How do I show apt-get package management history via command line?

Is there a way to show the history of packages that were changed by apt-get via command line?

Solution 1:

All actions with apt (apt-get) are logged. These files are available in /var/log/apt/. To view the most recent history log, execute:

less /var/log/apt/history.log

These logs gets rotated (every month I guess), old files will be suffixed with a number and compressed. So to view the next history log, use:

zless /var/log/apt/history.log.1.gz

To view the logs available:

ls -la /var/log/apt/

Solution 2:

You can also make a short command to display the interesting content.

• Add this custom function to your ~/.bashrc:

  ### pars for fun: install | remove | rollback
  function apt-history(){
  
        case "$1" in
          install)
                grep 'install ' /var/log/dpkg.log
                ;;
          upgrade|remove)
                grep $1 /var/log/dpkg.log
                ;;
          rollback)
                grep upgrade /var/log/dpkg.log | \
                    grep "$2" -A10000000 | \
                    grep "$3" -B10000000 | \
                    awk '{print $4"="$5}'
                ;;
          *)
                cat /var/log/dpkg.log
                ;;
        esac
  }
  

• And call it in a terminal like this:

  kreso@h17:~$ apt-history install
  2013-08-06 14:42:36 install gir1.2-nautilus-3.0:amd64 <none> 1:3.8.2-0ubuntu1~ubuntu13.04.1
  2013-08-06 14:42:36 install python-nautilus:amd64 <none> 1.1-3ubuntu1
  2013-08-06 14:42:37 install insync-nautilus:all <none> 1.0.20
  2013-08-07 14:41:37 install powertop:amd64 <none> 2.1-0ubuntu1
  2013-08-07 18:44:10 install libdiscid0:amd64 <none> 0.2.2-3build1
  2013-08-07 18:44:11 install sound-juicer:amd64 <none> 3.5.0-0ubuntu1
  

Taken from here