Introduction: sometimes you need a quick and easy way to visualize and understand which packages a package in Debian depends on. With the debtree tool and graphviz you can generate diagrams showing direct and reverse dependencies in a few steps.
Installation: install debtree and graphviz with the apt package manager using the following command
apt install debtree graphviz
Package check: if you know the name of the package you want to visualize, you can verify if it is installed or listed with
dpkg -l | grep ufw # check if it exists
Visualize dependencies: to generate a PNG image with the dependencies of a package use
debtree ufw | dot -T png -o ufw_deps.png
You can also choose other formats such as svg. If you have a graphical environment you can view it instantly using x11
debtree ufw | dot -T x11
Visualize reverse dependencies: to see which packages depend on a package use the -R or --show-rdeps option. To limit the view to only installed packages add -I or --show-installed
debtree -R -I iptables | dot -T x11
In the previous example you can see that packages like docker-ce and ubuntu-standard depend on iptables.
Practical tips: use svg formats for documents and web, and use dot -Gsize to control the size. For large graphs filter by installed packages and first study direct dependencies before exploring rdeps.
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