Inspect Debian Packages with apt-file, rmadison, and apt-cache rdepends

Which package ships this command? Which version does Debian ship? What depends on this package? Use these commands.

apt-file search

apt-file search rg

Search package contents without installing the package. This is substring matching, so bare command names can be noisy (-F does exact matching if you already know the full path – like $(command -v <cmd>)).

To use apt-file:

sudo apt install apt-file
sudo apt-file update

apt-file show

apt-file show ripgrep

List the files shipped by a package, even if it is not installed.

rmadison

rmadison postgresql

Show which version of a package is available across Debian suites.

postgresql | 13+225+deb11u1 | oldoldstable | all
postgresql | 15+248+deb12u1 | oldstable    | all
postgresql | 17+278         | stable       | all
postgresql | 18+290         | testing      | all
postgresql | 18+290         | unstable     | all

Installed with sudo apt install devscripts.

apt-cache rdepends

apt-cache rdepends git
apt-cache --installed rdepends git

Show reverse dependencies from the local APT cache. --installed limits the output to installed packages.

References

• man apt-file
• man apt-cache
• man rmadison