View Contents of Debian Package on Ubuntu

Debian package (.deb) is an archive file that consists of various files such as executable files, configuration files, libraries, documentation, etc. The files are associated with an application which can be installed on the system. This tutorial explains how to view contents of Debian package on Ubuntu.

For testing purpose, download Debian package:

wget -qO ddosify.deb https://github.com/ddosify/ddosify/releases/latest/download/ddosify_amd64.deb

Use dpkg-deb or dpkg command with -c option to list contents of Debian package:

dpkg-deb -c ddosify.deb

dpkg -c ddosify.deb

Output example:

drwxr-xr-x root/root         0 2022-09-08 11:23 ./usr/
drwxr-xr-x root/root         0 2022-09-08 11:23 ./usr/bin/
-rwxr-xr-x root/root   6627328 2022-09-08 11:21 ./usr/bin/ddosify