Quoting Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com>

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Quoting James Harper (james.harper@bendigoit.com.au):

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When I do 'apt-get update', 'dpkg -l' doesn't know about the new packages and so isn't useful for searching. >

Wrong tool. I think you're looking for 'apt-cache'.

just for the record........ Its likely dpkg -l uses the file /var/lib/dpkg/available as its source this is updated by dselect. One can update this file by running dselect and selecting the menu item "1. [U]pdate".

I use apt-get, dselect and dpkg, each has its own strengths and weakness's. I find dselect particularly good at telling one what is being drag into satisfy dependecies, in many cases (for me any way) telling you its pulling something you ____really____ do not want. I do not want a system with a lot of stuff on it I will never use, apt being real good at installing masses of stuff although.....

Install-Recommends "false"; Install-Suggests "false";

in /etc/apt/apt.conf helps a lot.

Yes I was stuck trying to update dpkg available from apt, without realising that apt had it's own thing. dselect doesn't get installed by default anymore, and I didn't like it anyway. apt-get tells you what is being installed, and asks you first if it is dragging in other stuff. Thanks James