You can check the version of a Debian package (dpkg) on a Linux system using the command dpkg -s pkgName where pkgName is the name of the package. If you wish to check on whether an upgrade is available for the package, you should first update your local package index to ensure your system knows about the latest versions available in the repositories with the sudo apt update command. If updates are available you will see something like 19 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.

If you want to see whether an update is available for a particular dpkg package, e.g., winetricks, you can use the command apt-cache policy pkgName. Because dpkg manages local .deb files and doesn't directly check remote repositories, you need to use APT, which is the frontend for dpkg to compare the installed version against what is available in the repositories.

alice@Wonderland:~$ apt-cache policy winetricks
winetricks:
  Installed: 20250102-1build1
  Candidate: 20250102-1build1
  Version table:
 *** 20250102-1build1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu resolute/universe amd64 Packages
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu resolute/universe i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
alice@Wonderland:~$

The Installed and Candidate lines indicate whether an update is available.

• Installed: The version currently running on your system.
• Candidate: The highest version available in the repositories that your system is ready to install.

If the Candidate version is newer (higher) than the Installed version, an update is available. If the version is the same then a newer version is not available.

Alternatively, you can use the command apt list --upgradable pkgName to check on whether an update is available for a single package. If it returns the package name, an update is available. If it returns nothing, the package is already up-to-date.

alice@Wonderland:~$ apt list --upgradable winetricks
alice@Wonderland:~$

To see a list of all packages that you can upgrade, you can use apt list --upgradable.

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[/os/unix/linux/utilities/package] permanent link

I wasn't certain of the version of an application developed for Microsoft Linux that was installed on an Ubuntu Linux system. The wrestool utility is one application that runs on Linux systems that can be used to list or extract resources in binary files developed for Microsoft Windows systems. The utility is part of the icoutils package, which can be installed with the command sudo apt install icoutils. I needed to determine the version of StreamFab which was installed with Bottles. I was able to do so with the command wrestool -x --raw --type=version ~/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/StreamFab/drive_c/Program\ Files/StreamFab/StreamFab/StreamFab64.exe (use a backslash before any space in the directory path or filename).

alice@Wonderland:~$ wrestool -x --raw --type=version ~/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/StreamFab/drive_c/Program\ Files/StreamFab/StreamFab/StreamFab64.exe
4VS_VERSION_INFO���hStringFileInfoD040904E4JCompanyNameDVDFab Software Inc.<
FileDescriptionStreamFabFileVersion7.0.5.24
InternalNameStreamFab�7LegalCopyrightCopyright (c) 2019-2026 DVDFab.cn All Rights Reserved.DOriginalFilenameStreamFab.exe4
ProductNameStreamFabProductVersion7.0.5.2DVarFileInfo$Translation	�

The command showed the version of StreamFab was 7.0.5.2. Once you have installed the icoutils Debian package, you can see details on the package with dpkg -s icoutils.

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[/os/unix/linux/utilities/file] permanent link

A user reported the sound from a Linux CentOS server was loud. I thought the noise was likely from a fan in the system. The lm_sensors package provides the capability to check central processing unit (CPU) temperatures and fan speeds for systems running a Linux operating system. I first checked to see if the package was installed and found it was installed.

$ rpm -qi lm_sensors
Name        : lm_sensors
Version     : 3.3.4
Release     : 11.el7
Architecture: x86_64
Install Date: Sat 15 Oct 2016 12:14:14 PM EDT
Group       : Applications/System
Size        : 418761
License     : LGPLv2+ and GPLv3+ and GPLv2+ and Verbatim and Public domain
Signature   : RSA/SHA256, Sat 14 Mar 2015 04:15:54 AM EDT, Key ID 24c6a8a7f4a80eb5
Source RPM  : lm_sensors-3.3.4-11.el7.src.rpm
Build Date  : Thu 05 Mar 2015 10:48:12 PM EST
Build Host  : worker1.bsys.centos.org
Relocations : (not relocatable)
Packager    : CentOS BuildSystem <http://bugs.centos.org>
Vendor      : CentOS
URL         : http://www.lm-sensors.org/
Summary     : Hardware monitoring tools
Description :
The lm_sensors package includes a collection of modules for general SMBus
access and hardware monitoring.
$

I then ran the sensors command to view the CPU temperature and fan speeds. The CPU and motherboard (MB) temperatures were high and the output showed 0 RPM for the chassis fan speed, indicating either there was no sensor monitoring its speed or it had stopped rotating.

$ sensors
atk0110-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
Vcore Voltage:      +1.28 V  (min =  +0.85 V, max =  +1.60 V)
 +3.3 Voltage:      +3.36 V  (min =  +2.97 V, max =  +3.63 V)
 +5 Voltage:        +5.17 V  (min =  +4.50 V, max =  +5.50 V)
 +12 Voltage:      +12.41 V  (min = +10.20 V, max = +13.80 V)
CPU FAN Speed:     2518 RPM  (min =    0 RPM, max = 7200 RPM)
CHASSIS FAN Speed:    0 RPM  (min =  800 RPM, max = 7200 RPM)
CPU Temperature:    +79.5°C  (high = +60.0°C, crit = +95.0°C)
MB Temperature:     +61.0°C  (high = +45.0°C, crit = +95.0°C)

$

References:

1. How to find fan speed in Linux for CPU and GPU
   By: Vivek Gite
   Last updated: February 11, 2021
   nixCraft

[/os/unix/linux/utilities] permanent link

If you need to burn a CD or DVD from an ISO file from the command line on a Linux system, you can use the cdrecord command. If you include the -v argument to the program, you will see verbose information on the actions performed by the utility and the progress as it writes to the optical disc. When the program is finished you can use the eject command to eject the disc.

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[/os/unix/linux/utilities/cd-dvd] permanent link

If you need to know the model number and/or serial number of a hard disk drive (HDD) in a Linux system, one tool that you can use to obtain that information as well as other information on the drive is the lsblk utility, which is included in the util-linux package. E.g.:

# lsblk -o MODEL,SERIAL,SIZE,STATE --nodeps
MODEL            SERIAL            SIZE STATE
WDC WD10EZEX-00W WD-WCC6Y4ZYE4Y3 931.5G running
DVD A  DH16ACSHR 238229911623     1024M running
vmDisk-CD        13043003455      1024M running

You can see the list of arguments you can provide to the program with lsblk -h.

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[/os/unix/linux/utilities/sysmgmt] permanent link

On a Linux system, you can use the lscpu command to obtain information on the system's Central Processing Unit (CPU). On a CentOS Linux system, the utility is included in the util-linux package. On a CentOS system, you can install that package using the yum package management utility, if it isn't already installed, using yum install util-linux. You can check on whether the lscpu program is already present using which lscpu and, on a CentOS system or another system that uses RPM, you can use rpm -qi util-linux to determine if the util-linux package is already installed.

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[/os/unix/linux/utilities/sysmgmt] permanent link

Sometimes network performance problems on a system can be due to a mismatch in the speed and/or duplex settings on a system and the switch or router to which it connects. Autonegotiation normally works to ensure that two connected devices have compatible settings, but occasionally it may not work as intended. On a Linux system, one way to check the spped and duplex values is by using the ethtool command. If the utility, which provides capabilities for querying and changing settings such as speed, port, auto-negotiation, PCI locations and checksum offload on many network devices, especially of Ethernet devices, isn't installed already you can install it on a Ubuntu Linux system with the command sudo apt-get install ethtool. On a CentOS Linux system, you can use yum install ethtool. You can run the software to show the settings for a network interface controller (NIC) by issuing the command ethtool devname where devname is the name associated with the network interface, e.g., you might issue the command ethtool eth0 on a Ubuntu system. You can see the available network interfaces using the command ifconfig -a. Below is the output of the command run on a CentOS system:

$ ethtool enp1s4
Settings for enp1s4:
	Supported ports: [ TP ]
	Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 
	                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 
	                        1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full 
	Supported pause frame use: No
	Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
	Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 
	                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 
	                        1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full 
	Advertised pause frame use: No
	Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
	Speed: 100Mb/s
	Duplex: Full
	Port: Twisted Pair
	PHYAD: 0
	Transceiver: internal
	Auto-negotiation: on
	MDI-X: Unknown
Cannot get wake-on-lan settings: Operation not permitted
	Current message level: 0x00000037 (55)
			       drv probe link ifdown ifup
	Link detected: yes
$

[/os/unix/linux/utilities/network] permanent link

[68546.319229] CPU1:  Core temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events = 189995)
[68546.319240] CPU0:  Core temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events = 189989)
[68546.519121] CPU0:  Core temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events = 192228)
[68546.519131] CPU1:  Core temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events = 192234)

I checked to see if the lm_sensors package was installed on the system, so I could check fan speeds and the central processing unit (CPU) temperature. It wasn't installed, so I installed it from the root account with yum install lm_sensors.

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[/os/unix/linux/utilities/sysmgmt] permanent link

# yum install rdesktop
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, langpacks
Existing lock /var/run/yum.pid: another copy is running as pid 16020.
Another app is currently holding the yum lock; waiting for it to exit...
  The other application is: PackageKit
    Memory :  46 M RSS (1.4 GB VSZ)
    Started: Fri Jul 29 12:08:28 2016 - 01:14 ago
    State  : Running, pid: 16020
Another app is currently holding the yum lock; waiting for it to exit...
  The other application is: PackageKit
    Memory :  46 M RSS (1.4 GB VSZ)
    Started: Fri Jul 29 12:08:28 2016 - 01:16 ago
    State  : Sleeping, pid: 16020
Another app is currently holding the yum lock; waiting for it to exit...
  The other application is: PackageKit
    Memory :  46 M RSS (1.4 GB VSZ)
    Started: Fri Jul 29 12:08:28 2016 - 01:18 ago
    State  : Sleeping, pid: 16020
Another app is currently holding the yum lock; waiting for it to exit...
  The other application is: PackageKit
    Memory :  46 M RSS (1.4 GB VSZ)
    Started: Fri Jul 29 12:08:28 2016 - 01:20 ago
    State  : Sleeping, pid: 16020
Another app is currently holding the yum lock; waiting for it to exit...
  The other application is: PackageKit
    Memory :  46 M RSS (1.4 GB VSZ)
    Started: Fri Jul 29 12:08:28 2016 - 01:22 ago
    State  : Sleeping, pid: 16020
Another app is currently holding the yum lock; waiting for it to exit...
  The other application is: PackageKit
    Memory :  46 M RSS (1.4 GB VSZ)
    Started: Fri Jul 29 12:08:28 2016 - 01:24 ago
    State  : Sleeping, pid: 16020
^C

Exiting on user cancel.
#

I checked the process and saw the following information:

# ps aux | grep yum
root     16020 28.4  2.3 1455028 79512 ?       SN   12:08   1:16 /usr/bin/python /usr/share/PackageKit/helpers/yum/yumBackend.py refresh-cache yes
root     16354  0.0  0.0 112652   952 pts/0    S+   12:12   0:00 grep --color=auto yum
#

[ More Info ]

[/os/unix/linux/utilities/package] permanent link

$ which gnome-screenshot
/usr/bin/gnome-screenshot

You can obtain help on using the tool to take a screenshot by typing gnome-screenshot at a shell prompt.

$ gnome-screenshot --help
Usage:
  gnome-screenshot [OPTION...] Take a picture of the screen

Help Options:
  -h, --help                     Show help options
  --help-all                     Show all help options
  --help-gtk                     Show GTK+ Options

Application Options:
  -c, --clipboard                Send the grab directly to the clipboard
  -w, --window                   Grab a window instead of the entire screen
  -a, --area                     Grab an area of the screen instead of the entire screen
  -b, --include-border           Include the window border with the screenshot
  -B, --remove-border            Remove the window border from the screenshot
  -d, --delay=seconds            Take screenshot after specified delay [in seconds]
  -e, --border-effect=effect     Effect to add to the border (shadow, border or none)
  -i, --interactive              Interactively set options
  --display=DISPLAY              X display to use

[ More Info]

[/os/unix/linux/utilities/graphics] permanent link