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Q&A How do I find out the version of a program in a terminal?

On Debian, the package manager can tell the versions of the installed software. Let's say we want to know the version of mbsync(1). Quoting a comment by @matthewsnyder, this is a 3 step process: ...

posted 6mo ago by alx‭  ·  edited 5mo ago by alx‭

Answer
#4: Post edited by user avatar alx‭ · 2024-06-15T21:50:49Z (5 months ago)
use mbsync/isync for the example, and match it with the explanation
  • On Debian, the package manager can tell the versions of the installed software.
  • Let's say we want to know the version of *neomutt*(1).
  • Quoting a comment by @matthewsnyder, this is a 3 step process:
  • - Figure out full path of the command
  • - Figure out what package owns it
  • - Figure out the version of the package
  • The 3 steps are shown below:
  • ```sh
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt
  • /usr/bin/neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S
  • neomutt: /usr/bin/neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d:
  • neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d: | xargs dpkg -l
  • Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
  • | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
  • |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
  • ||/ Name Version Architecture Description
  • +++-==============-=================-============-===========================================================
  • ii neomutt 20240329+dfsg-0.2 amd64 command line mail reader based on Mutt, with added features
  • ++++-==============-============-============-=====================================
  • ```
  • ---
  • Let's do the same with mbsync(1):
  • `which mbsync` tells the full path of the binary.
  • `... | xargs dpkg -S` (i.e., `dpkg -S /usr/bin/mbsync`) tells you the package that provides the file.
  • `... | cut -f1 -d:` extracts the package name alone.
  • `... | xargs dpkg -l` (i.e., `dpkg -l isync`) tells you the info about the isync package.
  • ---
  • However, if you didn't install the program with the package manager, obviously this won't help.
  • Other package managers for other OSes will have similar features.
  • On Debian, the package manager can tell the versions of the installed software.
  • Let's say we want to know the version of *mbsync*(1).
  • Quoting a comment by @matthewsnyder, this is a 3 step process:
  • - Figure out full path of the command
  • - Figure out what package owns it
  • - Figure out the version of the package
  • The 3 steps are shown below:
  • ```sh
  • alx@debian:~$ which mbsync
  • /usr/bin/mbsync
  • alx@debian:~$ which mbsync | xargs dpkg -S
  • isync: /usr/bin/mbsync
  • alx@debian:~$ which mbsync | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d:
  • isync
  • alx@debian:~$ which mbsync | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d: | xargs dpkg -l
  • Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
  • | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
  • |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
  • ||/ Name Version Architecture Description
  • ++++-==============-============-============-=====================================
  • ii isync 1.4.4-5+b1 amd64 IMAP and MailDir mailbox synchronizer
  • ```
  • ---
  • Let's explain the steps:
  • `which mbsync` tells the full path of the binary.
  • `... | xargs dpkg -S` (i.e., `dpkg -S /usr/bin/mbsync`) tells you the package that provides the file.
  • `... | cut -f1 -d:` extracts the package name alone.
  • `... | xargs dpkg -l` (i.e., `dpkg -l isync`) tells you the info about the isync package.
  • ---
  • However, if you didn't install the program with the package manager, obviously this won't help.
  • Other package managers for other OSes will have similar features.
#3: Post edited by user avatar alx‭ · 2024-06-13T10:04:36Z (5 months ago)
Explain the steps of the pipeline
  • On Debian, the package manager can tell the versions of the installed software.
  • Let's say we want to know the version of *neomutt*(1).
  • Quoting a comment by @matthewsnyder, this is a 3 step process:
  • - Figure out full path of the command
  • - Figure out what package owns it
  • - Figure out the version of the package
  • The 3 steps are shown below:
  • ```sh
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt
  • /usr/bin/neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S
  • neomutt: /usr/bin/neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d:
  • neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d: | xargs dpkg -l
  • Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
  • | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
  • |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
  • ||/ Name Version Architecture Description
  • +++-==============-=================-============-===========================================================
  • ii neomutt 20240329+dfsg-0.2 amd64 command line mail reader based on Mutt, with added features
  • ```
  • However, if you didn't install the program with the package manager, obviously this won't help.
  • Other package managers for other OSes will have similar features.
  • On Debian, the package manager can tell the versions of the installed software.
  • Let's say we want to know the version of *neomutt*(1).
  • Quoting a comment by @matthewsnyder, this is a 3 step process:
  • - Figure out full path of the command
  • - Figure out what package owns it
  • - Figure out the version of the package
  • The 3 steps are shown below:
  • ```sh
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt
  • /usr/bin/neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S
  • neomutt: /usr/bin/neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d:
  • neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d: | xargs dpkg -l
  • Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
  • | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
  • |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
  • ||/ Name Version Architecture Description
  • +++-==============-=================-============-===========================================================
  • ii neomutt 20240329+dfsg-0.2 amd64 command line mail reader based on Mutt, with added features
  • ```
  • ---
  • Let's do the same with mbsync(1):
  • `which mbsync` tells the full path of the binary.
  • `... | xargs dpkg -S` (i.e., `dpkg -S /usr/bin/mbsync`) tells you the package that provides the file.
  • `... | cut -f1 -d:` extracts the package name alone.
  • `... | xargs dpkg -l` (i.e., `dpkg -l isync`) tells you the info about the isync package.
  • ---
  • However, if you didn't install the program with the package manager, obviously this won't help.
  • Other package managers for other OSes will have similar features.
#2: Post edited by user avatar alx‭ · 2024-06-13T10:00:57Z (5 months ago)
Clarify that this is a 3-step process
  • On Debian, the package manager can tell the versions of the installed software.
  • Let's say we want to know the version of *neomutt*(1):
  • ```sh
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt
  • /usr/bin/neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S
  • neomutt: /usr/bin/neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d:
  • neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d: | xargs dpkg -l
  • Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
  • | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
  • |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
  • ||/ Name Version Architecture Description
  • +++-==============-=================-============-===========================================================
  • ii neomutt 20240329+dfsg-0.2 amd64 command line mail reader based on Mutt, with added features
  • ```
  • However, if you didn't install the program with the package manager, obviously this won't help.
  • Other package managers for other OSes will have similar features.
  • On Debian, the package manager can tell the versions of the installed software.
  • Let's say we want to know the version of *neomutt*(1).
  • Quoting a comment by @matthewsnyder, this is a 3 step process:
  • - Figure out full path of the command
  • - Figure out what package owns it
  • - Figure out the version of the package
  • The 3 steps are shown below:
  • ```sh
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt
  • /usr/bin/neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S
  • neomutt: /usr/bin/neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d:
  • neomutt
  • alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d: | xargs dpkg -l
  • Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
  • | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
  • |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
  • ||/ Name Version Architecture Description
  • +++-==============-=================-============-===========================================================
  • ii neomutt 20240329+dfsg-0.2 amd64 command line mail reader based on Mutt, with added features
  • ```
  • However, if you didn't install the program with the package manager, obviously this won't help.
  • Other package managers for other OSes will have similar features.
#1: Initial revision by user avatar alx‭ · 2024-06-03T09:29:14Z (6 months ago) 
On Debian, the package manager can tell the versions of the installed software.

Let's say we want to know the version of *neomutt*(1):

```sh
alx@debian:~$ which neomutt
/usr/bin/neomutt
alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S
neomutt: /usr/bin/neomutt
alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d:
neomutt
alx@debian:~$ which neomutt | xargs dpkg -S | cut -f1 -d: | xargs dpkg -l
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name           Version           Architecture Description
+++-==============-=================-============-===========================================================
ii  neomutt        20240329+dfsg-0.2 amd64        command line mail reader based on Mutt, with added features
```

However, if you didn't install the program with the package manager, obviously this won't help.

Other package managers for other OSes will have similar features.