whohas – Command-line utility for cross-distro, cross-repository package search

▲ whohas – Command-line utility for cross-distro, cross-repository package search(github.com)

96 points by peter_d_sherman 6 hours ago | 21 comments

▲ chb 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

First I saw that it's written in Perl. Then I realized that the last release was 11 years ago and that the repository domains are hardcoded in the one-file script.

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thilog 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The last commit was four years ago.

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Intralexical 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Does it still work, though?

Where else would you put the repository domains?

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halJordan 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Are you asking if this tool can find something on ubuntu 26.04 when the urls it has were hardcoded 11 years ago?

	▲	c-hendricks 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The URL to search for packages in Ubuntu for example hasn't changed to my knowledge. Are you assuming it's only looking for packages in releases that were current at the time?

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pimlottc 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

In about a hundred or so separate microservices, of course…

▲ deferredgrant 24 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This is exactly the kind of boring CLI tool that earns its keep. Package names and availability differ just enough across distros to waste time in tiny annoying increments.

▲ nikisweeting an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Oh nice, I just implemented something like this for installing from any package manager uv-style https://abxpkg.archivebox.io/, but I haven't added a "search" command yet, I should add that!

▲ c-hendricks 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Shame Homebrew for Linux is getting no love from any of the tools / lists mentioned here.

Since switching to that and flatpak my distro choice is "what sticks closest to the upstream of [my preferred DE]"

	▲	dan15 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Do Linux users actually use Homebrew day to day? My impression of it was that it's mostly for MacOS users that want to keep doing things the same way instead of learning the Linux way (using the OS package manager).

▲ hparadiz 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I've been working on a GUI task manager for Linux and I've been wanting to put a "Funding" or ownership meta data next to the process or process group in the view so people can know where the upstream code lives, how to support the project, and what organizational unit "owns" that process.

So I actually vibe coded a script that does this against a sqlite db I've been considering to bundle with my task manager so it can know this stuff on the fly.

But yea this is a key missing component in Linux user space. Windows let's you encode organizational stuff into an exe but on Linux binaries don't really have that.

▲ Fnoord 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Latest release: May 19, 2015

Abandoned, but forkable (since FOSS), and a decent idea.

Probably nowadays this gets done in Node, parsing the package search websites. Preferably, this would be done via an API though.

	▲	RunningDroid 5 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Probably nowadays this gets done in Node, parsing the package search websites. Preferably, this would be done via an API though. Repology provides an API but it's unstable: https://repology.org/api/v1
	▲	lschueller 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yes, agree. The idea and concept is cool! Imo worth it to keep an eye on it and play with it. First thought, which came to my mind, was a security use case to get it to a point for sbom handling and tracking. In particular, respective to all the recent package vulnerabilities.

▲ dilawar 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There is also https://pkgs.org ..

▲ pxc 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Who has?

Nixpkgs has. :)

Nowadays the only search like this I need to run is

  nix-locate -r 'bin/foo$'

It would be nice to have a CLI alternative to Repology, though.

▲ yjftsjthsd-h 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This would pair nicely with distrobox or Bedrock Linux:)

▲ peter_d_sherman 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

List of linux package search databases:

https://github.com/sxiii/awesome-package-search

▲ bblb 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

This kind of busy work should suit an AI agent:

Go and find me all the repolists and package/software metadata for any distro and OS ever released. Write the results to a local SQLite. Incrementally update, but don't hammer the sources to death. Provide a web UI and CLI.

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embedding-shape 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Or you know, you could do that with a ~100 long script. You don't have to use LLMs for everything, especially when you're not dealing with freeform text at all, use data types and data structures, we've created the concepts for a reason.

	▲	bblb 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Sure. But then I would have to use my brain to actually write code. I thought we were past that already. Also, if it's an agent that keeps scouring the net autonomously for more distros, then I wouldn't have to update the sources manually on my 100 line script.