apt-file

APT-FILE(1)                                                        APT-FILE(1)



NAME
       apt-file - APT package searching utility -- command-line interface

SYNOPSIS
       apt-file [ options ] [ action ] [ pattern ]


DESCRIPTION
       apt-file  is  a  command  line  tool for searching packages for the APT
       packaging system.

       Some actions are required to run the search:

       update Resynchronize the package contents from their sources. The lists
              of  the  contents  of  packages are fetched from the location(s)
              specified in /etc/apt/sources.list.  This  command  attempts  to
              fetch the Contents-<ARCH>.gz files from remote sources.

       search Search  in which package file is included. A list of all package
              containing the pattern pattern is returned.

       list   List the contents of a package  matching  the  pattern  pattern.
              This  action  is  very  close  to the dpkg -S command except the
              package does not need to be installed or fetched.

       show   Alias for list.

       purge  remove all Contents-<ARCH>.gz files in cache directory.

OPTIONS
          --cache | -c cache-directory
              Sets the cache  directory  to  cache-directory  instead  of  its
              default value (/var/cache/apt) thus you can use apt-file even if
              you do not have administrator privileges.

          --verbose | -v
              Run apt-file in verbose mode.

          --cdrom-mount | -d cdrom-mount-point
              Use cdrom-mount-point instead of apt's.

          --ignore-case | -i
              Do not expand pattern.

          --regexp | -x
              Treat pattern as a regular expression.

          --version | -V
              Show version number.

          --architecture | -a architecture
              Sets architecture to architecture. This option is useful if  you
              search  a  package  for  a  different  architecture from the one
              installed on your system.

          --sources-list | -s sources.list
              Sets the sources.list file to a different value from its default
              /etc/apt/sources.list.

          --package-only | -l
              Only display package name. Do not display file names.

          --fixed-string | -F
              Do  not  expand  search  pattern with generic characters at pat-
              tern's start and end.

          --dummy | -y
              Run in dummy mode (no action).

          --help | -h
              Display a short help screen.

CONFIGURATION FILE
       The apt-file configuration file (/etc/apt/apt-file.conf)  changed  from
       version 1 to version 2. Now only fetch backends are defined in the con-
       figuration file. Thus it is much easier to configure proxies.

       A string expension is done on several values. See string expension sec-
       tion.

       destination
              This variable describes how cached files will be named.

       http | ftp | ssh | rsh | file | cdrom
              Define are the commands used to fetch files.

   STRING EXPANSION
       A sources.list entry is defined as:

              deb uri dist component1 component2 ...

       A uri is defined as:

              proto:/[/][user[:password]@]host[:port][/path]


       <host> replace with the hostname.

       <port> replace with the port number.

       <uri>  replace with full uri

       <path> replace with full path (relative to / on the host)

       <dist> replace with distribution name

       <comp> replace with component name

       <cache>
              replace with cache directory

       <dest> replace with destination expanded value.

       <cdrom>
              replace with cdrom-mount-point.

FILES
       /etc/apt/sources.list
              Locations to fetch package contents from.

       /etc/apt/apt-file.conf
              Configuration file for apt-file.

SEE ALSO
       auto-apt(1),    apt-cache(8),    apt-cdrom(8),   dpkg(8),   dselect(8),
       sources.list(5), apt.conf(5), apt_preferences(5).

       The APT users guide in /usr/share/doc/apt/

BUGS
       cdrom backend has not been tested.

       Non-release line in sources.list is not handled by apt-file.

AUTHOR
       apt-file was written by Sebastien J. Gross <sjg AT debian.org>.



                                 01 March 2006                     APT-FILE(1)