Command to see dependencies of a package in Ubuntu

[vinayasurya]

Can anyone suggest me a command to view the dependencies needed to install a particular package in the ubuntu. As I don't have a net connection at home i need to download packages. It will be very useful if there is some command to show dependencies needed in that system to install a particular package downloaded. For example if i download xmms.deb , the depencies needed to install it my system

[bforbes]

dpkg-deb -I file

Be wary of which architectures you're downloading.

Here's the output for Firefox 1.5.0.1 i386:

bforbes@ben:~$ dpkg-deb -I packages/firefox_1.5.dfsg+1.5.0.1-1ubuntu12_i386.deb
 new debian package, version 2.0.
 size 7895392 bytes: control archive= 14274 bytes.
     348 bytes,    10 lines      conffiles
    1333 bytes,    18 lines      control
   32563 bytes,   428 lines      md5sums
    1002 bytes,    30 lines   *  postinst             #!/bin/sh
     293 bytes,     8 lines   *  postrm               #!/bin/sh
    2134 bytes,    60 lines   *  preinst              #!/bin/sh
     805 bytes,    23 lines   *  prerm                #!/bin/sh
 Package: firefox
 Version: 1.5.dfsg+1.5.0.1-1ubuntu12
 Section: web
 Priority: optional
 Architecture: i386
 .
Depends: fontconfig, psmisc, debianutils (>= 1.16), libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.9.0), libc6 (>= 2.3.4-1), libcairo2 (>= 1.0.2-2), libfontconfig1 (>= 2.3.0), libfreetype6 (>= 2.1.10-1), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.0.2), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.10.0), libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.8.0), libidl0, libjpeg62, libpango1.0-0 (>= 1.12.1), libpng12-0 (>= 1.2.8rel), libstdc++6 (>= 4.0.2-4), libx11-6, libxcursor1 (>> 1.1.2), libxext6, libxfixes3, libxft2 (>> 2.1.1), libxi6, libxinerama1, libxrandr2, libxrender1, libxt6, zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.1), libnspr4 (>= 2:1.firefox1.5.dfsg+1.5.0.1-1ubuntu12), libnss3 (>= 2:1.firefox1.5.dfsg+1.5.0.1-1ubuntu12)
 Suggests: firefox-gnome-support (= 1.5.dfsg+1.5.0.1-1ubuntu12), latex-xft-fonts, libthai0
 Conflicts: mozilla-firefox (<< 1.5.dfsg+1.5.0.1-1ubuntu12)
 Replaces: mozilla-firefox (<< 1.5.dfsg+1.5.0.1-1ubuntu12)
 Provides: www-browser, mozilla-firefox
 Installed-Size: 22848
 Maintainer: Eric Dorland <eric@debian.org>
 Description: lightweight web browser based on Mozilla
  Firefox is a redesign of the Mozilla browser component, similar to
  Galeon, K-Meleon and Camino, but written using the XUL user interface
  language and designed to be lightweight and cross-platform.
  .
  This browser was previously known as Firebird and Phoenix.

Those dependencies may be available for different architectures.

[vinayasurya]

Thanks, one more question. This command shows full depedency list for package installed in system right. My question is suppose i downloaded xmms package. I want to install it . Then there will be some dependencies needed to install which are not installated in the default installation, right. Plz tell me some way to the dependecy list to make the pacakge running on my system.

[bforbes]

You just need to find .deb files for each dependency. You should be able to find them here:

http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages

For example, let's look at the dependencies of xmms.

Depends: libc6 (>= 2.3.4-1), libglib1.2 (>= 1.2.0), libgtk1.2 (>= 1.2.10-4), libice6, libsm6, libssl0.9.7, libx11-6, libxext6, libxi6

I just searched for libc6 and found this:
http://packages.debian.org/stable/base/libc6

Just get each one and install them. If they have dependencies, do the same process recursively.

[vinayasurya]

Some of those dependencies is there in a installed system. How can I know what all dependency packages to download.

[bforbes]

To find out if you have a particular package:

dpkg -l packagename

Here's the output I get for libc6:

Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name                      Version                   Description
+++-=========================-=========================-==================================================================
ii  libc6                     2.3.5-1ubuntu12.5.10.1    GNU C Library: Shared libraries and Timezone data

The "ii" on the left indicates it's installed.

Alternatively:

bforbes@ben:~$ dpkg -l foo
No packages found matching foo.

Since the package "foo" doesn't exist.

So just perform that command on every dependency to find out if you have it or not.

[mangologin]

isnt there any command line tool to do the same?actually i am looking to save the list of dependencies in a text file and work on them....Any way to generate the list of dependencies for a package that is yet to be installed?

[oz]

isnt there any command line tool to do the same?actually i am looking to save the list of dependencies in a text file and work on them....Any way to generate the list of dependencies for a package that is yet to be installed?

Welcome to the forums, mangologin!

Very sorry for any inconvenience, but this thread is over 3 years old and probably no longer monitored by any of the other posters. Please feel free to start a new thread of your own with the details of any problems you are having.

Thank you.