How to find a package containing a specific file

notadoc · 06-20-2018, 02:44 PM

Mint 18.2 64-bit Cinnamon

I've looked at apt, aptitude, and dpkg, but I can't see how to find a package, installed or not, that containg a specific file; e.g., "libxxxx.so"

Ideas?

hydrurga · 06-20-2018, 02:48 PM

Try:

Code:

dpkg -S libxxxx.so

ondoho · 06-20-2018, 02:48 PM

https://www.startpage.com/do/dsearch...+specific+file

notadoc · 06-20-2018, 03:03 PM

Wow! That was fast.

Question: does dpkg -S <filename> work on packages not installed? I phrased my original question awkwardly...I need to find what package to install to get a particular file.

Thanks again

hydrurga · 06-20-2018, 03:11 PM

As far as I am aware, it only looks at installed packages.

For your particular purposes, I would check the "Search the contents of packages" section at https://packages.ubuntu.com/ - it won't include Mint-specific packages, but those are only a small minority of the packages in a Mint system.

Habitual · 06-20-2018, 05:13 PM

apt-cache policy <package>

hydrurga · 06-20-2018, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Habitual

apt-cache policy <package>

That only shows the candidate and alternative software sources for a package, not what the OP was looking for which is a reverse lookup of the files that a package installs.

jlinkels · 06-20-2018, 05:35 PM

You can search packages.debian.org. There is a web interface for searching specific files in Debian.

I know you are using Mint, but Mint is a derivative of Debian, eventually. I think if you search for packages in Sid/Unstable you hit your solution in 95% of all cases. It is not perfect. Use older Debian versions for older versions of Mint.

Note that Mint and Debian packages are generally not compatible. Use this as a lookup tool.

jlinkels

AwesomeMachine · 06-20-2018, 09:58 PM

I use

Code:

$ apt-cache search <file name>

hydrurga · 06-21-2018, 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AwesomeMachine

I use

Code:

$ apt-cache search <file name>

All apt-cache search does is search through the package names and descriptions, not the names of the files that a package installs.

knudfl · 06-21-2018, 02:10 AM

@notadoc

Quote:

How to find a package containing a specific file

https://wiki.debian.org/apt-file

$ sudo apt install apt-file

$ apt-file search [file name]

-

hydrurga · 06-21-2018, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knudfl

@notadoc

https://wiki.debian.org/apt-file

$ sudo apt install apt-file

$ apt-file search [file name]

Nice one, knudfl.