[vox-tech] debian package upgrade dates

[Peter Jay Salzman]

begin Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> 
> Quoting Peter Jay Salzman (p@dirac.org):
> 
> > is there a way to find out when a package on your system was last
> > upgraded?  i mean, the date that the package was installed on your
> > system?
> 
> That information is not recorded in the package database, if that's what 
> you're asking.  You can see for yourself, in /var/lib/dpkg/status 
> (which constitutes the package database).
 
oh, rick.  that's good info.  thank you.

NOW i know why paragraphs in the "long description" of a package need to
have periods as separators.   looking at the status file makes the
reason obvious!

> Of course, the answer to "Can foo be done?" in Unix is usually "yes".  ;->
 
i figured this out -- i think you'll like the answer.  every package
upgrade needs to update the changelog file.  simply look at the
modification date for /usr/share/doc/<pkg>/changelog.Debian.gz.

assumming you don't go around touching every file that comes into the
doc directory.   :)

> > if not, is there a way to find out when a package on your system found
> > its way into the testing pool?
> 
> One way to investigate this question is to read the Jules Bean's Testing
> FAQ, http://people.debian.org/~jules/testingfaq.html .  It seems likely
> that the Testing branch scripts' nightly output is on file and can be
> read and/or parsed.  However, it seems as if the (FAQ-hyperlinked) host
> ftp-master.debian.org is unreachable at the moment.
 
i'll check it out.  thanks!

pete

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