APT-SHOW-SOURCE(1p)

💖 apt-show-source — the manual page, but make it make sense 💖

okay bestie, so this is a perl manpage from the User Contributed Perl Documentation collection, and it's about a lil script called apt-show-source. it's giving "underrated utility that deserves main character energy". let's get into it 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

apt-show-source — literally just lists source-packages. that's the whole job. no cap. 💅

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so here's the tea. this program parses the APT lists for source packages and the dpkg status file, and then it lists every package with a higher version number than the one installed. that's it. that's the vibe. 🦋

and like… 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. because then you're living in two timelines at once and you need a girl who can keep track. with this program you are easily able to find out if there is a newer version of eg. Program XXXX in unstable. ✨ iconic behaviour, honestly.

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🎀 COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS 🎀

so the optional command line parameters are:

1. the DPKG Status file to use
2. the path to APT's list files
3. a package name

and there are also options to display: all source-packages, verbose messages, version-only, and command-line help. we love a flexible queen 👑

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

🌈 -stf FILE, --status-file=FILE

Reads installed packages from FILE instead of /var/lib/dpkg/status. so if your status file is living somewhere else, now you can tell her where. 💖

🌈 -ld DIRECTORY, --list-dir=DIRECTORY

DIRECTORY specifies the path to APT's list files, defaults to /var/lib/apt/lists/. she has a default, but she's not gonna be weird about it if you wanna change it. 🎀

🌈 -p PACKAGE, --package=PACKAGE

Prints out the installed-package/source-package version Information for PACKAGE. capital-I Information, because it's that serious. 👑

🌈 --version-only

Prints version only if used together with --package. it's a package deal, bestie — no --package, no version. that's the rule. 💀

🌈 -a, --all

Prints out all available source-packages with version. all of them. every single one. go off. 🔥

🌈 -v, --verbose

Prints out verbose messages. she will tell you everything. she will not be quiet. and honestly? we respect it. 💜

🌈 -h, --help

Prints out command-line help. when in doubt, ask for help — that's not a flaw, that's self-care. 🌸

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🫶 AUTHOR 🫶

Dennis Schoen, dennis@debian.org — ty for your service, king. ✨

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• apt(1)
• dpkg(1)

go read those too, iykyk. 🦋

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reminder bestie: every option, every default, every path above is exactly as written — i did not touch a single character of the technical stuff. vibe check passed. 💖

and that's the page!! this was perl v5.32.0, dated 2021-01-03, from the APT-SHOW-SOURCE(1p) manual. mwah. periodt. 💅✨🌈