Re: How do I find out where a package came from?

[jereme <jereme@rmcnet.cc>]

Hubert Chan <hubert@uhoreg.ca> writes:
> >>>>> "David" == David Goodenough <david.goodenough@btconnect.com> writes:
> 
> David> If I downloaded a package from one of the sources in my
> David> sources.list and did not notice it at the time, how can I find
> David> out which source actually produced this deb?
> 
> Try "apt-cache policy <package>".  This will show you all the possible
> versions of the package, and where they can be downloaded from.  For
> each version, it may list a few sites.  AFACT, it goes by order of
> preference.
> 
> If the installed version of the package is no longer available for
> download, I don't think there's any way to tell where it came from,
> though.

I am not sure how you could find out from which mirror you downloaded
a particluar deb from but for the KDE problem you mentioned, it seams
like your question is really, "How can I tell if I have an official
package."  

You can check the file:

/usr/share/doc/package/copyright

Debian policy say that this file has to exist for all official debs.

also:

"In addition, the copyright file must say where the upstream sources
(if any) were obtained. It should name the original authors of the
package and the Debian maintainer(s) who were involved with its
creation."

So my thought is, if the file doesn't exists, you know you didn't get
the package from Debian, (it would register as a bug).  And if it
*does* exist, it will provide you enough info to determine if it came
from the Debian achive or from an external source.

This won't help you determine from which mirror you downloaded an
official package, just wheteher or not your installed packge is form
Debian.  The mirror shouldn't really matter, (it's a *mirror* :)




-jereme

-- 
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
Jereme Corrado <jereme@restorative-management.com>
System Administrator
Restorative Management Corp.

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