do this:

check-support-status \
    --type ended \
    --status-db /path/to/status-db \
    --list /path/to/security-support-ended

---

💅 OPTIONS 💅

• --list _FILE_ — use the given file as the database of packages whose support ends at a particular date, or that's limited by specific conditions. format? plain text, in columns, separated by one or more whitespace characters. simple. iconic.

for --type earlyend, the columns go:

• source package name
• last package version that will be supported
• the date support will end
• the rest (optional): details, and/or a URL for further information.

for --type ended, it's giving:

• source package name
• last package version that is supported
• the date support was ended
• the rest (optional): details, and/or a URL for further information.

for --type limited:

• source package name
• the rest (optional): details, and/or a URL for further information.

and if you don't pass --list at all? no worries, the script runs for limited and date-defined end of support using the lists shipped in the package. built-in, bestie. 💖

also, by default check-support-status evaluates the status of the packages according to the Debian version where it runs upon. wanna change that vibe? use the DEBIAN_VERSION environment variable, like:

DEBIAN_VERSION=9 check-support-status

• --no-heading — skips printing a headline. no big header moment, just the facts. 🎀
• --status-db _FILE_ — use the given file to record alerts, so each affected package is reported only once. no repeats, no echo, periodt.

Default: No records, any affected package will be reported every time. 😭 (yes, every single time)

• --except _PACKAGES_ — do NOT alert for the given binary packages (comma-separated list).

Default: Alert for all packages (no exceptions). everyone gets called out fr fr 💀

• --type _TYPE_ — one of the following:
  • earlyend: alert for packages whose support will end earlier than the distribution's.
  • ended: alert for packages where security support has ended.
  • limited: alert for packages where security support is limited.
• --version, --Version, -V — show the version number and exit. three whole ways to ask, we're flexible like that. ✨

---

🙈 BUGS 🙈

installations with mixed distributions like half-stable, half-testing are not supported. it's giving chaos, and the script said not today. 🚫

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Christoph Biedl <debian.axhn@manchmal.in-ulm.de>

🌈 COPYRIGHT & LICENSE 🌈

Copyright (C) 2014 Christoph Biedl <debian.axhn@manchmal.in-ulm.de>

This package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.

This package is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>

On Debian systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public
License version 2 can be found in
"/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2".

💀 bestie real talk: that WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY bit means NO WARRANTY, not even implied warranties of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. it's free software, not free promises, iykyk.

---

and that's the whole thing, babe 🦋 this was CHECK-SUPPORT-STAT(1), page version 1:14+2026.05.07, dated 05/07/2026. go check your packages, stay secure, and slay responsibly. 💜✨🌸