View Debian Package Information on Ubuntu

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

Download Debian package for testing:

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

Use dpkg-deb or dpkg command with -I option to view Debian package information such as package size, version, architecture, description, and more.

dpkg-deb -I ddosify.deb

dpkg -I ddosify.deb

Output example:

 new Debian package, version 2.0.
 size 2727442 bytes: control archive=384 bytes.
       1 bytes,     0 lines      conffiles
     240 bytes,     9 lines      control
      52 bytes,     1 lines      md5sums
 Package: ddosify
 Version: 0.8.3
 Section:
 Priority: optional
 Architecture: amd64
...