CategoryComputingTips > DebianCompTips

Debian GNU/Linux Tips

See all of dpkg -l

dpkg -l gets cutoff? Use:

COLUMNS=200 dpkg -l

or if you just want package names:

dpkg --get-selections

Keeping up with changes in packages

apt-get install apt-listchanges - I like to keep up-to-date know what's changed on my woody boxes. This emails you the diffs of upgraded packages when you run apt-get upgrade.

Some common apt problems

I keep finding out that a number of people don't know these two things.

Firstly, E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room errors when doing an apt-get update are easily resolved by adding a line to /etc/apt/apt.conf like so:

Cache-Limit "8388608";

(There's no special significance to this number AFAIK except that it represents 8MB, and has always been good enough for me. I suggest trying 16777216 if it doesn't work...)

Secondly, running out of space in /var is quite common for newbie debian users. Packages downloaded by apt are stored in /var/cache/apt, so if this gets full you can end up with logging and mail delivery breaking and stuff. The solution is to either have this directory on its own partition, or to use apt-get clean every so often. (Note that tools like dselect apparently do this automatically, though)