Re: package dependency
>
> Hi,
> How do I know if the package is no longer dependent by others?
>
> for example, if I have a lib-blah package installed, and I want to know
> if there are any other packages installed on my system that depends on
> this package.
>
> I don't want to try to remove it though.
This information is available in /var/lib/dpkg/status. You can get it
out with the little sh script I called `debquery' which is attached
below. I donate this sophisticated piece of software engineering to the
debian community :) You can ask for any field you like:
# default is the Depends field
$ debquery xlib6
xaw95
xview
tk42
xquake
lesstif
# other fields are possible:
$ debquery Suggests gnuplot
octave
`debquery Status installed' would give you all installed packages, but,
unlike `dpkg -l' not cut off longer package names. You need /bin/sh
and `ex' installed for the script to work.
HTH,
Eric
--
E.L. Meijer (tgakem@chem.tue.nl)
Eindhoven Univ. of Technology
Lab. for Catalysis and Inorg. Chem. (SKA)
------ Cut here and save as `debquery' ---------------------------------
#! /bin/sh
#
# This software may be distributed under the GPL.
# I like to call it `debquery'
#
# (C) Eric Meijer, 1999
#
if [ $# -lt 1 ] || [ $# -gt 2 ]; then
echo usage: $0 \[\<field\>\] \<debian package\>
echo "field can be one of the following:"
echo "Depends (the default), Suggests, Conflicts, or any other"
echo "field found (or even not found :) in the status file"
exit
fi
if [ $# = 1 ]; then
FIELD=Depends
PACKAGE=$1
else
FIELD=$1
PACKAGE=$2
fi
STATUSFILE=/var/lib/dpkg/status
ex $STATUSFILE << _EOF_ | cut -d: -f2
g/^$FIELD:.*\<$PACKAGE\>/ ?Package? p
_EOF_
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