Servers package difference => "dpkg-diff"

Problem

You have two linux servers A and B, you want to know what installed packages are not in both servers (A-B joined with B-A).

Solution

The following script (dpkg-diff.sh, tested on GNU/Linux Debian Lenny/Squeeze).

dpkg-query command and a ssh server must be installed on both servers.

    ###
    # FILE: dpkg-diff.sh
    # AUTHOR: Olaf Reitmaier 
    # LICENSE: GNU/GPL v3 (Visit www.gnu.org for more info)
    # USAGE: Servers package difference => "dpkg-diff"
    # WARNING: Modify header vars according to your needs.
    ##

    # Header variables

    s1=server1.example.com
    s2=server2.example.com
    u1=testuser
    u2=$u1
    # Exclude lib* packages
    ft="-v ^lib"
    f1=/tmp/dpkg-diff.1
    f2=/tmp/dpkg-diff.2

    # Do not edit this lines unless you know what your doing!

    ssh [email protected]$s1 "dpkg-query --list" | grep '^ii' | awk '{print $2}' > $f1
    ssh [email protected]$s2 "dpkg-query --list" | grep '^ii' | awk '{print $2}' > $f2

    clear

    echo "Only in $s1"

    cat $f1 | grep $ft | sort | while read package
    do
        if [ $(cat $f2  | grep $package | wc -l) -eq 0 ]
        then
            echo -n "$package "
        fi
    done
    echo
    echo

    echo "Only in $s2"

    cat $f2 | grep $ft | sort | while read package
    do
        if [ $(cat $f1 | grep $package | wc -l) -eq 0 ]
        then
            echo -n "$package "
        fi
    done
    echo
    echo

Updated: 2012/09/26