equery

Equery is a commonly used command-line tool in Gentoo Linux, a highly customizable and source-based distribution. It is part of the app-portage package and is written in Python. Equery simplifies package management tasks and allows for easy querying of Gentoo's Portage package database.

With equery, users can obtain information about installed packages, such as their version, dependencies, USE flags, and other metadata. By using the various query options, users can search for specific packages based on criteria like name, description, or installed files. Equery can also find the package owning a particular file on the system.

Equery provides the ability to view dependencies between packages, allowing users to identify what other packages depend on a specific package or what packages a particular package depends on. Users can also determine which installed packages are not required by any others, helping to clean up unnecessary packages from their system.

The interface of equery is straightforward and easy to use, with its output presented in a clear and concise format. By utilizing command-line options, users can customize the output to suit their needs.

In addition to querying package information, equery supports managing the configuration files of installed packages. Users can view, edit, and update package-specific configuration files easily using the appropriate equery commands.

Overall, equery is a powerful and versatile command-line tool that streamlines package management tasks and provides valuable insights into the Gentoo Portage package system. Whether it's getting package information, finding dependencies, or managing configuration files, equery is an essential tool for Gentoo Linux users.