How to tell what has changed after an update?

[NoOp]

On 12/07/2009 06:31 PM, Patrick Doyle wrote:
> How can I tell what has changed after an update?  I presume (never
> having looked at them very carefully) that the changelogs in
> /usr/share/doc probably contain top level summaries.  Is there some
> file I can look at or some apt/dpkg command I can run to determine
> what packages were installed/updated when?  Presumably, if I sort that
> by date, I can see what has changed after a recent update.
> 
> Suppose I wanted more details about a particular package, for example,
> x11-common, (I don't know if that has changed recently or not, but
> I've picked it because I happen to be trying to track down a
> particular change in behavior of X11 right now).  That package is
> listed as version 1:7.4+3ubuntu7.  I presume I could grab the
> cvs/svn/git/mercurial source tree for version 7.4 of xorg, but how
> could I tell what specific changes were enacted in going from 3ubuntu6
> to 3ubuntu7?  How would I even know that version 1:7.4+3ubuntu6 was
> the version I had installed prior to version 1:7.4+3ubuntu7?
> 
> Thanks for helping me figure this out.  As I said, I would rather
> learn the proper tools to figure this out on my own, rather than just
> finding out what the recent change to x11-common was (if there even
> was a recent change).
> 
> --wpd
> 

Typically the best information is provided by the 'Details' in the
update manager for the updates presented for install. If you click the
'Details' the information is provide there.

Alternatively you can use the ubuntu package http://packages.ubuntu.com/
site to find the package, example:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=x11-common
go to the package:
<http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/x11-common>
click the 'Changelog' to the right, and end up with:
<http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/main/x/xorg/xorg_7.4+3ubuntu7/changelog>
Also, you can click the 'Bug Reports':
end up here:
<https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bugs>
and then click 'Overview'
and end up here:
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg
from there you can click on the packages for Karmic (1:7.4+3ubuntu10 in
this case) and see:
<quote>
Publishing details

    * Published on 2009-11-30

Changelog

xorg (1:7.4+3ubuntu10) karmic-proposed; urgency=low

  * local/Failsafe/failsafeXServer:  Since dexconf no longer produces
    an xorg.conf, it will neither generate a failsafe xorg.conf, so now
    we just generate one directly.  Otherwise X won't start a failsafe
    session properly.
    (LP: #477149)
 -- Bryce Harrington <email address hidden>   Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:39:57
-0800
</quote>