I am sure that this might have happened to you also, when you tried to install a package, and then a message showed “Failed dependencies”.
Now use apt-rdepends to know the dependencies and their dependencies of a package.
When we make a query for dependencies of a package, apt-rdepends searches the APt and return the list of dependencies and the dependencies of each dependent package. insatll
Install apt-rdepends
$ sudo apt-get install apt-rdepends Lets see the dependencies of vlc
$ sudo apt-rdepends vlc
vlc
Depends: libaa1 (>= 1.4p5)
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.8)
Depends: libdbus-1-3 (>= 1.0.2)
Depends: libfreetype6 (>= 2.2.1)
Depends: libfribidi0 (>= 0.19.2)
Depends: libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1)
Depends: libgl1
Depends: libgl1-mesa-glx
Depends: libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.12.0)
Depends: libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.8.0)
Depends: libnotify1 (>= 0.4.5)
Depends: libnotify1-gtk2.10
Depends: libqtcore4 (>= 4:4.6.1)
Depends: libqtgui4 (>= 4:4.6.1)
Depends: libsdl-image1.2 (>= 1.2.5)
Depends: libsdl1.2debian (>= 1.2.10-1)
Depends: libstdc++6 (>= 4.2.1)
Depends: libtar
Depends: libvlccore2 (>= 1.0.0~rc1)
Depends: libx11-6 (0)
Depends: libx264-85
Depends: libxcb-keysyms1 (>= 0.3.6)
Depends: libxcb1 (0)
Depends: libxext6 (0)
Depends: libxinerama1
Depends: libxv1
Depends: libxxf86vm1
Depends: ttf-dejavu-core
Depends: vlc-nox (= 1.0.6-1ubuntu1)
Depends: zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.3.3.dfsg)
libaa1
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.11)
Depends: libgpm2 (>= 1.20.4)
Depends: libncurses5 (>= 5.6+20071006-3)
Depends: libslang2 (>= 2.0.7-1)
Depends: libx11-6 (0)
libc6
Depends: debconf (>= 0.5)
Depends: debconf-2.0
Depends: findutils (>= 4.4.0-2ubuntu2)
Depends: libc-bin (= 2.11.1-0ubuntu7)
Depends: libgcc1
Depends: tzdata
debconf
Depends: debconf-english
Depends: debconf-i18n
PreDepends: perl-base (>= 5.6.1-4)
debconf-english
Depends: debconf
debconf-i18n
Depends: debconf
Depends: liblocale-gettext-perl
Depends: libtext-charwidth-perl
Depends: libtext-iconv-perl
Depends: libtext-wrapi18n-perl
liblocale-gettext-perl
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.2)
PreDepends: perl-base (>= 5.10.0-24ubuntu4)
PreDepends: perlapi-5.10.0
perl-base
PreDepends: dpkg (>= 1.14.20)
PreDepends: libc6 (>= 2.11)
dpkg
PreDepends: coreutils (>= 5.93-1)
PreDepends: libc6 (>= 2.11)
PreDepends: lzma
coreutils
PreDepends: libacl1 (>= 2.2.11-1)
PreDepends: libattr1 (>= 2.4.41-1)
PreDepends: libc6 (>= 2.11)
PreDepends: libselinux1 (>= 1.32)
libacl1
Depends: libattr1 (>= 2.4.41-1)
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
libattr1
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
libselinux1
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.8)
lzma
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
Depends: libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1)
Depends: libstdc++6 (>= 4.4.0)
libgcc1
Depends: gcc-4.4-base (= 4.4.3-4ubuntu5)
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.2.4)
gcc-4.4-base
libstdc++6
Depends: gcc-4.4-base (= 4.4.3-4ubuntu5)
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
Depends: libgcc1
perlapi-5.10.0
libtext-charwidth-perl
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.1.3)
Depends: perl-base (>= 5.10.0-24ubuntu4)
Depends: perlapi-5.10.0
libtext-iconv-perl
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.1.3)
Depends: perl-base (>= 5.10.0-24ubuntu4)
Depends: perlapi-5.10.0
libtext-wrapi18n-perl
Depends: libtext-charwidth-perl
debconf-2.0
findutils
PreDepends: libc6 (>= 2.7)
libc-bin
tzdata
Depends: debconf (>= 0.5)
Depends: debconf-2.0
libgpm2
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.7)
libncurses5
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
libslang2
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
libx11-6
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
Depends: libx11-data
Depends: libxcb1 (>= 1.2)
libx11-data
libxcb1
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
Depends: libxau6
Depends: libxdmcp6
libxau6
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
libxdmcp6
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
libdbus-1-3
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
libfreetype6
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
Depends: zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4)
zlib1g
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
libfribidi0
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
libgl1
libgl1-mesa-glx
Depends: dpkg (>= 1.15.4)
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
Depends: libdrm2 (>= 2.3.1)
Depends: libx11-6 (0)
Depends: libxdamage1 (>= 1:1.1)
Depends: libxext6 (0)
Depends: libxfixes3 (>= 1:4.0.1)
Depends: libxxf86vm1
libdrm2
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.7)
libxdamage1
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.1.3)
Depends: libx11-6
Depends: libxfixes3 (>= 1:4.0.1)
libxfixes3
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.1.3)./
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Enjoy Linux.