dpkg-changes is a simple script which will report on the packages which have been installed, or uninstalled, since the script was last run.

It does this by building up a list of all the packages installed upon your system the first time it is run, then comparing that list against what the system reports whenever it is subsequently run.

The intention is that it can be placed in a crontab file for a user and be run on a daily/weekly basis to give a good idea of what has changed upon the machine.

This is particularly handy when a server is maintained by multiple people, as it allows all admins to be informed when a new package is installed.

The script is written in perl, and beyond that requires nothing other than a Debian GNU/Linux system to run.

Download the tarball and run 'make install' to install the script to /usr/sbin, and the documentation to /usr/local/share.

After that create a crontab entry either in your personal file, or under the system wide /etc/cron.{daily weekly} directory:

 0 0 * * * /usr/sbin/dpkg-changes

This will cause the script to be run daily, or weekly.

A non-priviledged user may also run the script, with a different cache file as follows:

/usr/sbin/dpkg-changes --cache /home/user/dpkg-cache/

Please note that the first time you run the script nothing will appear, as the cache file will be built up, and then the script will terminate.

After that output will appear as new packages are installed/removed.

You may download dpkg-changes from the following from the following URL:

• dpkg-changes-1.2.tar.gz [13k]