I kind of hate to jump into a string like this but at the risk of sounding real stupid how can one create this /var/lib/dpkg/Contents-i386.gz file. I've searched for it on my Slink system and it just isn't there. I took a look at the dpkg man page and see no reference to the file. I see that you can look for packages in /var/lib/dpkg/available but that's not the same. Thanks, kent
Kirk Hogenson wrote: > > Eric Gillespie, Jr. wrote: > > For example, someone asked if there was a package > > containing the Howtos. Instead of telling him the name of the package, > > he should have been told how to grep the Contents file, that way he > > can find things on his own instead of asking the list every time. > > Remember, catch a man a fish and you feed him that day, teach the man > > to fish, and he'll never starve again. > > Kristopher Johnson wrote: > > I'm the guy that asked which package had the HOWTOs. I know it seemed > > like a dumb question, but I did try searching on "HOWTO" in both > > dselect and on the Debian web site, and came up with nothing. And I > > started paging through the 2700+ packages shown in dselect, but gave > > up after an hour or so of that. > > I don't want to speak for Eric, but I really doubt he was saying > that you were asking a dumb question. I think he was instead > criticising those who answered by just telling you which package you > needed, rather than telling you how you find this information out > for yourself. > > That way, the next time you have a question of the form "I need to > find out which package has <something>", you won't need to ask again. > Even more than that, you perhaps might see someone else ask a > question like that, and pass the information on. > > Please don't feel bad for asking "dumb" questions! (Though I really > think you were asking a good question, but even if it were a dumb > question you should not feel bad for asking it.) That is what > debian-user is for. > > Anyway, let me describe what Eric was talking about. The file > /var/lib/dpkg/Contents-i386.gz contains information about which > package contains what. If you want to find the HOWTO's, for > example, try something like: > > zgrep HOWTO /var/lib/dpkg/Contents-i386.gz | less > > This searches through the Contents file and prints all of the lines > that contain the word HOWTO. > > As another example: suppose you are compiling something and you get > the error: "sgml2html: command not found". This happened to me > last night. I tried: > > zgrep sgml2html /var/lib/dpkg/Contents-i386.gz | less > > and it printed: > > usr/bin/sgml2html text/sgml-tools > usr/man/man1/sgml2html.1.gz text/sgml-tools > > So, I knew that I need to install the package "sgml-tools", which > is in the "text" section. > > I hope this helps, and good luck getting your sound card working. > And please ask here if you run into problems. You are immune to > "What a dumb question" attacks if you've read the Howto. :) > > Kirk > > -- > Unsubscribe? mail -s unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] < /dev/null
