How to list installed package and its details on ubuntu?
Simple and elegant:
sudo dpkg -l | more
or
sudo dpkg -l | less
If you want to get the description of some specific packages say firefox:
sudo dpkg -l | grep firefox
Here is my output of:
$ sudo dpkg -l | more
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-===========================================-=======================================-==============================================================
================
ii accountsservice 0.6.15-2ubuntu9.4 query and manipulate user account information
ii acl 2.2.51-5ubuntu1 Access control list utilities
ii acpi-support 0.140 scripts for handling many ACPI events
ii acpid 1:2.0.10-1ubuntu3 Advanced Configuration and Power Interface event daemon
ii activity-log-manager-common 0.9.4-0ubuntu3.2 blacklist configuration for Zeitgeist (assets)
ii activity-log-manager-control-center 0.9.4-0ubuntu3.2 blacklist configuration for Zeitgeist (control center integrat
ion)
ii adduser 3.113ubuntu2 add and remove users and groups
ii adium-theme-ubuntu 0.3.2-0ubuntu1 Adium message style for Ubuntu
ii aisleriot 1:3.2.3.2-0ubuntu1 Solitaire card games
ii akonadi-backend-mysql 1.7.2-0ubuntu1 MySQL storage backend for Akonadi
ii akonadi-server 1.7.2-0ubuntu1 Akonadi PIM storage service
ii alacarte 0.13.2-2ubuntu4 easy GNOME menu editing tool
ii alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu1 ALSA driver configuration files
ii alsa-utils 1.0.25-1ubuntu5 Utilities for configuring and using ALSA
ii anacron 2.3-14ubuntu1 cron-like program that doesn't go by time
ii apg 2.2.3.dfsg.1-2 Automated Password Generator - Standalone version
ii app-install-data 0.12.04.4 Ubuntu applications (data files)
ii app-install-data-partner 12.12.04.1 Application Installer (data files for partner applications/rep
ositories)
ii apparmor 2.7.102-0ubuntu3.7 User-space parser utility for AppArmor
ii appmenu-gtk 0.3.92-0ubuntu1.1 Export GTK menus over DBus
ii appmenu-gtk3 0.3.92-0ubuntu1.1 Export GTK menus over DBus
ii appmenu-qt 0.2.6-0ubuntu1 appmenu support for Qt
ii apport 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.1 automatically generate crash reports for debugging
ii apport-gtk 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.1 GTK+ frontend for the apport crash report system
ii apport-symptoms 0.16.1 symptom scripts for apport
ii apt 0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.7 commandline package manager
ii apt-transport-https 0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.7 https download transport for APT
ii apt-utils 0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.7 package managment related utility programs
--More--
To get the date and time of packages being installed
cat /var/log/dpkg.log | grep " install "
To get for specific package:
$cat /var/log/dpkg.log | grep " install " | grep banshee
2013-12-12 12:51:48 install banshee <none> 2.4.1-3ubuntu1~precise2
2013-12-12 12:51:51 install banshee-extensions-common <none> 2.4.0-1ubuntu1
2013-12-12 12:51:51 install banshee-extension-radiostationfetcher <none> 2.4.0- 1ubuntu1
2013-12-12 12:51:51 install banshee-extension-soundmenu <none> 2.4.1-3ubuntu1~precise2
To get the section
$apt-cache show firefox | grep Section
Section: web
See Also: ListInstalledPackagesByDate
apt-cache showpkg <package> will give you details about what package versions are available, forward and reverse dependencies etc.
apt-cache show <package> will provide description, category (Section) etc.
I'm not aware of a way to see at what time a package was installed.