How do I tell what all packages are in a given repository?

Question

A friend came to me with an Ubuntu question I didn't have a quick one-off answer for, so I present it to SF: How can I list all the packages available from a given apt repository? Example, all the packages in the Canonical partners repo.

Answer 1

download the Packages file(s) and pipe it/them through something like:

bzcat Packages.bz2 | egrep '^($|Package:|Version:)'

or, if a simple grep isn't good enough, use grep-dctrl to extract the info you need from the downloaded Packages files.

Answer 2

Here's an ugly solution, but its advantage is that it allows you to browse the repository using your favorite tools (aptitude, Synaptic, etc):

• Make a backup copy of /etc/apt/sources.list;
• Edit the original sources.list and comment out all the repositories except the one you want to browse;
• Run your tool's update function and browse away;
• When done, copy your sources.list.backup over the modified original, and re-run your tool's update function.