apt-tree.sh

Prints package dependency tree or flattened recursive list.

Syntax:

apt-tree.sh [-hlnrRvV] [-p|t|T STR] [-i IN] [-o OUT] [PACKAGE...]

Void options:

• -h — Show this help page.
• -l — Print flattened list (rather than a tree).
• -n — Print number of direct dependencies.
• -r — Use reverse dependencies.
• -R — Do not repeat sub-trees already printed before.
• -v — Increase verbosity level.
• -V — Print program name and version.

Scalar options:

• -i LISTFILE — Read package list from file.
• -o TREEFILE — Output tree (or flattened list) to file.
• -p PREFIX — Indentation prefix for list and tree items (default: empty).
• -t INDENT — Indentation string for each tree level (default: tab).
• -T SUFFIX — Indentation suffix for tree items (default: empty).

Examples

Print dependency tree for a package:

$ apt-tree.sh bash
bash
	glibc

Print flattened recursive list of dependencies for multiple packages:

$ apt-tree.sh -l libxau libxcb
check
libpthread-stubs
libxau
libxcb
libxdmcp
util-macros
xcb-proto
xproto

Print dependency tree for multiple packages, showing their dependency count:

$ apt-tree.sh -n gpm libssh2 libxdmcp
gpm (2)
	chkconfig (1)
		insserv (0)
	ncurses (0)
libssh2 (2)
	libressl (0)
	zlib (0)
libxdmcp (2)
	util-macros (0)
	xproto (1)
		util-macros (0)

Print reverse dependency tree:

$ apt-tree.sh -r xinit
xinit
	meta-desktop
	meta-tablet
	xfce4-session
		meta-desktop

Suppress printing of repeating sub-trees (already printed before); note how circular dependencies and absent packages are labeled:

$ apt-tree.sh -R udev non-existing-package
non-existing-package (missing!)
udev
	chkconfig
		insserv
	usbutils
		libusb
			glibc
			udev (loop!)
		libusb-compat
			libusb (repeating)
		zlib

Redecorate a tree:

$ apt-tree.sh -p '| ' -t '  ' -T '+ ' coreutils
| + coreutils
|   + acl
|     + attr
|   + attr
|   + gmp
|     + ncurses

System requirements

This shell script is written for bash 4.0 as a minimum version, and is actively tested against version 5.0 and newer ones.

This script relies on apt-cache as the actual workhorse to retrieve package metadata.

Other external dependencies include sort from coreutils and, optionally, tput from ncurses (used under certain conditions only).