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I just noticed that Ubuntu 15.04 is using bsd version of column command and its very old i.e. its from 2004. But on arch linux the column command is of util-linux is updated on 2014.
So I have two questions: why Ubuntu 15.04 (debian jessie, both being latest release) is giving the old version binaries?

Is there any way to update these kind of core utils?

Alex Jones
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  • File a bug report/feature request. Probably no one needs the newer version. – muru May 12 '15 at 20:19
  • @muru I need the latest version of column – Alex Jones May 12 '15 at 20:34
  • @edwardtorvalds then file a bug report. What good is posting here going to do? – muru May 12 '15 at 20:34
  • @muru just a reason why debian is keeping core utils outdated – Alex Jones May 12 '15 at 20:35
  • @mikewhatever your link does explains why debian is keeping very very old (2004 is 10 years old) core utils outdated – Alex Jones May 12 '15 at 20:37
  • You're looking at it the wrong way: Why should they update a package that no one is complaining about? Consider this: packages depending on bsdmainutils for column or any other programs which get shifted would need to be changed as well. Since nobody's complaining, there's no point to taking on a what could be potentially a massive undertaking. coreutils is a separate package, I see no evidence that it is outdated. – muru May 12 '15 at 20:47
  • @muru do you know away to remove bsdcoreutils and install util-linux in place of it? since util-linux has the latest version of column and other binaries – Alex Jones May 12 '15 at 20:51
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    @edwardtorvalds you can download the util-linux package from Arch Linux and extract column from it. Removing bsdmainutils will cause man-db to be removed - whether that's a bad thing depends on how often you use man pages. – muru May 12 '15 at 21:34
  • @muru you mean i will not be able to see the man pages at all? – Alex Jones May 12 '15 at 21:38
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    You'll have to install man yourself too. – muru May 12 '15 at 21:40

1 Answers1

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As @muru said

...
you can download the util-linux package from Arch Linux and extract
column from it.
...

Download the latest version here and extract the archive in a temporary folder.

tar xf util-linux-2.26.1-3-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz -C /tmp/util-linux-2.26.1

And copy the content of /tmp/util-linux-2.26.1/usr/ into /usr/local

cp -R /tmp/util-linux-2.26.1/usr/* /usr/local

Test with, eg.:

% column --version                                          
column von util-linux 2.26.1

I had a problem with that, but the error can be ignored.

tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
A.B.
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