Release notes for whohas 0.1 More information can be found at http://www.philippwesche.org/2004/programs/whohas/intro.html Philipp L. Wesche, 17 July 2005 whohas is a command line tool that allows querying several package lists at once - currently supported are Arch, Debian, Gentoo and Slackware. whohas is written in Perl and was designed to help package maintainers find ebuilds, pkgbuilds and similar package definitions from other distributions to learn from. However, it can also be used by normal users who want to know: - Which distribution has packages available for apps upon whom the user depends. - What version of a given package is in use in each distribution, or in each release of a distribution (implemented only for Debian). whohas gives urls to more details about the package. I recommend using a terminal that recognises hyperlinks and allows easy forwarding to the browser. You can use grep to improve your search results: whohas gimp | grep "gimp " The space will ensure that only results for the package gimp are displayed, not for gimp-print etc. whohas gimp | grep Arch whohas gimp | grep -i arch Either one of the above will display results for Arch Linux only. If you are interested in the search term or package arch, and want results for Arch Linux only, whohas arch | grep "^Arch" Example output: [phil@epistasis whohas_release]$ whohas gaim Arch gaim 1.4.0-1 10-07-2005 Current http://www.archlinux.org/packages.php?id=4226 Arch gaim-encryption 2.38-1 14-06-2005 Extra http://www.archlinux.org/packages.php?id=5518 Arch festival-gaim 1.1-1 community http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?do_Details=1&ID=1017 Arch gaim-latex 0.3-1 unsupported http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?do_Details=1&ID=1058 Arch gaim-otr 2.0.2-1 unsupported http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?do_Details=1&ID=1242 Arch gaim-xmms 0.33-1 unsupported http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?do_Details=1&ID=121 Arch guifications 2.9-1 unsupported http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?do_Details=1&ID=640 Debian gaim 1 oldstable http://packages.debian.org/oldstable/net/gaim Debian gaim 1 stable http://packages.debian.org/stable/net/gaim Debian gaim 1 testing http://packages.debian.org/testing/net/gaim Debian gaim 1 unstable http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/gaim Debian gaim-autoprofile 2.10-1 testing http://packages.debian.org/testing/net/gaim-autoprofileDebian gaim-autoprofile 2.10-2 unstable http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/gaim-autoprofile Debian gaim-common 1 oldstable http://packages.debian.org/oldstable/net/gaim-common Debian gaim-data 1 stable http://packages.debian.org/stable/net/gaim-data Debian gaim-data 1 testing http://packages.debian.org/testing/net/gaim-data Debian gaim-data 1 unstable http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/gaim-data Debian gaim-dev 1 stable http://packages.debian.org/stable/devel/gaim-dev Debian gaim-dev 1 testing http://packages.debian.org/testing/devel/gaim-dev Debian gaim-dev 1 unstable http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/gaim-dev Debian gaim-encryption 2.36-3 stable http://packages.debian.org/stable/net/gaim-encryption Debian gaim-encryption 2.37-1 testing http://packages.debian.org/testing/net/gaim-encryption Debian gaim-encryption 2.38-1 unstable http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/gaim-encryptionDebian gaim-extendedprefs 0.4-4 stable http://packages.debian.org/stable/net/gaim-extendedprefs Debian gaim-extendedprefs 0.4-4 testing http://packages.debian.org/testing/net/gaim-extendedprefs Debian gaim-extendedprefs 0.4-6 unstable http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/gaim-extendedprefs Debian gaim-gnome 1 oldstable http://packages.debian.org/oldstable/net/gaim-gnome Debian gaim-guifications 2.10-1 stable http://packages.debian.org/stable/net/gaim-guificationsDebian gaim-guifications 2.10-1 testing http://packages.debian.org/testing/net/gaim-guifications Debian gaim-guifications 2.10-1 unstable http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/gaim-guifications Debian gaim-meanwhile 1.2.3-1 testing http://packages.debian.org/testing/net/gaim-meanwhile Debian gaim-meanwhile 1.2.3-1 unstable http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/gaim-meanwhile Debian gaim-otr 2.0.1-1 stable http://packages.debian.org/stable/net/gaim-otr Debian gaim-otr 2.0.2-1 testing http://packages.debian.org/testing/net/gaim-otr Debian gaim-otr 2.0.2-1 unstable http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/gaim-otr Debian gaim-themes 0.1-1 stable http://packages.debian.org/stable/net/gaim-themes Debian gaim-themes 0.1-1 testing http://packages.debian.org/testing/net/gaim-themes Debian gaim-themes 0.1-1 unstable http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/gaim-themes Gentoo gaim-blogger 1.0.0 22-03-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-blogger-1.0.0 Gentoo gaim-bnet 0.1.1 04-03-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-bnet-0.1.1 Gentoo gaim-bnet 0.1.0 17-02-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-bnet-0.1.0 Gentoo gaim-meanwhile 1.2.3 14-06-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-meanwhile-1.2.3 Gentoo gaim-meanwhile 1.2.2 04-05-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-meanwhile-1.2.2 Gentoo gaim-meanwhile 1.2.0 10-04-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-meanwhile-1.2.0 Gentoo gaim-meanwhile 1.0.2 08-02-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-meanwhile-1.0.2 Gentoo gaim-snpp 0.8.0 21-02-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-snpp-0.8.0 Gentoo gaim-assistant 0.09 06-01-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-assistant-0.09Gentoo gaim-assistant 0.07 06-01-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-assistant-0.07Gentoo gaim-encryption 2.38 12-07-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-encryption-2.38 Gentoo gaim-encryption 2.37 13-05-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-encryption-2.37 Gentoo gaim-encryption 2.36 07-07-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-encryption-2.36 Gentoo gaim-encryption 2.35 27-02-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-encryption-2.35 Gentoo gaim-encryption 2.34 24-01-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-encryption-2.34 Gentoo gaim-encryption 2.32-r1 07-02-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-encryption-2.32-r1 Gentoo gaim-extprefs 0.4-r1 04-06-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-extprefs-0.4-r1 Gentoo gaim-extprefs 0.4 30-03-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-extprefs-0.4 Gentoo gaim-latex 0.3 17-06-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-latex-0.3 Gentoo gaim-otr 2.0.2 17-05-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-otr-2.0.2 Gentoo gaim-otr 2.0.1 30-03-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-otr-2.0.1 Gentoo gaim-otr 2.0.0 10-02-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-otr-2.0.0 Gentoo gaim-otr 1.0.3 09-02-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-otr-1.0.3 Gentoo gaim-rhythmbox 1.0.0.1 21-10-2004 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-rhythmbox-1.0.0.1 Gentoo gaim-xmms-remote 1.8 29-10-2004 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-xmms-remote-1.8 Gentoo gaim-xmms-remote 1.7 21-10-2004 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-xmms-remote-1.7 Gentoo gaimosd 1.0.0 18-02-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaimosd-1.0.0 Gentoo gaim-smileys 20031002 24-06-2004 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?gaim-smileys-20031002 Gentoo autoprofile 2.10 21-10-2004 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?autoprofile-2.10 Gentoo bangexec 1.3.0.2 21-06-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?bangexec-1.3.0.2 Gentoo bangexec 1.3.0 21-04-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?bangexec-1.3.0 Gentoo bangexec 1.1.4 03-04-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?bangexec-1.1.4 Gentoo guifications 2.10 10-04-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?guifications-2.10 Gentoo guifications 2.9 11-02-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?guifications-2.9 Gentoo guifications 2.8 07-02-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?guifications-2.8 Gentoo ignorance 1.3.1.2 13-07-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?ignorance-1.3.1.2 Gentoo ignorance 1.3.0 21-04-2005 http://packages.gentoo.org/ebuilds/?ignorance-1.3.0 Slackware gaim 1.4.0-i486 slackware The first column is the name of the distribution, the second the name of the package, the third the version number, then the date, repository name and a url linking to more information about the package. Future versions will have package size information, too. Column lengths are fixed, so you can use cut: whohas vim | grep " vim " | cut -b 36-45 The first bytes of the data fields at the time of writing are 11, 37, 48, 59 and 71. I would like to encourage distributors at this time to provide web query interfaces to package lists, and specifically provide the following information: package name, version, date, size and a url to further information (maintainer, build information etc.) Additional remarks: Debian refers to the binary distribution. Slackware queries Current only. All details (including availability, version numbers and binary sizes) are for the x86 architecture, although this cannot be assured for either Debian or Gentoo in the current version of whohas. I recommend you consult the URLs provided in the output. Bug reports may be sent to phi1ipp@yahoo.com.