---
name: "germinate-pkg-diff"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "germinate"
version: "2.46"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/germinate-pkg-diff"
---

# germinate-pkg-diff(1)

compare seeds against currently installed packages

## NAME

**germinate-pkg-diff** – compare seeds against currently installed packages

## SYNOPSIS

**germinate-pkg-diff** \[**-l** *file*\] \[**-m** {i\|r\|d}\] \[**-a** *arch*\] \[*seeds*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**germinate-pkg-diff** compares the expansion of a list of seed packages against the set of packages installed on the current system. When constructing seeds for a software distribution, it can be used to iteratively find packages installed on developers' systems that should be included in the seeds.

A list of seeds against which to compare may be supplied as non-option arguments. Seeds from which they inherit will be added automatically. The default is ‘desktop’.

## OPTIONS

- **-l**,

  **-****-list** *file* Read the list of currently installed packages from *file*. The default is to read the output of **dpkg** **-****-get-selections**, and any supplied file should be in the same format.

- **-m**,

  **-****-mode** {i\|r\|d} Set the output mode as follows:

  - i

    Show the **dpkg** selections needed to install just these seeds. List unseeded but installed files as “deinstall”, and seeded but uninstalled files as “install”.

  - r

    List unseeded but installed files as “install”, and seeded but uninstalled files as “deinstall”.

  - d

    Show the differences between the packages specified by the seeds and the list of installed packages, in a somewhat **diff**-like format.

- **-S**,

  **-****-seed-source** *source*,... Fetch seeds from the specified sources. The default is *https://ubuntu-archive-team.ubuntu.com/seeds/*.

- **-s**,

  **-****-seed-dist** *dist* Fetch seeds for distribution *dist*. The default is ubuntu.mantic.

- **-d**,

  **-****-dist** *dist*,... Operate on the specified distributions. The default is mantic. Listing multiple distributions may be useful, for example, when examining both a released distribution and its security updates.

- **-a**,

  **-****-arch** *arch* Operate on architecture *arch*. The default is amd64.

## BUGS

**-****-mode** r is useless as **dpkg** **-****-set-selections** input.

## AUTHORS

Lamont Jones ⟨lamont@ubuntu.com⟩ Colin Watson ⟨cjwatson@canonical.com⟩

**germinate-pkg-diff** is copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Canonical Ltd. See the GNU General Public License version 2 or later for copying conditions. A copy of the GNU General Public License is available in */usr/share/common-licenses/GPL*.