Comments on: 15 Useful ‘dpkg’ Commands for Debian and Ubuntu Users [With Examples]

By: Ravi Saive

Ravi Saive — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 04:52:15 +0000

In reply to dragonmouth. @dragonmouth, You're right that commands that modify the system, like installing, removing, or reconfiguring packages with dpkg must be run with sudo (or as the root user). However, some dpkg commands, like dpkg -l (listing packages) or dpkg -s (showing package info), are read-only operations. These can safely be run without sudo. In the article, I tried to match sudo usage depending on whether the command actually needs elevated privileges.

By: dragonmouth

dragonmouth — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 19:14:05 +0000

Why do you sometimes show “sudo” with the command and sometimes not? dpkg always must be used with “sudo” or be used by the ‘root’ user. You should be consistent.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 23:03:46 +0000

Hello,

“dpkg -p flashpluginnonfree”

Should be -P for purge, not -p

By: Hedley Finger

Hedley Finger — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 11:21:18 +0000

I would like to remove some of the columns from the output of dpkg -l. I would also like to list just the packages I installed manually after a fresh Ubuntu installation or upgrade.

By: aptee

aptee — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 13:58:37 +0000

I've installed cinnamon on my raspi 3 I'm a newbie, how do I extract it? where is it, I've tried all the above but to no avail.