Simple enough question: is there some shell command (or GUI method) I can use that, given the path to a file on my system, tells me what package put it there? Assuming the file did in fact come from a package, that is.
Bonus question: what if it's a file that isn't installed on my system? Is there, say, a website that will let me look up a file and see what packages, if any, provide it?
You can use dpkg command to find out which installed package owns a file:
From man dpkg:
-S, --search filename-search-pattern...
Search for a filename from installed packages.
Example:
$ dpkg -S /bin/ls
coreutils: /bin/ls
You can either search with a full path or with just the filename.
If you wish to search for files not yet installed on your computer, you can use the Ubuntu Packages Search, or apt-file as described in a different answer.
which to find he program: dpkg -S \which firefox``
– Lekensteyn
Jun 07 '11 at 15:38
dlocate may not do the job, if dlocate's database is out of date. You have to call sudo update-dlocatedb to update it.
– jarno
Jun 14 '15 at 14:40
dpkg the exact path doesn't return anything (e.g. dpkg /usr/bin/java), try just the executable's name (e.g. dpkg java).
– Dan Dascalescu
Jan 21 '16 at 01:05
dpkg -S "$(readlink -fn "$(which free)")" (or a dpkg -S command but you'll other things).
– Pablo Bianchi
May 18 '18 at 22:39
-S at: man dpkg-query (not at man dpkg)
– Elliptical view
Jun 26 '18 at 02:36
realpath to resolve symlinks, like this: dpkg -S $(realpath $(which <command>)).
– Lars Nyström
Jan 18 '19 at 14:24
dpkg-query -S /usr/bin/ping dpkg-query: no path found matching pattern /usr/bin/ping
– hanshenrik
Feb 01 '22 at 08:36
dpkg-query -S /bin/ping works. Hence the discussion above about using realpath.
– David Faure
Apr 26 '22 at 18:04
The apt-file command can do this for you from the command line. I use it frequently when building packages from source. For files provided by packages that are already installed on your system, apt-cache is another choice.
To install apt-file, do:
sudo apt-get install apt-file
Then, you need to update it's database:
sudo apt-file update
And, finally, search the file:
$ apt-file find kwallet.h
kdelibs5-dev: /usr/include/kwallet.h
libkf5wallet-dev: /usr/include/KF5/KWallet/kwallet.h
However a much friendlier way is to use the Ubuntu Packages Search website. They have an option to "search the contents of packages" for a specific filename.
apt-file often finds false positives, i.e. packages that aren't installed. Of course this answer is great for the "bonus question".
– David Z
Apr 03 '18 at 23:36
apt-file search <> is the closest analog to dnf/yum whatprovides <>.
– ffledgling
Apr 29 '18 at 20:14
apt-file find as apt-find long time ago and it's really handy! Btw, latest versions require root for apt-file update.
– val - disappointed in SE
Jun 02 '19 at 08:38
apt, apt-get, or one of the other default apt-* programs. It seems like key piece of any package manager's search capabilities.
– theferrit32
Feb 03 '20 at 18:52
sudo apt install apt-file on Ubuntu 18, I get Package apt-file is not available, but is referred to by another package.
– ComputerScientist
May 29 '20 at 21:18
pacman and it always provided that feature
– Hritik
Sep 20 '23 at 15:33
You can search the contents of packages included in the various Ubuntu releases on the Ubuntu Packages website. Look under the heading "Search the contents of packages".
For example, here are the search results for libnss3.so in focal (20.04):
You mean, which package and not which application. The application is your package manager, e.g. Software Center.
Using dpkg:
dpkg -S /usr/lib/tracker/tracker-store
dpkg -S tracker-extract
dpkg -S tracker-miner-fs
Example
% dpkg -S /usr/lib/tracker/tracker-store
tracker: /usr/lib/tracker/tracker-store
Using apt-file:
apt-file search /usr/lib/tracker/tracker-store
or also possible:
apt-file search --regex /tracker-extract$
apt-file search --regex /tracker-miner-fs$
Example
% apt-file search /usr/lib/tracker/tracker-store
tracker: /usr/lib/tracker/tracker-store
Or online here, in the section Search the contents of packages.
Example
None of these suggestions helped me find which package installed this/these applications though. All searches just lead back to "Tracker".
I suspected it was Enthoughts' Canopy though. That mile long EULA reminded me of my old Microsoft Windows daze, with which, I am so glad I am no longer involved.
I saw that Tracker was installed yesterday so, as root, I got rid of it, along with Enthoughts' Canopy and, all problems are solved.
I really thank you for all your help. It is such a great thing to have such support.
Thanks again!
Kevin
– ReyKev Nov 29 '15 at 17:22This is an extension to Alexx Roche's excellent answer. I tried to make an edit to that answer, but it got rejected (though not by Alexx)
I was trying to track down what installed which on my system. After a little work I created /usr/local/bin/apt-whatprovides
#!/bin/sh
#apt-whatprovides ver. 201801010101 Copyright alexx, MIT Licence
#rdfa:deps="[realpath,apt-file,grep,which,sh,echo]"
BINARY="$(realpath $(which $@) 2>/dev/null)"
[ -z "$BINARY" ] && BINARY="$@"
echo Searching for $BINARY
PACKAGE="$(apt-file search $BINARY|grep -E ":.*[^-.a-zA-Z0-9]${BINARY}$")"
echo "${PACKAGE}"
Though for most THINGs that are installed you can just use:
apt-file search $(realpath $(which THING)) | grep 'THING$'
For THINGs that are not installed, you can use:
apt-file search THING | grep '/THING$'
The apt-whatprovides script works for files that are and are not on your system. For example, my system lacked dig but had ping so this it what resulted:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ apt-whatprovides ping
Searching for /bin/ping
inetutils-ping: /bin/ping
iputils-ping: /bin/ping
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ apt-whatprovides dig
Searching for dig
dnsutils: /usr/bin/dig
epic4: /usr/share/epic4/script/dig
epic4-help: /usr/share/epic4/help/8_Scripts/dig
knot-dnsutils: /usr/bin/dig
Notice that Searching for is a complete path for ping (installed) and just the binary name for dig not installed. This helped me discover that I needed to install dnsutils without needing to go search https://packages.ubuntu.com/#search_contents
apt-file -x ... you don't need to grep the output, hence you get slightly shorter and more convenient one liner like apt-file -ix search "$( realpath $( which THING ) )$" (installed packages) resp. apt-file -ix search '/THING$' (not installed packages).
– DJCrashdummy
Jun 20 '22 at 13:34
grep edition shows nothing while the apt-file -x edition still filters for the correct command/path. || anyway, for installed packages dpkg -S $( which THING ) or apt contains $( which THING ) is IMHO still the better choice.
– DJCrashdummy
Jun 20 '22 at 13:56
lz4 -dmc /var/lib/apt/lists/*Contents* | grep -F "${BINARY#/}"$'\t' | sort -u is considerably faster than apt-file search ... | grep and way faster than apt-file search -x.
– Juergen
Nov 02 '23 at 15:01
I was trying to track down what installed which on my system. After a little work I created apt-whatprovides
#!/bin/sh
#apt-whatprovides ver. 201801010101 Copyright alexx, MIT Licence
#rdfa:deps="[realpath,apt-file,grep,which,sh,echo]"
BINARY=$(realpath $(which $@))
PACKAGE=$(apt-file search $BINARY|grep -E ":\s*${BINARY}$")
echo ${PACKAGE%:*}
Though for most THINGs you can just use
apt-file search $(realpath $(which THING))|grep 'THING$'
You can use:
$ apt-file --fixed-string search /bin/ls
coreutils: /bin/ls
or,
$ apt-file --fixed-string --package-only search /bin/ls
coreutils
You can also read from file like bellow:
echo "/bin/ls" | apt-file --fixed-string --from-file --package-only search -
Instead you echo you can use like cat files.txt.
For Linux Mint you can use apt to do it.
$ apt contains /bin/ls
coreutils: /bin/ls
The output is same as:
$ dpkg -S /bin/ls
coreutils: /bin/ls
P.S. In the above commands, you can replace --fixed-string with -F; --package-only with -l and --from-file with -f.
One reason you might have to do this is if you are compiling software which there already is an ubuntu package, you can run apt-get build-dep $PACKAGENAME. That will install all packages you need to compile $PACKAGENAME.
Why:
Different distro has its own way, too many commands to remember o(╥﹏╥)o
How:
A universal solution: pacapt -Qo file_path
Outcome:
On ubuntu:
$ pacapt -Qo /usr/bin/iostat
sysstat: /usr/bin/iostat
On centos:
$ pacapt -Qo /usr/bin/iostat
sysstat-10.1.5-19.el7.x86_64
Even can find path itself:
$ pacapt -Qo iostat
sysstat: /usr/share/man/man1/iostat.1.gz
sysstat: /usr/bin/cifsiostat
sysstat: /usr/bin/iostat
sysstat: /usr/share/man/man1/cifsiostat.1.gz
What is pacapt:
pacapt is a wrapper for many package managers
Install:
Simply download the portable script:
wget -O $HOME/bin/pacapt https://github.com/icy/pacapt/raw/ng/pacapt
I usually use dpkg -S but it only works when it's pointing at the canonical file.
DPKG can't find the file I'm looking for:
$ dpkg -S /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libicuuc.so.70
dpkg-query: no path found matching pattern /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libicuuc.so.70
Some path of the path is a symbolic link. If you don't want to inspect each parts one by one, use realpath
$ realpath /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libicuuc.so.70
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libicuuc.so.70.1
DPKG works with the real path (canonical) of the file:
$ dpkg -S /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libicuuc.so.70.1
libicu70:amd64: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libicuuc.so.70.1
Or, all at once:
$ dpkg -S $(realpath /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libicuuc.so.70)
libicu70:amd64: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libicuuc.so.70.1
Provides:mechanism. In some more detail, a command likemailxorsendmailis not included as a binary in any package; instead, various packages install their own binaries and then make some of them available under a "canonical" name via/etc/alternatives. See also https://askubuntu.com/questions/366135/how-to-search-for-packages-that-provides-a-virtual-package – tripleee Jan 26 '18 at 04:13