Debian: Package Dependency in Graph

To visualize package dependency relationship in Linux is one attractive feature. This article will show how to do that in Debian OS.

Create DOT file by apt-cache

The command apt-cache has one sub-command dotty which is able to take a list of packages on the command line and generates output suitable for
use by dotty from the GraphViz package.

apt-cache dotty docker-ce > docker-ce.dot

Convert DOT file to graph file

The command dot can convert DOT file to different graph file formats.

dot -Tjpg docker-ce.dot > docker-ce.jpg

Figure 1: docker-ce dependency graph

To avoid large graph

In default, apt-cache dotty will trace out all dependent packages and produce a very large graph DOT file. To limit the output to only the packages listed on the command line, set the APT::Cache::GivenOnly option in apt.conf file (/etc/apt/apt.conf).

Note: need root permission to edit apt.conf file.

APT
{
 // Options for apt-get
 Get
 {
  Download-Only "false";
 };
 Cache
 {
  GivenOnly "true";
 }
};

That’s it and hope it’s helpful for you.

Thanks and happy reading!