diff between rpm's '--whatprovides' and '-f'

[William Hooper]

Matt Hansen said:

> So, how can one if at all be used differently to the other? The man page
> states that the "-f" option is used to 'Query package owning FILE' while
> the "--whatprovides" is used to 'Query all packages that provide the
> CAPABILITY capability'. So these words might suggest they can do
> different things, but my example above doesn't think so.. What exactly
> is a "capability" defined as?

"Capability" doesn't have to be a file.  For example, both Sendmail and
Postfix provide the "smtpdaemon" capability.  This allows RPM creators to
still rely on an "smtpdaemon" without caring if it is Sendmail or Postfix.

-- 
William Hooper