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I have just updated the kernel, meaning I have two sets of kernel files at the moment; and I'd like to use the command line to remove the old one.

I'm aware that I can use apt-show-versions to show which packages I have installed which are named linux*: 

$ apt-show-versions -r linux*
libselinux1/natty uptodate 2.0.96-1ubuntu2
linux-firmware/natty uptodate 1.52
linux-generic/natty uptodate 2.6.38.10.25
linux-headers-2.6.38-10/natty uptodate 2.6.38-10.46
linux-headers-2.6.38-10-generic/natty uptodate 2.6.38-10.46
linux-headers-2.6.38-8/natty uptodate 2.6.38-8.42
linux-headers-2.6.38-8-generic/natty uptodate 2.6.38-8.42
linux-headers-generic/natty uptodate 2.6.38.10.25
linux-image-2.6.38-10-generic/natty uptodate 2.6.38-10.46
linux-image-2.6.38-8-generic/natty uptodate 2.6.38-8.42
linux-image-generic/natty uptodate 2.6.38.10.25
linux-libc-dev/natty uptodate 2.6.38-10.46
linux-sound-base/natty uptodate 1.0.24+dfsg-0ubuntu1
pptp-linux/natty uptodate 1.7.2-6
syslinux/natty uptodate 2:4.02+dfsg-7ubuntu1
syslinux-common/natty uptodate 2:4.02+dfsg-7ubuntu1
util-linux/natty uptodate 2.17.2-9.1ubuntu4

From this I can see I have kernel files from 2.6.38-8 and from 2.6.38-10.

Is there an apt command where I could specify something like 'version=2.6.38-8*'; and it lists all packages that match that version number (regardless of name)?

The reason I'm asking for this is that I'd like to be able to check if I have packages installed say with version 2.6.38-8* - but which do not start with linux*.

I'm not sure if there are such files now, but I'm pretty sure I've had this problem before, which is why now I always first search for linux* in Synaptic, and then separately search for version number of the package I want to remove, and sort by installed, and remove all in one take. I'd just like to be able to do the same from the command line.

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migrated from stackoverflow.com Jul 14 '11 at 23:46

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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

How's this?:

apt-show-versions | grep 2.6.28-8
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Thanks for that @Chris Acheson - the thing is, there could be packages that have 2.6.28-8*, but do not start with linux*; thus, I'd like a "second pass", where I search only for version numbers like in Synaptic (this wasn't in the original question, but I added an edit to the OP). Thanks again, cheers! – sdaau Jul 14 '11 at 23:59
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That should find all packages by version number, regardless of name. It takes the whole list from apt-show-versions, and filters out any lines that don't contain "2.6.28-8". If you wanted to specifically not find packages that start with linux, you could do: apt-show-versions | grep 2.6.28-8 | grep -v ^linux – Chris Acheson Jul 15 '11 at 0:04
Indeed - sorry about that, @Chris Acheson, I misread your answer at first; accepted now :) Thanks - cheers! – sdaau Jul 15 '11 at 0:35
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up vote 1 down vote

It is also possible to use aptitude to perform fairly complex searches using its own built-in query syntax, e.g.

$ aptitude search '?version(2\.6\.38)'

See the search section of the Aptitude manual for more information about the search syntax.

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Many thanks for that, @OrbWeaver - I haven't used aptitude much (probably because a long time I read somewhere that I should use apt-get instead) - however, just tried it, seems to work :) Cheers! – sdaau Aug 2 '11 at 14:52
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