apt-listchanges
Section: User Commands (1)
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NAME
apt-listchanges --- Show new changelog
entries from Debian package archives
SYNOPSIS
apt-listchanges [options ... ] {--apt | package.deb ... }
DESCRIPTION
apt-listchanges is a tool to show what
has been changed in a new version of a Debian package, as
compared to the version currently installed on the
system.
It does this by extracting the relevant entries from both the
NEWS.Debian and changelog[.Debian] files, usually found in
/usr/share/doc/package,
from Debian package archives.
Given a set of filenames as arguments (or read from apt when
using --apt),
apt-listchanges will scan the files (assumed
to be Debian package archives) for the relevant changelog
entries, and display them all in a summary, sorted by urgency.
OPTIONS
- --apt
-
Read filenames from a specially-formatted pipeline (as
provided by apt), rather than from command line arguments,
and honor certain apt-specific options in the config
file. This pipeline must be in "version 2" format,
specified in the apt configuration.
- -v, --verbose
-
Display additional (usually unwanted) information.
For instance, print a message when a package of the same
or older version is to be installed, or when a package is
to be newly installed.
- -f, --frontend
-
Select which frontend to use to display information to the
user. Current frontends include:
-
- pager
-
Uses your favorite pager to display output. By
default, the PAGER environment variable will be
used. The "pager" option may be specified in the
configuration file to select a specific pager for
use with apt-listchanges.
- browser
-
Displays an HTML-formatted changelog using a web
browser, with hyperlinks for bugs and email
addresses. By default, the BROWSER environment
variable will be used. The
"browser" option may be specified in the
configuration file to select a specific browser for
use with apt-listchanges.
- xterm-pager
-
Uses your favorite pager to display output, but does
so in an xterm (using the x-terminal-emulator
alternative) in the background. This allows you
to go on with the upgrade if you like, and continue
to browse the changelogs. You can override the
terminal emulator to be used with the "xterm"
configuration option.
- xterm-browser
-
The logical combination of xterm-pager and browser.
Only appropriate for text-mode browsers.
- text
-
Dumps output to stdout, with no pauses.
- mail
-
Sends mail to the address specified with
--email-address, and does not display changelogs.
- gtk
-
Spawns a gtk window to display the changelogs. Needs
python-glade2, python-gtk2 to be installed.
- none
-
Does nothing. Can be used to prevent
apt-listchanges from running when configured to run
automatically from apt.
- --email-address=address
-
In addition to displaying it, mail a copy of the changelog
data to the specified address. To only mail changelog
entries, use this option with the special frontend 'mail'.
- -c, --confirm
-
Once changelogs have been displayed, ask the user whether
or not to proceed. If the user chooses not to proceed, a
nonzero exit status will be returned, and apt will abort.
- -a, --all
-
Rather than trying to display changelog entries that are
newer than the currently installed version of the package,
simply display all changelog entries for all packages.
This is useful for viewing the entire changelog of a .deb
before extracting it.
- --save_seen=file
-
This option will cause apt-listchanges to keep track of
the last version of a package for which changelogs have
been displayed, to avoid redisplaying the same changelogs
in a future invocation. The database is stored in the
named file. Specify 'none' to disable this feature.
- --since=version
-
This option will cause apt-listchanges to show the entries later
than the specified version. With this option, the only other
argument you can pass is the path to a .deb file.
- --which={news|changelogs|both}
-
This option selects whether news (from NEWS.Debian et
al.), changelogs (from changelog.Debian et al.) or both
should be displayed. The default is to display only news.
- --help
-
Displays syntax information.
- -h, --headers
-
These options will cause apt-listchanges to insert a
header before each package's changelog showing the name of
the package, and the names of the binary packages which
are being upgraded (if there is more than one, or it
differs from the source package name).
- --debug
-
Display some debugging information
- --profile=name
-
Select an option profile.
name corresponds to a section in
/etc/apt/listchanges.conf. The default
when invoked from apt is "apt", and "cmdline" otherwise.
- --reverse
-
Show the changelog entries in reverse order.
ENVIRONMENT
- APT_LISTCHANGES_FRONTEND
-
Frontend to use
- BROWSER
-
Used by
the browser frontend, should be set to a command expecting a
file: URL for an HTML file to display.
FILES
- /etc/apt/listchanges.conf
-
Configuration file. Most options have the same names
as command-line options, with hyphens translated to
underscores.
Example configuration file
[cmdline]
frontend=pager
[apt]
frontend=xterm-pager
email_address=root
confirm=1
[custom]
frontend=browser
browser=mozilla
-
The above configuration file specifies that in
command-line mode, the default frontend should be "pager".
In apt mode, the xterm-pager frontend is default, a copy
of the changelogs (if any) should be emailed to root, and
apt-listchanges should ask for confirmation. If
apt-listchanges is invoked with --profile=custom, the
browser frontend will be used, and invoke mozilla.
- /var/lib/apt/listchanges.db
-
Database used for save-seen
AUTHOR
apt-listchanges was written by Matt Zimmerman
<mdz@debian.org>
SEE ALSO
apt.conf(5)
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- OPTIONS
-
- ENVIRONMENT
-
- FILES
-
- AUTHOR
-
- SEE ALSO
-