Returns which deb package owns a particular file, and its version too.
Similar to dpkg -S and dpkg-query -W, but much faster (uses dlocate).
The deb equivalent of running rpm -qf.
Remember to run sudo update-dlocatedb.
The default dlocatedb takes a lot of disk space, when not compressed...
But compressing it with gzip, makes dlocate run much slower (like 10x)
Use zstd instead, see: dlocate-zstd.diff
Still compresses 10x, but runs 10x faster
For reasons why dlocate is using text files and grep, instead of locate:
https://jvns.ca/blog/2015/03/05/how-the-locate-command-works-and-lets-rewrite-it-in-one-minute/
The debfile "database" maps from paths to packages, and packages to versions.
But since it doesn't use regular expressions, it can be converted into a dbm.
For debugging purposes or other experiments, you can make it output text:
DEBFILE_TEXT=1 ./convertdb.pl > debfiledb
The format is actually YAML, and can be converted to e.g. JSON using yq.
Or one can use grep instead of gdbm, just like with the dlocate database.
The dlocatedb is normally updated from /etc/cron.daily/dlocate
You can update the debfile.db as well, from the same daily job.
Something like this: dlocate-debfile.diff
Or run sudo /usr/share/dlocate/convertdb.