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For a build tool I'm writing (for which I'd like to implement a sort of dependency-caching system) I'd like to know what the missing dependencies for a .deb package are, without resorting to installing it (possibly) and reading apt-get output, i.e.: I must be able to do it non-interactively in a software, it's not something that a human should do

The manual procedure would be something like:

dpkg -i something.deb || true apt-get -f install

At this point, apt prints something like:

The following extra packages will be installed: ca-certificates git git-man krb5-locales libasn1-8-heimdal libcurl3-gnutls libedit2 liberror-perl libgssapi-krb5-2 libgssapi3-heimdal libhcrypto4-heimdal libheimbase1-heimdal libheimntlm0-heimdal libhx509-5-heimdal libidn11 libk5crypto3 libkeyutils1 libkrb5-26-heimdal libkrb5-3 libkrb5support0 libldap-2.4-2 libroken18-heimdal librtmp0 libruby1.9.1 libsasl2-2 libsasl2-modules libsasl2-modules-db libwind0-heimdal libx11-6 libx11-data libxau6 libxcb1 libxdmcp6 libxext6 libxmuu1 libyaml-0-2 openssh-client openssl patch rsync ruby ruby1.9.1 xauth

I would like to reliably obtain such list without installing the .deb (possibly, because I can remove the package after having installed and have a system just like before, after-all) but especially without needing to manually and interactively parse apt-get output for package listing.

I can use apt-get, apt-cache, aptitude or whatever package is available in Debian and/or Ubuntu for performing such tasks.

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  • Isn't the information provided by dpkg -I $package what you are looking for? Commented Jun 19, 2015 at 14:32
  • dpkg only tells the dependencies from the file, not what would be installed when running apt-get (what if the dependency is satisfied by a meta-package?) and it shows all the dependencies, including those that are already installed. I need to filter those out. Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 14:44

2 Answers 2

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dpkg -I package.deb

It's command show package info. You can find depends in.

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    dpkg only tells the dependencies from the file, not what would be installed when running apt-get (what if the dependency is satisfied by a meta-package?) and it shows all the dependencies, including those that are already installed. I need to filter those out. Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 14:44
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It's not perfect as it needs you to install something, but try apt-rdepends

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  • This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post. - From Review Commented Jul 16 at 6:45

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