Where are the logs for apt-get?

Question

I would like to know where I can find the logs for the following package managers:

• Synaptic Package Manager
• Ubuntu Software Center
• The logs when using the terminal with apt-get

Answer 1

Apt logs can be found in /var/log/apt/term.log. To view them with GEdit you can use the command:

gedit /var/log/apt/term.log

Answer 2

I like /var/log/apt/history.log. It is very concise.

Also note that older logs are archived with logrotate once a month. To combine the current history.log and all the older compressed history.log files you can use cat and zcat like this:

cd /var/log/apt && cat history.log > ~/Desktop/allhistory.log && zcat history.log*gz >> ~/Desktop/allhistory.log && cd

Then you can, for example, use grep to find what you need:

$ grep package_name ~/Desktop/allhistory.log where you will put what you want in place of package_name.

$ grep google ~/Desktop/allhistory.log
Upgrade: google-chrome-stable:amd64 (32.0.1700.102-1, 33.0.1750.117-1)
Upgrade: google-chrome-stable:amd64 (31.0.1650.48-1, 32.0.1700.77-1)
Upgrade: google-chrome-stable:amd64 (32.0.1700.77-1, 32.0.1700.102-1)
Upgrade: google-chrome-stable:amd64 (30.0.1599.101-1, 31.0.1650.48-1)

And, Bohr, in a comment, suggested using zgrep directly if one is searching for lines related to a specific package. This works for me assuming I'm searching both history.log and its existing archived files for smtube:

zgrep smtube /var/log/apt/history*

Answer 3

check the file

/var/log/dpkg.log

which records all the apt activities, such as installs or upgrades, for the various package managers

also you can view synaptic logs through its gui

Answer 4

You can use:

zcat /var/log/dpkg.log.*.gz | cat - /var/log/dpkg.log

or if you want less details:

zcat /var/log/dpkg.log.*.gz | cat - /var/log/dpkg.log | grep -E 'install |upgrade |remove '