Searching package repositories by contents

Question

I am searching for a particular LaTeX input file, and have not been able to find it in the repositories.

I am fairly certain that the repositories can be searched by contents because the following command (searching for the LaTeX input file amsmath.sty) is successful:

# apt-cache search amsmath
texlive-latex-base - TeX Live: Basic LaTeX packages
texlive-doc-it - TeX Live: Italian documentation
texlive-latex-extra - TeX Live: LaTeX supplementary packages
texlive-math-extra - TeX Live: Advanced math typesetting

The particular TeX input file I am searching for returns no results (apt-cache search breqn). Can I assume that breqn.sty is not present in any packages in the repositories, and thus seek it out through other means (e.g., CTAN)? Or might there be another way to search through package contents?

Answer 1

You can use apt-file to search for files within packages

sudo apt-get install apt-file

# Update database
sudo apt-file update

# Search for files
apt-file search foo

# or in your case
apt-file search breqn.sty

I get texlive-latex3: /usr/share/texmf-texlive/tex/latex/mh/breqn.sty , so ...

sudo apt-get install texlive-latex3

See also http://www.debuntu.org/how-to-find-missing-packages-with-apt-file

Answer 2

You're looking for texlive-latex3. I found this out by installing apt-file and using it like so:

apt-file update
apt-file search breqn.sty
texlive-latex3: /usr/share/texmf-texlive/tex/latex/mh/breqn.sty

Which gives me the package name and the file.

• How do I figure out what package something is in without resorting to Google?