Ubuntu – How to get a list of all packages available for a specific version of Ubuntu (not necessarily the one I have installed)

aptpackage-managementrepository

I can get a list of all available packages and their details using the following command: 

apt-cache search .

Which outputs a list of packages which looks like this:

i   0ad                - Real-time strategy game of ancient warfare
i   0ad-data           - Real-time strategy game of ancient warfare (data files)                            
i   0ad-data-common    - Real-time strategy game of ancient warfare (common data files)                        
p   0ad-dbg            - Real-time strategy game of ancient warfare (debug)                                    
p   0xffff             - Open Free Fiasco Firmware Flasher                                                     
p   2ping              - Ping utility to determine directional packet loss                                     
p   2vcard             - perl script to convert an addressbook to VCARD file format                            
p   3270-common        - Common files for IBM 3270 emulators and pr3287                                        
p   389-admin          - 389 Directory Administration Server 
...

How can I get such a list of packages for a version of Ubuntu which I don't have installed?

So, specifically, where can I download the database of all available packages for a specific version of Ubuntu, and how do I get the details (Possibly including version, size, long description…) from it, in plaintext or in a format which is easy to parse with a script?

Best Answer

Use chdist. This command allows you to run apt-get and apt-cache as usual, but for a different release of Ubuntu (or Debian or in fact any other Debian-derived distribution).

It also provides a wrapper around grep-dctrl which easily allows you to search and report on metadata fields.

Related Question