Ubuntu – Find version of development library from command line

application-developmentboostclibrariesshared library

I installed the c++ boost development libraries using Ubuntu software centre. The problem is that it was quite a long time ago and I cannot remember where they are installed nor what version they were. Is there anything I can do from the command line that will tell me what version(s) I have installed on my system?? I know I can do things like 

gcc -v

to get version of an application but is there a similar thing available for libraries? I am using ubuntu 12.04

Best Answer

You can quickly find what version or where a library is, even if you do not quite know the title, with dpkg, and, in your case, using boost as the query term:

dpkg -l '*boost*'

and then query dpkg again with this option for a full list of file locations now you know the name of the file:

dpkg -L <'name of lib'>

The name of the library may, for example, be libboost1.46-dev.

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