How to list installed packages that depend on another installed package in Debian?
I am on Debian (testing). How can I list all installed packages that depend on another installed package?
I would prefer to do this using either dpkg or apt, but if another tool (or combination of tools) is required I am willing to install that tool. The only requirement is that the tool must work on the command line and be non-interactive.
To find the reverse dependencies you can install the apt-rdepends
package:
sudo apt-get install apt-rdepends
You can then search for reverse dependencies using:
$ apt-rdepends --state-follow=Installed --state-show=Installed -r firefox
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
firefox
Reverse Depends: firefox-globalmenu (= 20.0+build1-0ubuntu2)
Reverse Depends: firefox-gnome-support (20.0+build1-0ubuntu2)
Reverse Depends: lightdm-remote-session-uccsconfigure (1.1-0ubuntu2)
Reverse Depends: xul-ext-unity (>= 2.4.7bzr13.04.15-0ubuntu1)
Reverse Depends: xul-ext-webaccounts (>= 0.4.5-0ubuntu4)
firefox-globalmenu
firefox-gnome-support
lightdm-remote-session-uccsconfigure
xul-ext-unity
xul-ext-webaccounts
It might lack some installed recommended packages. Try
apt-rdepends --state-follow=Installed --follow=Depends,PreDepends,Recommends --show=Depends,PreDepends,Recommends --state-show=Installed -r firefox