severity 685439 normal thanks First, <FILE> should say what file.
Second, I found what entries trigger the Use of uninitialized value in hash element # apt-show-versions -r -p '^linux-(doc|image)-[0-9]+\.' Use of uninitialized value in hash element at /usr/bin/apt-show-versions line 577, <FILE> line 3093. # apt-show-versions -r -p '^linux-(doc|image)-[0-9]+\.' # less -N +3093 /var/lib/dpkg/status 3087 Package: modutils 3088 Status: unknown ok not-installed 3089 Priority: extra 3090 Section: admin 3091 Origin: debian 3092 Bugs: debbugs://bugs.debian.org/ 3093 It's those super short entries. $ grep -n 'Status: unknown ok not-installed' /var/lib/dpkg/status 3088:Status: unknown ok not-installed 4946:Status: unknown ok not-installed 23084:Status: unknown ok not-installed and in fact the first one, on the first run of apt-show-versions in a long time. As you see above the second run doesn't trigger the error.
