I was looking for a way to find the contents of an apt package and I found a post that advised to use apt-file. I installed using: sudo apt install apt-file sudo apt-file update This update took ages and some of the packages are quite large. Now even when I use sudo apt update there seems to be additional repos that were added when I installed apt-file.

$ sudo apt update
[sudo] password for david: 
Hit:1 http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb  stable InRelease
Hit:2 https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt  xenial InRelease                                                          
Hit:4 http://apt.pop-os.org/proprietary  jammy InRelease                                                                
Get:5 https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt  xenial/main amd64 Contents (deb) [1,736 B]                    
Get:3 https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code  stable InRelease [3,590 B]                                             
Get:6 https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code  stable/main amd64 Packages [18.6 kB]                                   
Get:7 https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code  stable/main armhf Packages [18.7 kB]                                  
Hit:8 http://apt.pop-os.org/release  jammy InRelease                                        
Get:9 https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code  stable/main arm64 Packages [18.7 kB]       
Hit:10 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/freecad-maintainers/freecad-daily/ubuntu  jammy InRelease
Hit:11 http://apt.pop-os.org/ubuntu  jammy InRelease
Hit:12 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/freecad-maintainers/freecad-stable/ubuntu  jammy InRelease
Get:13 http://apt.pop-os.org/ubuntu  jammy-security InRelease [129 kB]
Get:14 http://apt.pop-os.org/ubuntu  jammy-updates InRelease [128 kB]
Hit:15 http://apt.pop-os.org/ubuntu  jammy-backports InRelease
Get:16 http://apt.pop-os.org/proprietary  jammy all Contents (deb) [160 B]
Get:17 http://apt.pop-os.org/proprietary  jammy amd64 Contents (deb) [149 kB]
Get:18 http://apt.pop-os.org/ubuntu  jammy i386 Contents (deb) [36.9 MB]
Get:19 http://apt.pop-os.org/ubuntu  jammy amd64 Contents (deb) [46.9 MB]                                               
Get:20 http://apt.pop-os.org/ubuntu  jammy-security amd64 Contents (deb) [128 MB]                                       
Get:21 http://apt.pop-os.org/ubuntu  jammy-security i386 Contents (deb) [57.6 MB]                                       
Get:22 http://apt.pop-os.org/ubuntu  jammy-updates/main amd64 Packages [1,988 kB]                                       
Get:23 http://apt.pop-os.org/ubuntu  jammy-updates i386 Contents (deb) [59.9 MB]                                        
Get:24 http://apt.pop-os.org/ubuntu  jammy-updates amd64 Contents (deb) [132 MB]                                        
Get:25 http://apt.pop-os.org/ubuntu  jammy-backports i386 Contents (deb) [721 kB]                                       
Get:26 http://apt.pop-os.org/ubuntu  jammy-backports amd64 Contents (deb) [730 kB]                                      
Fetched 465 MB in 1min 48s (4,318 kB/s)                                                                                
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
48 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.

I think from Get:13 to Get:26 are new and were added when I installed apt-file. And some of them are quite large (ie. 128Mb). I was instructed to use apt-file as follows: sudo apt-file list freecad but when I run that command I get the message:

$ apt-file list freecad
Finding relevant cache files to search ...E: The cache is empty. You need to run "apt-file update" first.

even after I just did an update with sudo apt-file update How do I undo all of this? I don't really care about getting apt-file working. I would be happy just removing it and getting rid of these extra repos. I'm using PopOS 22.04 LTS Edit:

:/var/lib/apt/lists$ ll | grep Contents
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root       121 Sep  4 21:46 apt.pop-os.org_proprietary_dists_jammy_Contents-all.lz4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    295798 Sep  4 21:46 apt.pop-os.org_proprietary_dists_jammy_Contents-amd64.lz4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   1228496 Jul 19 00:53 apt.pop-os.org_ubuntu_dists_jammy-backports_Contents-amd64.lz4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   1210558 Jul 19 00:54 apt.pop-os.org_ubuntu_dists_jammy-backports_Contents-i386.lz4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  78887238 Apr 21  2022 apt.pop-os.org_ubuntu_dists_jammy_Contents-amd64.lz4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  61822472 Apr 21  2022 apt.pop-os.org_ubuntu_dists_jammy_Contents-i386.lz4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 205323747 Jul 26 09:33 apt.pop-os.org_ubuntu_dists_jammy-security_Contents-amd64.lz4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  93188769 Jul 26 15:41 apt.pop-os.org_ubuntu_dists_jammy-security_Contents-i386.lz4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 211888095 Jul 26 01:31 apt.pop-os.org_ubuntu_dists_jammy-updates_Contents-amd64.lz4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  96983720 Jul 26 06:31 apt.pop-os.org_ubuntu_dists_jammy-updates_Contents-i386.lz4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      3240 Sep  4 23:00 updates.signal.org_desktop_apt_dists_xenial_main_Contents-amd64.lz4

Does anybody know why apt-file reports that the cache is empty even after running apt-file update and apt update? [pop-os ~][I]% apt-file search /usr/lib/android-sdk/tools/bin/sdkmanager E: The cache is empty. You need to run "apt update" first. [pop-os ~][I]% apt-file update Reading package lists... Done E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (13: Permission denied) E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/ W: Problem unlinking the file /var/cache/apt/pkgcache.bin - RemoveCaches (13: Permission denied) W: Problem unlinking the file /var/cache/apt/srcpkgcache.bin - RemoveCaches (13: Permission denied) [pop-os ~][I]% sudo !! sudo apt-file update Hit:1 http://apt.pop-os.org/proprietary cosmic InRelease Hit:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic InRelease Hit:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-updates InRelease Hit:4 http://ppa.launchpad.net/nextcloud-devs/client/ubuntu cosmic InRelease Hit:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-security InRelease Hit:6 http://repository.spotify.com stable InRelease Hit:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-backports InRelease Get:8 http://apt.pop-os.org/proprietary cosmic all Contents (deb) [102 kB] Hit:9 http://ppa.launchpad.net/system76/pop/ubuntu cosmic InRelease Get:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic amd64 Contents (deb) [40.9 MB] Get:11 http://apt.pop-os.org/proprietary cosmic i386 Contents (deb) [276 B] Get:12 http://apt.pop-os.org/proprietary cosmic amd64 Contents (deb) [2,605 kB] Get:13 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic i386 Contents (deb) [40.2 MB] Get:14 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-updates i386 Contents (deb) [5,178 kB] Get:15 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-updates amd64 Contents (deb) [6,997 kB] Get:16 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-security i386 Contents (deb) [3,784 kB] Get:17 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-security amd64 Contents (deb) [5,296 kB] Get:18 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-backports amd64 Contents (deb) [3,773 B] Get:19 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-backports i386 Contents (deb) [3,772 B] Fetched 105 MB in 21s (4,952 kB/s) Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done 148 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them. sudo -E apt-file update 20.30s user 1.16s system 95% cpu 22.585 total [pop-os ~][I]% apt-file search /usr/lib/android-sdk/tools/bin/sdkmanager E: The cache is empty. You need to run "apt update" first. [pop-os ~][I]% apt update Reading package lists... Done E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (13: Permission denied) E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/ W: Problem unlinking the file /var/cache/apt/pkgcache.bin - RemoveCaches (13: Permission denied) W: Problem unlinking the file /var/cache/apt/srcpkgcache.bin - RemoveCaches (13: Permission denied) [pop-os ~][I]% sudo !! sudo apt update Hit:1 http://apt.pop-os.org/proprietary cosmic InRelease Hit:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic InRelease Hit:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-updates InRelease Hit:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-security InRelease Hit:5 http://ppa.launchpad.net/nextcloud-devs/client/ubuntu cosmic InRelease Hit:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-backports InRelease Get:7 http://apt.pop-os.org/proprietary cosmic i386 Contents (deb) [276 B] Hit:8 http://repository.spotify.com stable InRelease Get:9 http://apt.pop-os.org/proprietary cosmic all Contents (deb) [102 kB] Hit:10 http://ppa.launchpad.net/system76/pop/ubuntu cosmic InRelease Get:11 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic amd64 Contents (deb) [40.9 MB] Get:12 http://apt.pop-os.org/proprietary cosmic amd64 Contents (deb) [2,605 kB] Get:13 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic i386 Contents (deb) [40.2 MB] Get:14 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-updates i386 Contents (deb) [5,178 kB] Get:15 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-updates amd64 Contents (deb) [6,997 kB] Get:16 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-security amd64 Contents (deb) [5,296 kB] Get:17 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-security i386 Contents (deb) [3,784 kB] Get:18 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-backports i386 Contents (deb) [3,772 B] Get:19 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-backports amd64 Contents (deb) [3,773 B] Fetched 105 MB in 21s (4,963 kB/s) Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done 148 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them. sudo -E apt update 20.24s user 1.15s system 95% cpu 22.470 total [pop-os ~][I]% apt-file search /usr/lib/android-sdk/tools/bin/sdkmanager E: The cache is empty. You need to run "apt update" first. [pop-os ~][I]% sudo !! sudo apt-file search /usr/lib/android-sdk/tools/bin/sdkmanager E: The cache is empty. You need to run "apt update" first. Distro is Pop!_OS (an Ubuntu derivative), but I couldn't find a Pop!_OS tag.

Whilst attempting to compile [poppler](http://poppler.freedesktop.org) from source I get the error Package "fontconfig" not found. I have found a lot of other resources advertising that this can be fixed by installing both pkg-config and libfontconfig1-dev to get the libraries, but I still got the error. Trying to install fontconfig from source failed at the make step and I've found no resources on how to fix (whole host of C errors). If I have fontconfig on the system (and apt seems to suggest I do) how can I use it when running ./configure for a package?

Each time I run apt update or with the -m option(a.k.a --fix-missing) I see that apt-file is trying to update its cache too.I have a slow internet connection and it takes so much to download more than 100MB of apt-file caches and when I'm in a hurry this is quite annoying.Is there any way to disable that temporarily?

Where are the cache files of the apt-file program ? Looks like it has some large files because it contains the information about files within all the packages in the repository (installed or uninstalled).But I cannot find their location.

Before I upgrade to Debian Bullseye, apt-file was pretty logical. Now I can't get it to work. What am I doing wrong? Did the behavior change? # apt-file update Hit:1 http://repo.steampowered.com/steam precise InRelease Hit:2 https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial InRelease Hit:3 http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security InRelease Hit:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye InRelease Hit:5 https://packages.riot.im/debian default InRelease Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done 9 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them. Prove the file is there... # locate v4l2loopback.ko /usr/lib/modules/5.6.0-1-amd64/updates/dkms/v4l2loopback.ko /var/lib/dkms/v4l2loopback/0.12.5/5.6.0-1-amd64/x86_64/module/v4l2loopback.ko apt-file can't tell me what package provides it: # apt-file search v4l2loopback.ko ... nothing... What package provides v4l2loopback.ko? How can I find it out? Did the behavior of apt-file change? ------- Dpkg also can't find it. # dpkg -S /usr/lib/modules/5.6.0-1-amd64/updates/dkms/v4l2loopback.ko dpkg-query: no path found matching pattern /usr/lib/modules/5.6.0-1-amd64/updates/dkms/v4l2loopback.ko

I wanted to check how many files come with the nginx package. However the corresponding command seems to indicate that the package comes with only two files (?) $ apt-file list nginx nginx: /usr/share/doc/nginx/changelog.Debian.gz nginx: /usr/share/doc/nginx/copyright How is this possible given that e.g. the corresponding list for apache2 contains 197 files?

Is there a practical difference between these two commands? /home/pkaramol/Desktop $ sudo apt-file search logrotate.conf logrotate: /etc/logrotate.conf logrotate: /usr/share/man/man5/logrotate.conf.5.gz petitboot: /etc/logrotate.d/petitboot/logrotate.conf rsync: /usr/share/doc/rsync/examples/logrotate.conf.rsync unicorn: /usr/share/doc/unicorn/examples/logrotate.conf /home/pkaramol/Desktop $ sudo apt-file find logrotate.conf logrotate: /etc/logrotate.conf logrotate: /usr/share/man/man5/logrotate.conf.5.gz petitboot: /etc/logrotate.d/petitboot/logrotate.conf rsync: /usr/share/doc/rsync/examples/logrotate.conf.rsync unicorn: /usr/share/doc/unicorn/examples/logrotate.conf /home/pkaramol/Desktop/centos_7 According to the help: search|find Search files in packages

How do I find all the files either in source or in binary form in Debian package archive? I tried the following but results were not helpful at all: apt-file search *.c and apt-file search *.cc So it either means that there are no c or cc files in the Debian archive (highly unlikely) or my search method was not good (more likely). The apt-file index is already updated.