Installed packages and their files

Not running Starting usually ~20 s

Step 8 of 8 · summary · 2 min

Summary

dpkg makes the package record at installation; it does not track the files on disk.
dpkg -L lists a package's files from the record, dpkg -S finds the package by path, ls checks the disk.
dpkg -S compares paths literally: to the database, /bin and /usr/bin are different entries.
Reinstalling the same archive brings files back and keeps a changed conffile.
At the start of the lesson the package was recorded as installed without its program: the file was deleted behind dpkg's back, and the database record stayed the same.

Ubuntu 24.04