Stefan Monnier wrote: > Every once in a while I need to install a non-free package, so my system > does have some non-free packages installed. What command can I use to find > out what packages are those (so I can remove them or replace them with free > alternatives)?
grep-status and grep-available are very powerful tools for answering this sort of question. To print out installed non-free packages: grep-status -FSection -r 'non-free/.*' -a \ -FStatus 'install ok installed' -sPackage -FSection tells it to search the "Section" field for the regexp (-r) "non-free/.*"; -a gives a logical and; the string after -FStatus tells it to look only for currently installed packages; and -sPackage tells it to output only the Package field of matching packages. As others have already said, vrms provides a shortcut for this particular query. > Similarly for packages from `unstable, or `experimental'? This one can't be done by grep-status et al because information about the distribution from which the package came isn't provided in dpkg's status file. But apt-show-versions can help. regards, -- Kevin B. McCarty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Physics Department WWW: http://www.princeton.edu/~kmccarty/ Princeton University GPG: public key ID 4F83C751 Princeton, NJ 08544 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]