[vox-tech] finding the debian package that provides a command

[Ken Bloom]

--+g7M9IMkV8truYOl
Content-Type: text/plain; Format=Flowed; DelSp=Yes; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

On 2003.11.16 19:12, David Hummel wrote:
> Does dpkg or apt (or maybe some other tool) provide a mechanism for
> determining what package a file or command belongs to for packages
> that
> aren't installed?
>=20
> Let's say I haven't gotten around to installing the package that
> provides the xargs command (findutils), but I wanted to find out the
> name of the package ... so that I can apt-get it.
>=20
> dpkg -S does nicely for installed packages, but since it's impossible
> (at least for me) to know the package names that provide every single
> command or program in debian, I'm hoping there's a command line way =20
> of
> doing this that's easier than searching through
> http://packages.debian.org.

the apt-file and the auto-apt command do this. (apt-file used to not =20
work, but now it works like a charm and probably beats auto-apt for =20
functionality in this domain)

you need, however, to run `apt-file update` separately from `apt-get =20
update` to keep the file lists from your debian mirrors up to date too. =20
I handle this (and prevent forgetfulness) by tacking on `apt-file =20
update` at the end of the cronjob I use to download upgrades to my =20
system for latter installation.

--=20
I usually have a GPG digital signature included as an attachment.
See http://www.gnupg.org/ for info about these digital signatures.
My key was last signed 10/14/2003. If you use GPG *please* see me about
signing the key. ***** My computer can't give you viruses by email. ***

--+g7M9IMkV8truYOl
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature
Content-Disposition: inline

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQA/uEBjlHapveKyytERAldAAJ9V7I8aV9drP4GGhALCOHILDiZjIQCeNnr3
EwldNaEd2aM2KayLZtumoBw=
=9iLj
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--+g7M9IMkV8truYOl--