How do I get a list of files that were or will-be installed when I apt-get a package? Conversely, can I find what package(s) caused a particular file to be installed?
-
Similar on SU superuser.com/questions/82923/… on Ubuntu: askubuntu.com/questions/32507/… – Ciro Santilli 郝海东冠状病六四事件法轮功 May 12 '15 at 10:56
Note: in the following commands, a command beginning with 'root#' means it needs to be run as root.
To find which files were installed by a package, use dpkg -L:
$ dpkg -L $package
apt-file can tell you which files will be installed by a package before installing it:
root# apt-get install apt-file
root# apt-file update
$ apt-file list $package
Or if you have the package as a .deb file locally already, you can run dpkg on it:
$ dpkg --contents $package.deb
To find which package provides a file that is already on your system, use:
$ dpkg -S /path/to/file
To find which package provides a file that is not currently on your system, use apt-file again:
$ apt-file search /path/to/file
-
5Keep in mind that while this will get you most of what you need it will not give you everything. Several packages create configuration files as part of their setup scripts. These files will not be reported by dpkg. – Zoredache Dec 23 '09 at 17:33
-
$ dpkg -L packagenot$ dpkg -L $packageputting the $ in front of the package names returns an error – Alecz Jan 14 '17 at 21:50 -
1The dollar is meant to be understood as a variable, meaning you need to replace
$packagewith the actual name of the package. – ℝaphink Jan 15 '17 at 23:37 -
1conffiles of a package (if any) are listed by command
dpkg --status $package. For the reverse operation usegrep $filename /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.conffiles. – Uwe Geuder Mar 8 '18 at 17:38
dpkg -S /path/to/file/in/question
As far as I'm concerned, dpkg is the low-level tool that apt-get depends on.
-
Yes, dpkg is the command that adds and removes software and files from you mcomputer. apt (incl. Apt-get, aptitude, synaptic, etc.) is the programme that calls dpkg – Rory May 9 '10 at 12:06
If you have installed dlocate, you can use dlocate -L the same way as dpkg -L. It works exactly the same in this case, but has a number of other options.
