A build fails because /usr/include/zlib.h is missing, and no installed package provides it. Which command finds the Debian package that ships that file so you can install it?

LPIC-1 Exam 101-500, objective 102. Linux installation and package management medium

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The options

Correct apt-file search /usr/include/zlib.h

Correct. apt-file searches the file lists published by the repositories, so it finds files in packages that are not installed. Its index is refreshed with apt-file update.

Not correct dpkg -S /usr/include/zlib.h

Wrong here. dpkg -S searches only the local database of installed packages, and the whole problem is that nothing installed owns the file.

Not correct apt-cache show zlib.h

Wrong. apt-cache show prints the record of a named package; zlib.h is a file name, not a package name.

Not correct locate zlib.h

Wrong. locate searches a database of paths that exist on this machine, so it cannot report files that were never installed.

Why

There are two file-to-package searches on Debian and they differ in scope. dpkg -S covers what is installed, using /var/lib/dpkg/info. apt-file covers what is available, using Contents indexes downloaded from the repositories, which is why it must be installed separately and its index refreshed before first use.

Where this comes from

Cited
manual page apt-file(1)

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Practise LPIC-1 Exam 101-500

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