apt-file cannot search for patterns starting with -

[Michal Suchanek]

 apt-file search -gtkmozembed
Unknown option: g
Unknown option: t
Unknown option: k
Unknown option: m
Unknown option: o
Unknown option: z
Unknown option: e
Unknown option: m
Unknown option: b
Unknown option: e
Option d requires an argument
apt-file version 2.4.2
(c) 2002 Sebastien J. Gross <email address hidden>

apt-file [options] action [pattern]
apt-file [options] -f action <file>
apt-file [options] -D action <debfile>

Configuration options:
    --sources-list -s <file> sources.list location
    --cache -c <dir> Cache directory
    --architecture -a <arch> Use specific architecture
    --cdrom-mount -d <cdrom> Use specific cdrom mountpoint
    --from-file -f Read patterns from file(s), one per line
                                        (use '-' for stdin)
    --from-deb -D Use file list of .deb package(s) as
                                        patterns; implies -F
    --non-interactive -N Skip schemes requiring user input
                                        (useful in cron jobs)
    --package-only -l Only display packages name
    --fixed-string -F Do not expand pattern
    --ignore-case -i Ignore case distinctions
    --regexp -x pattern is a regular expression
    --verbose -v run in verbose mode
    --dummy -y run in dummy mode (no action)
    --help -h Show this help.
    --version -V Show version number

Action:
    update Fetch Contents files from apt-sources.
    search|find <pattern> Search files in packages
    list|show <pattern> List files in packages
    purge Remove cache files

Interpreting options after command both disables searching for patterns starting with - and is in conflict with the help text that mandates putting options before command.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: apt-file 2.4.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0-1.2-generic 3.0.0-rc3
Uname: Linux 3.0-1-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Jun 23 22:37:02 2011
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: apt-file
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

Thanks for your report.

Confirmed in oneiric. Usually Unix command use the '--' special flag to specify that there is no option in the remaining arguments. But apt-file protect the minus sign before passing it to zfgrep.

A possible fix would be to always protect the arguments passed to zfgrep like this:
--- /usr/bin/apt-file 2011-06-23 23:10:22.000000000 +0200
+++ ./apt-file.new 2011-06-23 23:13:04.000000000 +0200
@@ -355,7 +355,7 @@
         else {
             my $zgrep_pattern = $Conf->{pattern};
             $zgrep_pattern =~ s{^\\/}{};
- $zcat = "zfgrep $ignore_case $zgrep_pattern";
+ $zcat = "zfgrep $ignore_case -- $zgrep_pattern";
         }
     }
     my $regexp = eval { $Conf->{ignore_case} ? qr/$pattern/i : qr/$pattern/ };

You can then call:
apt-file search -- -gtkmozembed

[Michal Suchanek (hramrach)]

apt-file never passes the minus sign to zfgrep, it fails parsing the
commandline.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package apt-file - 2.5.1ubuntu1

---------------
apt-file (2.5.1ubuntu1) raring-proposed; urgency=low

  * Merge from Debian unstable (LP: #1073472). Remaining changes:
    - Fix location of Contents files for Ubuntu.

apt-file (2.5.1) unstable; urgency=low

  [ Thijs Kinkhorst ]
  * Fix searching for patterns that start with a '-'. This still requires
    specifying '--' before the pattern (closes: #631438, LP: #801336)
  * Unset env variables that may influence the behaviour of grep
    (closes: #617183).
  * Japanese translation of update-notifier text by Hideki Yamane
    (closes: #641199).
  * Improve man page layout and help output text. Thanks Jari Aalto for
    the patch! (Closes: #651695)
  * rapt-file: replace dpkg-architecture call with dpkg --architecture,
    obsoleting the depends-heavy recommendation on dpkg-dev. Thanks
    helix84 (Closes: #671225).
  * Checked for policy 3.9.3, no changes needed. Add explicit python
    recommendation, even though we transitively recommended it via
    python-apt already, to satisfy Lintian.
  * Add rapt-file manual page (Closes: #613005).

  [ Enrico Zini ]
  * rapt-file: Updated distribution names, now it works on wheezy.
    (Closes: #663592)
  * rapt-file: deal with missing /etc/apt/sources.list. (Closes: #636564)
 -- Chase Douglas <email address hidden> Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:09:50 +0100