List Installed Package Versions

You need a deterministic list of installed Debian packages, versions, and architectures for comparison or incident notes.

Command

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

Before you run this

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

When not to use it: Do not use it to discover available updates; use apt list --upgradable for candidate upgrades.

Expected output

Sorted package, version, and architecture rows.

System impact

Read-only. Nothing changes. dpkg-query reads the local package database and prints a sorted inventory.

Recovery / rollback: no state is changed.

When to use it

Use before upgrades, after incidents, during fleet comparison, or when handing a host to another operator.

When not to use it

Do not use it to discover available updates; use apt list --upgradable for candidate upgrades.

Watch this command run

Command transcript

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

demo@lab:~$

$ dpkg-query -W | head

base-files	13ubuntu10.2	amd64
bash	5.2.21-2ubuntu4	amd64
curl	8.5.0-2ubuntu10.6	amd64
libc6	2.39-0ubuntu8.4	amd64
linux-image-6.8.0-60-generic	6.8.0-60.63	amd64
nginx	1.24.0-2ubuntu7.3	amd64
openssl	3.0.13-0ubuntu3.5	amd64
python3	3.12.3-0ubuntu2	amd64
zlib1g	1:1.3.dfsg-3.1ubuntu2	amd64
zlib1g:i386	1:1.3.dfsg-3.1ubuntu2	i386

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

base-files	13ubuntu10.2	amd64
bash	5.2.21-2ubuntu4	amd64
curl	8.5.0-2ubuntu10.6	amd64
libc6	2.39-0ubuntu8.4	amd64
linux-image-6.8.0-60-generic	6.8.0-60.63	amd64
nginx	1.24.0-2ubuntu7.3	amd64
openssl	3.0.13-0ubuntu3.5	amd64
python3	3.12.3-0ubuntu2	amd64
zlib1g	1:1.3.dfsg-3.1ubuntu2	amd64
zlib1g:i386	1:1.3.dfsg-3.1ubuntu2	i386

View commands shown

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