2009/3/7 Steven J. Yellin <[log in to unmask]>:
>    I think yum does go through contents of packages.  Try
> yum provides \*xrdb\*
>

that is inaccurate.

yum [provides | whatpovides] is equivalent to rpm -q --whatprovides or
rpm -qf which searches through the rpm database for installed
packages. What the OP wants to do is search through packages in the
repository which are not installed on his/her system. I would suggest
this instead,

1. $ yum makecache - (this will download the metadata from the repo to
your local cache making subsequent queries faster)

2. $ repoquery  -qf FILE or, $ repoquery -q --whatprovides CAPABILITY

you would need to install yum-utils for this to work though.

Hope this helps

-- 
Suvayu

Open source is the future. It sets us free.