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Is there a method or command which can tell from which repository a package is coming from?

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    This is ambiguous. Do you mean: which currently enabled repositories provide a package with the given name, or: which repository was used to install the package with that name that is currently installed? (Both are useful. I'm looking for the latter, not the former.) – Reinier Post May 25 '17 at 16:59
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    @ReinierPost If you know which enabled repositories provide the package, you can determine which one was used based on the version of the package that is provided by each repository. If you are unsure which version is installed, run dpkg -l <package name> | awk '/^ii/{print $3}' – mchid Feb 4 at 4:23
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Edit:

Check out SuB's answer. Looks a bit simpler!

Original:

Commands Needed:

  • dpkg -s <package> - allows you to find the version of that you have installed. (source)
  • apt-cache showpkg <package> - will show a list of Versions of the package available. For each version, the source of the package, in the form of an index file name, will be given.

If you want to find the source of the package that's currently installed, you'll need the output of dpkg -s <package>. Otherwise, you can simply look at the newest version output by apt-cache showpkg <package>.

Example:

$ dpkg -s liferea
Package: liferea
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: web
Installed-Size: 760
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com>
Architecture: i386
Version: 1.6.2-1ubuntu6
...

$ apt-cache showpkg liferea
Package: liferea
Versions: 
1.6.2-1ubuntu6.1 (/var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_lucid-updates_main_binary-i386_Packages)
 Description Language: 
                 File: /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_lucid-updates_main_binary-i386_Packages
                  MD5: 557b0b803b7ed864e6d14df4b02e3d26

1.6.2-1ubuntu6 (/var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_lucid_main_binary-i386_Packages) (/var/lib/dpkg/status)
 Description Language: 
                 File: /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_lucid_main_binary-i386_Packages
                  MD5: 557b0b803b7ed864e6d14df4b02e3d26
...

From the first command, I can see that Liferea version 1.6.2-1ubuntu6 is installed. From the second command, I can see that that version is listed in /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_lucid_main_binary-i386_Packages.

Without too much effort, I can deduce that the source line contains archive.ubuntu.com, ubuntu, lucid, and main.

And, sure enough, my /etc/apt/sources.list contains the following line.

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid main universe restricted multiverse
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  • mac, thanks for your detailed answer! Unfortunately it doesn't help me with my initial issue of an unmet dependency problem :-( I'm trying to install libqt4-opengl and it says: The following packages have unmet dependencies: libqt4-opengl: Depends: libqtcore4 (= 4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1) but 4:4.7.0~beta1+git20100522-0ubuntu1~lucid1~ppa1+appmenu20100624 is to be installed Depends: libqtgui4 (= 4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1) but 4:4.7.0~beta1+git20100522-0ubuntu1~lucid1~ppa1+appmenu20100624 is to be installed – dfme Oct 20 '10 at 22:23
  • It's difficult to see from that just what the problem is. You should open a new question so you can provide full details. If you do, leave a link in a comment. :-) – Michael Crenshaw Oct 21 '10 at 13:10
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    apt-cache policy <package name> (from: superuser.com/a/236605/37279) – franzlorenzon Aug 1 '13 at 14:47
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    The latter. If I generally use Ubuntu trusty package sources, then temporarily add utopic to my sources.list in order to install version 1.20ubuntu3 of init-system-helpers and then remove the repo again from my sources.list, apt-cache showpkg init-system-helpers will just lie about the original package list and apt-cache policy init-system-helpers will just state the obvious. – blubberdiblub Jul 4 '15 at 1:22
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    This tells you where the package will be installed/upgraded from, should you attempt to do so. It won't tell you where the currently installed version came from. It can be different, e.g. after adding/removing a PPA. – Reinier Post Jan 27 at 20:29
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Use following command. It has better output:

apt-cache policy <Package Name>

For Ubuntu 16.04 and later there is a shorter way to do that:

apt policy <Package Name>
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    This is the correct answer! The commands in the answer by mac9416 need tedious interpretation + guessing based on their output. For more information about apt-cache policy see also superuser.com/a/236605/61370 – pabouk Nov 23 '15 at 9:45
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    apt-cache policy is good but some times you need apt-cache showpkg to compare MD5 sums from package. See also debsums --changed – gavenkoa Dec 9 '15 at 11:03
  • this policy option is the most useful when comparing with sources.list – infinite-etcetera Jan 26 '17 at 13:06
  • This should be the accepted answer! @pabouk is right. This answer's more relevant to the question than the currently accepted one. – HEXcube Sep 23 '17 at 13:07
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    Like @pablo-bianchi pointed out in his answer, an even simpler apt policy <package-name> can be used, from 16.04LTS onwards. Once 14.04LTS becomes EOL'd in 2018, this answer maybe edited to use the newer command. – HEXcube Sep 23 '17 at 13:12
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apt on Ubuntu 16.04+

Beside apt-cache policy, showpkg and show, now we have a more simple, with easy to remember subcommands: apt (don't get confused with classic apt-*):

apt policy <package>

Or the alternative with more info apt show <package>, line starting with "APT-Sources:".

Description: This package provides command line tools for searching and managing as well as querying information about packages as low-level access to all features of the libapt-pkg library. These include:apt-get, apt-cache, apt-cdrom, apt-config, apt-key.

Warning: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

Basic commands from apt --help

Other also easy to remember subcommands:

  • apt list – list packages based on package names

  • apt search – search in package descriptions

  • apt show – show package details

  • apt update – update list of available packages

  • apt install – install packages

  • apt remove – remove packages

  • apt purge – remove packages and configuration files:

    Removing a package removes all packaged data, but leaves usually small (modified) user configuration files behind, in case the remove was an accident. Just issuing an installation request for the accidentally removed package will restore its function as before in that case. On the other hand you can get rid of these leftovers by calling purge even on already removed packages. Note that this does not affect any data or configuration stored in your home directory.

    To remove residual packages:

    sudo apt purge $(dpkg -l | grep "^rc" | awk '{print $2}')

  • apt upgrade – upgrade the system by installing/upgrading packages

  • apt full-upgrade – upgrade the system by removing/installing/upgrading packages

  • apt edit-sources – edit the source information file

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  • apt policy xxx appears identical to apt-cache policy xxx, maybe this should've been a comment instead. Or at least mention that apt show seems to need the -a switch to see "additional records" from other sources – Xen2050 Dec 23 '17 at 23:00
  • You have a sexy avatar there – Ivan Ivković Jan 22 '20 at 14:49
  • WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts. – Reinier Post Jan 27 at 20:31
  • @ReinierPost The comment or an edit suggestion is better than a downvote – Pablo Bianchi Jan 28 at 4:28
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    @ReinierPost That's just a warning not an error and this isn't a script. – mchid Feb 3 at 18:27
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Sadly, this information is not recorded during package installation. You can make a decent guess if the repository is still in the source list and the repository still has the package:

grep -l PKG /var/lib/apt/lists/*

Even synaptic cannot tell if you disable the repository and update.

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sudo grep *packagename* /var/lib/apt/lists/* | grep "Filename:"

source

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This is a little more accurate and it lists each available version number and section (repository):

apt-cache show <package name> | grep "Package:\|Version:\|Section:"

The installed version is typically the newest version available unless you have apt-pinning set or you explicitly install a particular version.

In any case, you can print the installed version number by running the following command:

dpkg -l <package name> | awk '/^ii/{print $3}'
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  • This doesn't answer the question. – Reinier Post Jan 27 at 20:32
  • @ReinierPost I've fixed it and thanks for pointing that out. – mchid Feb 3 at 18:26

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