Re: Efficiently finding information 'known' to exist "somewhere"
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 08:59:18AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> I've had two instances recently. I've found the "immediately" needed
> information, but they are samples of more generic problems.
>
> 1. Today's problem was easily solved. I had seen a post discussing
> an application of the "tree" command. When I tried it, I got
> "command not found". In _this_ case it was easily solved by using
> Synaptic's search function -- there is a package named "tree".
>
> However that is not always the case. Some months ago I got a
> "command not found" message for a command that had a man page (do
> not recall the specific command). It turned out it was one utility
> command among many provided by a package with an unrelated name.
>
> Is there a general way to find such a package?
apt-file, in the same-named package: it keeps an index of file names
(not only binaries) to package names containing them.
Don't forget to do "sudo apt-file update" from time to time, to keep
your cache current.
> 2. There are many commands whose man pages point to using the "info"
> command. I personally find that format more annoying than useful. I
> would prefer to access the TeXInfo formatted document and convert it
> locally to desired format - usually HTML.
If PDF counts as "desirable format", texi2pdf might be your solution.
Otherwise there's pandoc.
Note that you lose something: the texinfo files are usually cross-linked.
> If the command is on my machine (i.e. GRUB), I can generally find
> the associated TeXInfo formatted file (usually concealed in a tarred
> or zipped file). How to search for all TeXInfo files on debian.org?
Try apt-file search .texi
For "apt-file", see above :-)
regards
- -- tomás
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux)
iEYEARECAAYFAlj3dLcACgkQBcgs9XrR2kZB/ACeL7JfRq1Y8ynjy3ahKtPlhZBi
tlYAn2VO3Ib0IYgV9jVyNjImVHjLjDM8
=86Aw
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Reply to: