Debian / Ubuntu Linux: Find Out What Package Provides a File

On a Debian or Ubuntu Linux system, you can use the dpkg command to find out which package provides a specific file.

For example, to find out which package provides the ls command, you can use the following command:

dpkg -S $(which ls)

This will search the package database for the package that provides the ls command, and print the name of the package. In this case, the output would be coreutils: /bin/ls.

You can use the same syntax to find out which package provides any file on the system. For example, to find out which package provides the /etc/fstab file, you can use the following command:

dpkg -S /etc/fstab

If the file is not provided by any installed package, the dpkg command will return an error message.

Note: The dpkg command is only useful for finding files that are provided by installed packages. If the file was manually installed or is part of the operating system itself, it may not be listed in the package database. In this case, you can try using the locate command or searching the internet to find out more information about the file.