On Thu, 2004-05-20 at 00:05, Alexandre Oliva wrote: > On May 19, 2004, Matt Hansen <helios82@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > So, how can one if at all be used differently to the other? The man page > > states that the "-f" option is used to 'Query package owning FILE' while > > the "--whatprovides" is used to 'Query all packages that provide the > > CAPABILITY capability'. So these words might suggest they can do > > different things, but my example above doesn't think so.. What exactly > > is a "capability" defined as? > > A capability can be a file, but it can also be an arbitrary name that > a package provides. For example, on FC2 (with X.org X11, no XFree86): > > [aoliva@free aoliva]$ rpm -q --whatprovides XFree86-libs > xorg-x11-libs-6.7.0-2 > [aoliva@free aoliva]$ rpm -qf XFree86-libs > error: file XFree86-libs: No such file or directory Ok, that makes sense. I'll repost what got chewed up in my last reply: > > "Capability" doesn't have to be a file. For example, both Sendmail and > Postfix provide the "smtpdaemon" capability. This allows RPM creators to > still rely on an "smtpdaemon" without caring if it is Sendmail or Postfix. Excellent info, thanks William! $ rpm -q --whatprovides smtpdaemon sendmail-8.12.10-1.1.1 postfix-2.0.16-1 Ok, so where can I find a list of capabilities like the smtpdaemon? 'man capabilities' is not referring to the same capabilities that RPM is using.. Regards, -Matt -- "Would you buy a car with the hood welded shut?" - Bob Young on the benefits of the open source development model. mhelios - www.fedoraforum.org
