What is the software that is pre-installed in Ubuntu?

Question

I would like to know the software that is pre-installed in Ubuntu.

I know this website: https://packages.ubuntu.com/, but in the website all the packages of Ubuntu are mentioned.

I want to know all software that comes pre-installed (from a website like https://packages.ubuntu.com/) without installing Ubuntu Desktop OS in my device.

Please let me know if this is possible.

My question is not a duplicate of How to get a list of preinstalled packages? and Which pre-installed apps ship with the Ubuntu 20.04 desktop installation? because of the following reasons:

.manifest file shows the packages that are included in a live image, not the packages that are present in a fresh installation (explained in this comment: https://askubuntu.com/posts/comments/2308852).
Running the following command is not possible as I want to know the list of software without installing Ubuntu.
```
dpkg -S desktop | grep "\.desktop$" | awk '{print $1}' | sed 's/://' | sort -u
```

The installation process selects some packages depending upon hardware, so no web site will be able to provide the installed packages for your machine. After installation, a list of the selected packages may be displayed ty: gzip -dc /var/log/installer/initial-status.gz — ubfan1, Jul 05 '21 at 18:18
You can looks at the manifest for each version & flavor. They all are different. An example for Focal. http://releases.ubuntu.com/focal/ and Kubuntu: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/20.04.2/release/ — oldfred, Jul 05 '21 at 20:28
This question is related: Getting Ubuntu Package Fresh Install List. Also this one: Get a list of packages on a fresh install — BeastOfCaerbannog, Jul 07 '21 at 15:38
Does this answer your question? Which pre-installed apps ship with the Ubuntu 20.04 desktop installation? — muru, Jul 08 '21 at 23:44
Does this answer your question? How to get a list of preinstalled packages? — karel, Jul 09 '21 at 08:47

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 05 '21 at 18:18

You can read the *.manifest file to determine list of pre-installed packages.

Example links are below:

Ubuntu 20.04.2.0 LTS - https://releases.ubuntu.com/20.04.2.0/ubuntu-20.04.2.0-desktop-amd64.manifest
Ubuntu MATE 20.04.2.0 LTS - http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-mate/releases/20.04.2.0/release/ubuntu-mate-20.04.2.0-desktop-amd64.manifest

Also it is useful to check ISO contents (*.list file), it may have Nvidia drivers included, see below:

Ubuntu 20.04.2.0 LTS - https://releases.ubuntu.com/20.04.2.0/ubuntu-20.04.2.0-desktop-amd64.list
Ubuntu MATE 20.04.2.0 LTS - http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-mate/releases/20.04.2.0/release/ubuntu-mate-20.04.2.0-desktop-amd64.list

This is a nice answer, though it's not 100% correct. The .manifest file shows the packages that are included in a Live image, not the packages that are present in a fresh installation. For example, GParted is present in the Live image, but you have to manually install it in an actual installation. Furthermore, if you select the minimal installation option, even less packages get installed. — BeastOfCaerbannog, Jul 07 '21 at 15:34

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 12 '21 at 17:16

3

These lists seem to have what you want:

edited Jul 12 '21 at 17:16

Zanna

70,465

answered Jul 10 '21 at 17:58

R1PTIDE

85

I am not sure how accurate your answer is because firefox package is not mentioned in https://people.canonical.com/%7Eubuntu-archive/seeds/ubuntu.focal/desktop. – Random Person Jul 10 '21 at 18:02
1

It is mentioned in the minimal list. You see the desktop list only mentions packages not in the minimal. It has task seeds as desktop-minimal and desktop-common which means software included in those tasks is also included. – R1PTIDE Jul 10 '21 at 18:04

What is the software that is pre-installed in Ubuntu?

2 Answers2