Pipe or log APT, keeping Notes

[wolfgentleman]

I am making a script that installs a dynamic list of packages and I need to know if a package is 'redirected' to another packages such as rpm-dbg -> librpm-dbg. The way I was going to do that was as follows:


apt-get --no-install-recommends --no-remove -y --simulate install $file >ptmp 2>&1
if [[ `cat ptmp` == *Note,\ selecting ]]
then
file=`cat ptmp|grep Note,|awk -F\' '{ print $2; }'`
fi

However I found out that by using '>' to dump the output into a file it acts like it had -q passed to it. I also tried '&>' and '|cat>' with the same results. So what I am I missing/doing wrong?

BTW: I posted this question on askubuntu.com 3 days ago (http://askubuntu.com/questions/423443/pipe-or-log-apt-keeping-notes) with no response, so I was hoping that I might get an answer, or even a response in general, to my question here.

[steeldriver]

Are you sure the behaviour of > is the problem? it's hard to see how


if [[ `cat ptmp` == *Note,\ selecting ]]

can possibly work. Can you explain a bit more exactly what you are trying to do?

[wolfgentleman]

Are you sure the behaviour of > is the problem?
Here is what I have tried (using rpm-dbg as example):


apt-get --no-install-recommends --no-remove -y --simulate install rpm-dbg
Shows "Note, selecting 'librpm-dbg' instead of 'rpm-dbg'" in the output

apt-get --no-install-recommends --no-remove -y --simulate install rpm-dbg|grep -i "notes,"
Doesn't show output at all

apt-get --no-install-recommends --no-remove -y --simulate install rpm-dbg|cat
Doesn't show the "notes"

apt-get --no-install-recommends --no-remove -y --simulate install rpm-dbg&
Shows output, but not the "notes"

apt-get --no-install-recommends --no-remove -y --simulate install rpm-dbg>ptmp;cat ptmp
Doesn't show the "notes"

apt-get --no-install-recommends --no-remove -y --simulate install rpm-dbg&>ptmp;cat ptmp
Doesn't show the "notes"

apt-get --no-install-recommends --no-remove -y --simulate install rpm-dbg&>ptmp 2>&1;cat ptmp
Doesn't show the "notes"

Which leads me to think that anything that causes apt to be in the background or async essentially passes the -q option.


Can you explain a bit more exactly what you are trying to do?
I am trying to make a script that looks for, installs, marks as auto, and generates a meta package for the *-dbg packages based on your currently installed packages. I can't post what I have so far, as I am booted into Windows ATM, but I will post it by tomorrow if it is needed.

P.S.: I hadn't realized that I forgot an * in my if statement it should be:

if [[ `cat ptmp` == *Note,\ selecting* ]]

[steeldriver]

Try adding an explicit -q=0


$ apt-get --no-install-recommends --no-remove -y --simulate -q=0 install rpm-dbg 2>&1 | grep 'Note'
Note, selecting 'librpm-dbg' instead of 'rpm-dbg'

[wolfgentleman]

Try adding an explicit -q=0


$ apt-get --no-install-recommends --no-remove -y --simulate -q=0 install rpm-dbg 2>&1 | grep 'Note'
Note, selecting 'librpm-dbg' instead of 'rpm-dbg'

Just got a chance to test it and it worked magnificently! Thank you so much!

[steeldriver]

Glad to help - tbh it was a lucky guess!