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I just noticed that Ubuntu 15.04 is using bsd version of column command and its very old i.e. its from 2004. But on arch linux the column command is of util-linux is updated on 2014.
So I have two questions: why Ubuntu 15.04 (debian jessie, both being latest release) is giving the old version binaries?

Is there any way to update these kind of core utils?

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  • File a bug report/feature request. Probably no one needs the newer version.
    – muru
    May 12, 2015 at 20:19
  • @muru I need the latest version of column
    – Alex Jones
    May 12, 2015 at 20:34
  • @edwardtorvalds then file a bug report. What good is posting here going to do?
    – muru
    May 12, 2015 at 20:34
  • 1
    @edwardtorvalds you can download the util-linux package from Arch Linux and extract column from it. Removing bsdmainutils will cause man-db to be removed - whether that's a bad thing depends on how often you use man pages.
    – muru
    May 12, 2015 at 21:34
  • 1
    You'll have to install man yourself too.
    – muru
    May 12, 2015 at 21:40

1 Answer 1

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1

As @muru said

...
you can download the util-linux package from Arch Linux and extract
column from it.
...

Download the latest version here and extract the archive in a temporary folder.

tar xf util-linux-2.26.1-3-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz -C /tmp/util-linux-2.26.1

And copy the content of /tmp/util-linux-2.26.1/usr/ into /usr/local

cp -R /tmp/util-linux-2.26.1/usr/* /usr/local

Test with, eg.:

% column --version                                          
column von util-linux 2.26.1

I had a problem with that, but the error can be ignored.

tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
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8
  • so you are showing method to replace on coloumn command?
    – Alex Jones
    May 13, 2015 at 13:29
  • @edwardtorvalds Do you think that's a bad idea?
    – A.B.
    May 13, 2015 at 13:33
  • I mean you are extracting util-linux, so it will replace all the commands right? and you are just backing up only column command. (backing up command is not bad idea)
    – Alex Jones
    May 13, 2015 at 13:58
  • No, I replace column.
    – A.B.
    May 13, 2015 at 13:59
  • 1
    @A.B. I'd put it in /usr/local/bin, thus keeping both columns around.
    – muru
    May 13, 2015 at 15:49

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