While examining an Oracle Solaris 11 system, you discover an unfamiliar ELF binary in the /usr/bin directory. You want to know which package installed the binary. Which pkg subcommand should you use…

Question

Options

• Apkg info
• Bpkg list
• Cpkg search
• Dpkg contents

• A
  3% (1)
• B
  6% (2)
• C
  88% (29)
• D
  3% (1)

Explanation

pkg search is the correct tool because it queries the package database by file path, allowing you to find which package owns a specific file - for example, pkg search /usr/bin/somebinary returns the package that delivered that file.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A. pkg info shows metadata about a known package (version, description, publisher) - it requires you to already know the package name.
• B. pkg list displays installed packages matching a name pattern - again, you'd need to know the package name first.
• D. pkg contents lists the files within a known package - the reverse of what you need here.

Memory tip: Think of it as a reverse lookup - you have the file, you need the package. search is the only subcommand that works from a file path outward to a package name, just like searching a phone book by address to find the owner's name.

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