Spot Foreign-Architecture Packages

Package dependency output is confusing and you need to see whether the host has non-native architecture packages installed.

Command

dpkg-query -W -f='${Architecture}\t${Package}\n' | awk '$1 != "amd64" && $1 != "all"'

Before you run this

System impact: Read-only. Low when scoped to the shown target.

When not to use it: Do not assume foreign architecture packages are wrong; some applications require them.

Expected output

Foreign-architecture package rows such as i386 zlib1g:i386.

System impact

Read-only. Nothing changes. dpkg-query prints package architectures and awk filters non-native rows.

Recovery / rollback: no state is changed.

When to use it

Use when debugging multiarch dependency issues, legacy runtime support, or unexpected i386 packages on amd64 servers.

When not to use it

Do not assume foreign architecture packages are wrong; some applications require them.

Watch this command run

Command transcript

This sanitized transcript shows the commands and output shape without exposing host details.

demo@lab:~$

$ dpkg-query -W -f='${Architecture}\t${Package}\n' | sort

amd64	base-files
amd64	bash
amd64	curl
amd64	libc6
amd64	linux-image-6.8.0-60-generic
amd64	nginx
amd64	openssl
amd64	python3
amd64	zlib1g
i386	zlib1g:i386

$ dpkg-query -W -f='${Architecture}\t${Package}\n' | awk '$1 != "amd64" && $1 != "all"'

i386	zlib1g:i386

View commands shown

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