Re: Can status column be made to contain only ii?

[Kushal Kumaran <kushal@locationd.net>]

Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> writes:

> # grep RETT /etc/os-release
> PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)"
> # dpkg -l | grep '^ii' | wc -l
> 867
> # dpkg -l | grep -v '^ii' | wc -l
> 136
> # dpkg -l | grep '^rc' | wc -l
> 125
> # dpkg -l | egrep -v '^ii'|'^rc' | sort
> Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
> |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
> ic  xserver-xorg-video-radeon 1:18.1.0-1 amd64        X.Org X server -- AMD/ATI Radeon display driver
> ||/ Name                      Version    Architecture Description
> ri  libtirpc3:amd64           1.1.4-0.4  amd64        transport-independent RPC library
> ri  libtirpc-common           1.1.4-0.4  all          transport-independent RPC library - common files
> | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
>
> Is it normal for non-iis not to be reduced to 0? How to get rid of the
> numerous rcs?

The rc state indicates that the package has been removed but
configuration files remain.  You can review the list and purge these
packages.

I sometimes do this:

  # apt purge $(dpkg -l | awk '$1 == "rc" {print $2}')

You'd want to always review the list before confirming the purge.  Some
packages, such as database servers, will retain their data files in the
rc state and remove them when purged.  You should make sure you don't
care about those files.  Configuration files will also be removed when
the package is purged, so you need to similarly make sure you don't need
those.

I think the ic and ri states indicate that an operation is incomplete.
I've never seen these states myself.  Try apt-get -f install to check if
there is some package management operation pending.  The dpkg-query
manpage has a list of the possible values in these fields.

-- 
regards,
kushal