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port-provides(1)
================

NAME
----
port-provides - Find the port that installed a file

SYNOPSIS
--------
[cmdsynopsis]
*port* *provides* 'file' ...

DESCRIPTION
-----------
*port provides* looks up which port installed a given file, if the file has been
installed by MacPorts. If the given file is not known to MacPorts it was either
obtained using a different method, or has been created by a script or an
executable after installation.

All files that are part of a port will be removed when you uninstall said port.
For this reason, configuration files are often not registered to a port to
preserve modifications across updates.

[NOTE]
You can only use *provides* on files that you have installed on your system.
MacPorts does currently not have a global database of files. If you're looking
for the port that provides a specific file, *provides* is useless to you.

BUGS
----
If MacPorts is configured to use a prefix that contains symlinks, *provides* may
incorrectly report that a file is unknown to MacPorts.

SEE ALSO
--------
man:port[1], man:port-contents[1]

AUTHORS
-------
 (C) 2014 The MacPorts Project
 Clemens Lang <cal@macports.org>
