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How to know the version of a set of program to be installed through a meta-package?

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If you're contemplating installing a metapackage and you want to know what all the packages are that will be installed as a consequence, and all their versions, one of the best ways to find this out is to simulate installing the metapackage.

First, update information about what packages and versions are available. (You should do this before installing most packages, especially metapackages that may pull in a lot of other packages. So you may as well do it before your simulation, so the simulation reveals the correct information.)

sudo apt-get update

Then run the simulation. For example, suppose you're contemplating installing the kubuntu-desktop metapackage:

apt-get -s install kubuntu-desktop

Replace kubuntu-desktop with the name of the metapackage you want to install. (This actually works for any package available from any configured software source, and you can list multiple packages, separated by spaces, too.)

It looks like this (though yours will be different, in part because you have different packages already installed).

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Usually, you can find out the version number of a program by typing

program -v

or something along those lines in a terminal, or by going to Help > About if it has a GUI.

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