How to find what 'new' packages have been installed?

[Chris G]

On Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 11:52:36AM -0800, NoOp wrote:
> On 11/12/2008 12:48 PM, Chris G wrote:
> > On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 11:49:36AM -0800, NoOp wrote:
> >> On 11/12/2008 09:30 AM, Chris G wrote:
> >> > Is there a way to find out what packages have been installed by the
> >> > user (i.e. me) after the inital installation of an Ubuntu system?
> >> > 
> >> > I like to record what I have added (and why) in the way of
> >> > customisation so that the next time I build a system I have some hints
> >> > available. 
> >> > 
> >> 
> >> Open Synaptic and use File|History.
> >> 
> >> You can then copy & paste to a gedit file and add notes & save for your
> >> records.
> >> 
> >> I'm sure that Synaptic gets the logs from somewhere, so perhaps someone
> >> can adivse & you can then access directly.
> >> 
> > Synaptic's history is only its own history, I tend to do most things
> > from the command line using apt-get so they don't appear in synaptic.
> > 
> 
> OK, then try this:
> 
> $ gedit /var/log/dpkg.log
> 
> In my log I can see, for example, that I installed nvidia-settings (I
> used sudo apt-get install nvidia settings to install) on the 10th of Nov:
> 
> 2008-11-10 11:28:39 install nvidia-settings <none> 1.0+20080304-0ubuntu1.1
> 2008-11-10 11:28:39 status half-installed nvidia-settings
> 1.0+20080304-0ubuntu1.1
> 2008-11-10 11:28:39 status unpacked nvidia-settings 1.0+20080304-0ubuntu1.1
> 2008-11-10 11:28:39 status unpacked nvidia-settings 1.0+20080304-0ubuntu1.1
> 2008-11-10 11:28:41 startup packages configure
> 2008-11-10 11:28:41 configure nvidia-settings 1.0+20080304-0ubuntu1.1
> 1.0+20080304-0ubuntu1.1
> 2008-11-10 11:28:41 status unpacked nvidia-settings 1.0+20080304-0ubuntu1.1
> 2008-11-10 11:28:42 status half-configured nvidia-settings
> 1.0+20080304-0ubuntu1.1
> 2008-11-10 11:28:42 status installed nvidia-settings 1.0+20080304-0ubuntu1.1
> 
> Note that the install doen't show in the Synaptic File|History, but it
> does show in the dpkg log.
> 
> You'll find previous dpkg logs in the same location.
> 
Yes, OK, I did respond positively to some of the replies here. The
records in /var/log do provide most of what I need.  (I don't know
about 'gedit' though!  :-)  )

-- 
Chris Green