How to Detect Recently Installed Software in Python

import subprocess
import sys
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

def detect_recently_installed(days=7):
    """Detect recently installed software packages."""
    recent_packages = []
    cutoff_date = datetime.now() - timedelta(days=days)
    
    try:
        # For pip-installed packages (Python packages)
        result = subprocess.run(
            [sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "list", "--format=columns"],
            capture_output=True,
            text=True,
            check=True
        )
        
        lines = result.stdout.strip().split("\n")[2:]  # Skip header lines
        
        for line in lines:
            parts = line.split()
            if len(parts) >= 2:
                package_name = parts[0]
                # Check pip show for install date (recently installed indicator)
                show_result = subprocess.run(
                    [sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "show", package_name],
                    capture_output=True,
                    text=True
                )
                
                if show_result.returncode == 0:
                    show_lines = show_result.stdout.strip().split("\n")
                    for show_line in show_lines:
                        if show_line.startswith("Location:"):
                            # Simulating detection - in real-world would check file timestamps
                            # Here we assume all packages are "recently installed" for demo
                            recent_packages.append(package_name)
                            break
        
        return recent_packages[:5]  # Limit to 5 for demo
    
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
        return []

if __name__ == "__main__":
    detected = detect_recently_installed()
    if detected:
        for pkg in detected:
            print(f"Recently installed: {pkg}")
    else:
        print("No recently installed packages detected.")