Check APT Package Management History

Keeping track of what packages have been installed, reinstalled, upgraded, or removed on the system is an essential part of Linux system management. On Debian-based Linux distributions (like Ubuntu), the APT logs all package management activities, allowing you to review the system's history, troubleshoot issues, and maintain better control over the software environment. This tutorial explains how to check APT package management history.

APT maintains a history log that records all package operations, including installs, reinstalls, upgrades, and removals. To view it, use:

cat /var/log/apt/history.log

Example output snippet:

Start-Date: 2024-04-28  14:57:02
Commandline: apt install -y nano
Requested-By: john (1000)
Install: nano:amd64 (7.2-2build1)
End-Date: 2024-04-28  14:57:03

Start-Date: 2025-10-21  04:58:40
Commandline: apt install -y git
Requested-By: john (1000)
Install: git:amd64 (1:2.43.0-1ubuntu7), patch:amd64 (2.7.6-7build3, automatic), less:amd64 (590-2ubuntu2, automatic), liberror-perl:amd64 (0.17029-2, automatic), git-man:amd64 (1:2.43.0-1ubuntu7, automatic)
End-Date: 2025-10-21  04:58:41

You can use grep to find actions related to a particular package. For example, to see all activities involving git package:

grep 'git' /var/log/apt/history.log

APT saves space by compressing old logs as .gz. You can view them using zcat or search through them with zgrep:

zcat /var/log/apt/history.log.1.gz

zgrep 'git' /var/log/apt/history.log.1.gz