How can I know to which package a single component belongs?

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Dec 1, 2009, at 00:11, Wolf Drechsel wrote:

>>> My question is: How do I find out which port does contain the component <abcd> ?
>>> Is there a database, a port command, just intelligent guessing - or a "everybody (exept me) knows"…
>> 
>> "port provides /path/to/file" tells you which port provides that file.
> 
> Hello Ryan,
> 
> thanks for that hint - good to know. 
> 
> But now: How can I solve it the other way round - assuming the component in question is not yet on my machine? - How can I find out which package ("port") do I have to install in order to achieve component <abcd>?

There is no bullet-proof way to do that using a MacPorts command. You can "port search" and hope that the name of the component is in the port's description (perhaps not likely). Or you can google the component's name and hope there is a web page out there that will provide a clue about the software that installed it (more likely to work).