Check package availability across distribution update

Question

I'm currently running Ubuntu 16.04 and would like to upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04.

But before upgrading, I would like to check if the current set of packages installed on my machine are available under 18.04, and if any of the package was renamed across the distribution.

Any suggestions on how to do it? And is it safe to assume the package names will remain same across distributions?

All Ubuntu and flavors of Ubuntu have the same packages, other distributions of GNU/Linux use different package names but are off-topic here (even 3rd party can be unique in package names). https://askubuntu.com/help/on-topic Ubuntu attempts to follow names used by upstream Debian, but exceptions will exist even if not the norm. — guiverc, Nov 04 '20 at 06:34
Hey Debargha Roy! This website can be helpful: https://packages.ubuntu.com/ — Random Person, Nov 04 '20 at 14:57

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 04 '20 at 10:44

As guiverc mention, it is not a rule but almost same names, you may face dropped packages that were replaced due to lack of support and maintenance and those with major upgrades (Version major number is part of the package name).
How to make it

1.Get currently installed packages list: How to list all installed packages

2.Then pass it to apt-cache or apt -s to check availability, in the other release: How can I get a list of all packages available for a specific version of Ubuntu

Check package availability across distribution update

1 Answers1