How to List Manually Installed Packages in Ubuntu & Debian

Keeping track of the packages you have manually installed on your Ubuntu system is essential for managing your software and maintaining a clean system. This article will guide you through the process of listing manually installed packages in Ubuntu using various command-line tools, such as apt, dpkg, and apt-mark. Additionally, we will demonstrate how to remove unwanted packages to declutter your system.

Table of Contents:

1. Overview of Package Management in Ubuntu
2. Using apt to List Manually Installed Packages
3. Using dpkg and apt-mark to List Manually Installed Packages
4. Removing Unwanted Packages
5. Conclusion

Overview of Package Management

Package management in Ubuntu is primarily handled by the Advanced Package Tool (APT) and its associated command-line utilities, such as apt, apt-get, and apt-cache. These tools interact with the Debian Package (.deb) files and repositories to install, update, and remove packages on your system. Another important tool is dpkg, which deals with individual package files and can also be used to query package information.

Using apt to List Manually Installed Packages:

One simple way to list manually installed packages is to use the apt command. Run the following command in your terminal:

apt list --manual-installed 

This command will display a list of packages that have been installed manually, excluding those installed as dependencies or part of the base system. Keep in mind that this list might include packages that were installed during the initial system setup or as part of a meta-package.

Using dpkg and apt-mark to List Manually Installed Packages:

For a more refined list of manually installed packages, you can use a combination of dpkg and apt-mark commands. First, create a list of all installed packages on your system using dpkg:

dpkg-query -W -f='${Status} ${Package}\n' | grep "install ok installed" | awk '{print $4}' > installed_packages.txt 

This command will create a file called “installed_packages.txt”, which contains the names of all installed packages on your system.

Next, use the apt-mark command to create a list of automatically installed packages:

apt-mark showauto > auto_installed_packages.txt 

This command will create a file called “auto_installed_packages.txt” containing the names of all automatically installed packages on your system.

Now, to find the difference between the two lists and obtain the list of manually installed packages, use the following command:

comm -23 installed_packages.txt auto_installed_packages.txt > manually_installed_packages.txt 

This command will create a file called “manually_installed_packages.txt” containing the names of all manually installed packages on your system. You can view the list using a text editor or by running:

cat manually_installed_packages.txt 

Removing Unwanted Packages:

If you discover any unwanted packages in the list of manually installed packages, you can remove them using the apt command. To remove a package, run the following command:

sudo apt remove package_name 

Replace package_name with the name of the package you wish to remove. This command will uninstall the package and its unused dependencies. To remove the package along with its configuration files, use thepurge` option:

sudo apt purge package_name 

After removing unwanted packages, it is a good idea to clean up any residual package files using the autoremove and clean commands:

sudo apt autoremove 
sudo apt clean 

These commands will remove any unused dependencies and clear the package cache, freeing up disk space.

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed how to list manually installed packages in Ubuntu using various command-line tools, such as apt, dpkg, and apt-mark. We also demonstrated how to remove unwanted packages to maintain a clean system. Regularly monitoring your manually installed packages allows you to keep track of the software installed on your system, prevent potential conflicts, and optimize system performance.