http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Knoppix_Remastering_Howto

To get a list of packages installed, type this:

dpkg-query -l

If you are looking for big *installed* packages then the command

dpkg-awk "Status: .* installed$" -- Package Installed-Size | \
 awk '{print $2}' | egrep -v '^$' | xargs -n2 echo | \
 perl -pe 's/(\S+)\s(\S+)/$2 $1/' | sort -rg

will list the packages with size in descending order.

At least ten times faster is the command

dpkg-query -W --showformat='${Installed-Size} ${Package}\n' | sort -n

and you don't need dpkg-awk or awk or perl; however it does not exclude packages that are not installed.

Or, you could use this command to get the qpkg-query speed with the non-installed packages not listed:

dpkg-query -W --showformat='${Installed-Size} ${Package} ${Status}\n' | grep ' installed$' | sort -n | awk '{print $1" "$2}'

It does the same thing as above, I assume. I couldn't get the first one to work because I don't have dpkg-awk.

	I tried the following command but it didn't seems to do the sorting as advertised. <T>.

dpkg-awk -s Installed-Size "Status: .* installed$" -- Package Installed-Size

documented on: 2006.06.30