qfile
Section: qfile (1)
Updated: Feb 2026
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NAME
qfile - list all pkgs owning files
SYNOPSIS
qfile
[opts] <filename>
DESCRIPTION
qfile searches packages for files they provide. The searched
packages must be installed, thus the search is for any file on the
filesystem, to what package that file belongs. It allows to identify
which package installed a certain file.
The arguments to
qfile can be absolute or relative paths and
individual files. By default arguments are interpreted as follows:
-
- absolute path
-
The path is matched against directories, symlinks and objects.
- relative path
-
The path is resolved against the current directory, and after that
matched like an absolute path.
- -d option in use
-
The basename (last component) of the argument path is matched to any
directory, symlink or object whose basename matches. This effectively
means it matches directories as well as symlinks and objects unlike when
-d is not given and a basename is given as argument.
- basename
-
The basename is first attempted to be located in the current directory.
If an object exists by that name, it is matched like an absolute path.
If no such object exists, the name is matched against the basename of
any symlink or object. For matching directories, use -d.
After version
0.74 of portage-utils, the
-b option was
renamed to
-d.
OPTIONS
- -F <arg>, --format <arg>
-
Print matched atom using given format string.
- -S, --slots
-
Display installed packages with slots.
- -R, --root-prefix
-
Assume arguments are already prefixed by $ROOT.
- -d, --dir
-
Only consider basename of argument and also match directories, this
option makes qlist ignore any path component given in the arguments
if present.
- -o, --orphans
-
List orphan files.
- -x <arg>, --exclude <arg>
-
Don't look in package <arg> (used with --orphans).
- -P, --skip-plibreg
-
Don't look in the prunelib registry.
- --root <arg>
-
Set the ROOT env var.
- -v, --verbose
-
Print package versions and symlink targets for matches, warn about
problems with resolving symlinks or positioning packages under an
alternative root.
- -q, --quiet
-
Don't print matching file for matches, just the package. Don't
report about orphan files.
- -C, --nocolor
-
Don't output color.
- --color
-
Force color in output.
- -h, --help
-
Print this help and exit.
- -V, --version
-
Print version and exit.
FINDING FILE OWNERS
This is the default behavior of qfile. It will list the packages
which own the files (or directories, or symlinks, or anything else
Portage can install) you are querying. Query items may be file paths or
simple file names. By default, output includes packages names and the
complete paths to the matching files. If using --verbose,
versions of the packages will also be shown. In contrast, when using
--quiet, only package names are listed, without files paths.
The return status of qfile will be 0 as soon as an owning
package has been found for one of the query items.
Find names of package(s) owning "/bin/bash":
$ qfile -q /bin/bash
app-shells/bash
Find package(s) owning any file named "bash", and show paths of this files:
$ qfile -d bash
app-shells/bash: /bin/bash
app-shells/bash: /etc/bash
Find packages(s) owning the file named "bash" in the current directory. Also
display their exact version:
$ cd /bin
$ qfile -v ./bash
app-shells/bash-3.1_p17: /bin/bash
Find the package(s) owning the libraries needed by the Bash binary:
$ qfile $(scanelf -nq -F%n#F /bin/bash | tr , '\n')
sys-libs/ncurses (/lib/libncurses.so.5)
sys-libs/glibc (/lib/libdl.so.2)
sys-libs/glibc (/lib/libc.so.6)
FINDING ORPHAN FILES
qfile can also, with the --orphans option, find files
which are not owned by any package. This behaviour is the opposite of
the usual file owner search: the output is the list of query items for
which no reference has been found in your installed packages database.
As for --quiet, it will completly turn off the output, leaving
just a silent test command, which returns 0 if and only if there
was no orphan in your query items.
Find the orphan libtool files of your system:
$ qfile -o $(find /lib /usr/lib -name "*.la")
/usr/lib/libGL.la
Find the libraries needed by the binary "foo" which have not been installed by
any package:
$ qfile -o $(scanelf -nq -F%n#F /path/to/foo | tr , '\n')
libinstalledmanually.so.2
$ROOT HANDLING
By setting the ROOT environment variable, you can force qfile to
work in the sytem of your choice. This example shows queries for owner of
"/bin/sh", first on your main system, and then on a system mounted on "/mnt":
$ qfile -q /bin/sh
app-shells/bash
$ ROOT=/mnt qfile -q /bin/sh
sys-apps/busybox
Note that the query item is "/bin/sh" in both commands: by default, what
qfile looks for is file paths as they are recorded in the packages
database of the target system, and this paths don't include $ROOT.
If, on the contrary, you want to query files with their current actual
paths (including the mount point), you should add the --root-prefix
(-R) option:
$ ROOT=/mnt qfile -Rq /mnt/bin/sh
sys-apps/busybox
The other difference between defaults and -R queries is the output
of files paths. The former doesn't include the $ROOT prefix, and the
latter does:
$ ROOT=/mnt qfile sh
sys-apps/busybox: /bin/sh
$ ROOT=/mnt qfile -R sh
sys-apps/busybox: /mnt/bin/sh
Sure, the same differences hold when querying for orphan files:
$ ROOT=/mnt qfile -o $(ls /mnt/bin/ | sed 's:^/mnt::')
/bin/dostuff.sh
$ ROOT=/mnt qfile -Ro /mnt/bin/*
/mnt/bin/dostuff.sh
SEARCHING FOR FILE COLLISIONS
A last option of qfile is --exclude (-x), which will makes
it skip one particular package when doing its files owners search. This option
takes one argument, which can be a package name (bash or
app-shells/bash), or a versioned package (bash-3.2_p9-r1 or
app-shells/bash-3.2_p9-r1), or a slotted package (bash:0 or
app-shells/bash:0). It is useful for finding file collisions between
packages (ie. comparing the contents of one package with the contents of all
the others).
For example, the following script will search collisions between all your
installed packages. Be careful, this will takes time:
#!/bin/bash
cd $(portageq vdb_path)
for pkg in *-*/*-* ; do
[[ -f ${pkg}/CONTENTS ]] || continue
collisions=$(sed -n \
'/^obj\|^sym/s:^... \([^ ]\+\).*:1:p' \
${pkg}/CONTENTS \
| qfile -e -x ${pkg} -f -)
[[ -n ${collisions} ]] \
&& echo ">>> ${pkg}:" \
&& echo "${collisions}"
done
An other example is the following script, which can be used to check that a
binary package (.tbz2) has no conflict with any of your installed packages,
but the one it may replace (same name and slot), if any:
#!/bin/bash
pkgver=$(basename "${1}")
pkgver=${pkgver%%.tbz2}
pn=$(qatom ${pkgver} | cut -d\ -f2)
tmpdir=$(mktemp -t -d) || exit 1
tarbz2=${tmpdir}/${pkgver}.tar.bz2
xpak=${tmpdir}/${pkgver}.xpak
qtbz2 -s "${1}" "${tarbz2}" "${xpak}"
categ=$(qxpak -O -x "${xpak}" CATEGORY)
slot=$(qxpak -O -x "${xpak}" SLOT)
tar tjf "${tarbz2}" \
| sed -e 's:^\./:/:' -e '\:/$:d' \
| qfile -e -f - -x ${categ}/${pn}:${slot}
rm -rf "${tmpdir}"
REPORTING BUGS
Please report bugs via
http://bugs.gentoo.org/
Product: Gentoo Linux; Component: Current packages
AUTHORS
Ned Ludd <solar@gentoo.org>
Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>
Fabian Groffen <grobian@gentoo.org>
TGL <degrenier[at]easyconnect.fr>
SEE ALSO
q(1),
qatom(1),
qcheck(1),
qdepends(1),
qgrep(1),
qkeyword(1),
qlist(1),
qlop(1),
qmanifest(1),
qmerge(1),
qpkg(1),
qsearch(1),
qsize(1),
qtbz2(1),
qtegrity(1),
quse(1),
qwhich(1),
qxpak(1)
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- OPTIONS
-
- FINDING FILE OWNERS
-
- FINDING ORPHAN FILES
-
- $ROOT HANDLING
-
- SEARCHING FOR FILE COLLISIONS
-
- REPORTING BUGS
-
- AUTHORS
-
- SEE ALSO
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