Re: Is there an easy way to get the latest version number of a source package that is available?

[Roberto C. Sánchez <roberto@debian.org>]

On Mon, Jun 27, 2022 at 10:44:25PM +0100, Tim Woodall wrote:
> On Mon, 27 Jun 2022, Roberto C. S?nchez wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, Jun 27, 2022 at 03:31:01PM +0100, Tim Woodall wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > > 
> > > apt-get --only-source --download-only source <package>
> > > 
> > > will download the latest version of the source package.
> > > 
> > > Is there a one liner that will give me the version of the package
> > > (including the epoch) without downloading the package and parsing the
> > > dsc?
> > > 
> > If you are not opposed to installing the devscripts package, then you
> > can do this:
> > 
> > $ rmadison -u debian -a source -s unstable firefox-esr
> > firefox-esr | 91.10.0esr-1  | unstable   | source
> > 
> 
> Thanks! And that has given me another hint:
> 
> $ apt-cache madison openssh
>    openssh |  1:9.0p1-1 | http://aptmirror17.home.woodall.me.uk/local bullseye/main Sources
>    openssh | 1:9.0p1-1~tjw11r1 | http://aptmirror17.home.woodall.me.uk/local bullseye/main Sources
>    openssh |  1:8.4p1-5 | http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian bullseye/main Sources
>    openssh | 1:7.9p1-10+deb10u1 | http://security.debian.org buster/updates/main Sources
>    openssh | 1:7.4p1-10+deb9u7 | http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian stretch/main Sources
>    openssh | 1:7.9p1-10+deb10u2 | http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian buster/main Sources
>    openssh |  1:8.4p1-5 | http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian stable/main Sources
>    openssh |  1:8.4p1-5 | http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian testing/main Sources
>    openssh |  1:9.0p1-1 | http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian testing/main Sources
>    openssh |  1:8.4p1-5 | http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian sid/main Sources
>    openssh |  1:9.0p1-1 | http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian sid/main Sources
> 
> That shouldn't be too hard to parse.
> 
> I didn't know what madison was but I recalled seeing it in the manpage.
> 
> I'll need to investigate rmadison. Might be just what I need assuming it
> can also support my local repo. Doesn't honour my apt proxy setting so
> doesn't work out of the box for me.
> 
The usefulness of 'apt-cache madison' versus 'rmadison' depends on what
you mean by "lastest available version".  If you mean "latest available
version from the sources configured on my system", then 'apt-cache
madison' will do just that.  If you mean "latest available version in
the Debian archive", then you need 'rmadison'.

Regards,

-Roberto

-- 
Roberto C. Sánchez