Thanks to all suggestions, here is what is now running at my site, in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/local-recommends: Dpkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs{ "xargs --max-args=1 dpkg -I|grep -e 'Package\|Suggests\|Recommends' " } gives out a list of installed packages and their Recommends or Suggests-fields. cheers Uli