1 .\" dpkg manual page - deb-src-control(5)
3 .\" Copyright © 2010 Oxan van Leeuwen <oxan@oxanvanleeuwen.nl>
4 .\" Copyright © 2011 Raphaël Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
5 .\" Copyright © 2011-2012 Guillem Jover <guillem@debian.org>
7 .\" This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
8 .\" it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
9 .\" the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
10 .\" (at your option) any later version.
12 .\" This is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
13 .\" but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
14 .\" MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
15 .\" GNU General Public License for more details.
17 .\" You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
18 .\" along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
20 .TH deb\-src\-control 5 "2012-06-16" "Debian Project" "Debian"
22 deb\-src\-control \- Debian source packages' master control file format
28 Each Debian source package contains the master "control" file, which contains
29 at least 2 paragraphs, separated by a blank line. The first paragraph lists
30 all information about the source package in general, while each following
31 paragraph describes exactly one binary package. Each paragraph consists of at
32 least one field. A field starts with a fieldname, such as
36 (case insensitive), followed by a colon, the body of the field and a newline.
37 Multi-line fields are also allowed, but each supplementary line, without a
38 fieldname, should start with at least one space. The content of the multi-line
39 fields is generally joined to a single line by the tools (except in the case of
42 field, see below). To insert empty lines into a multi-line
43 field, insert a dot after the space. Lines starting with a \fB'#'\fP are
48 .BR Source: " \fIsource-package-name\fP (required)"
49 The value of this field is the name of the source package, and should
50 match the name of the source package in the debian/changelog file. A package
51 name must consist only of lower case letters (a-z), digits (0-9), plus (+) and
52 minus (-) signs, and periods (.). Package names must be at least two characters
53 long and must start with an alphanumeric character.
56 .BR Maintainer: " \fIfullname-email\fP (required)"
57 Should be in the format "Joe Bloggs <jbloggs@foo.com>", and references the
58 person who currently maintains the package, as opposed to the author of the
59 software or the original packager.
62 .BI Uploaders: " fullname-email"
63 Lists all the names and email addresses of co-maintainers of the package, in
64 the same format as the Maintainer field. Multiple co-maintainers should be
68 .BI Standards\-Version: " version-string"
69 This documents the most recent version of the standards (which consists of the
70 Debian Policy Manual and referenced texts from the
72 package) this package complies to.
75 .BR DM\-Upload\-Allowed: " \fByes\fP|\fBno\fP"
76 This field indicates whether the package can be uploaded by Debian Maintainers
77 appearing in the Maintainer or Uploaders field. The default value is "no".
81 The upstream project home page URL.
85 The \fIurl\fP of the bug tracking system for this package. The current
86 used format is \fIbts-type\fP\fB://\fP\fIbts-address\fP, like
87 \fBdebbugs://bugs.debian.org\fP. This field is usually not needed.
91 The \fIurl\fP of the Version Control System repository used to maintain this
92 package. Currently supported are \fBArch\fP, \fBBzr\fP (Bazaar), \fBCvs\fP,
93 \fBDarcs\fP, \fBGit\fP, \fBHg\fP (Mercurial), \fBMtn\fP (Monotone) and
94 \fBSvn\fP (Subversion). Usually this field points to the latest version
95 of the package, such as the main branch or the trunk.
98 .BI Vcs\-Browser: " url"
99 The \fIurl\fP of a webinterface to browse the Version Control System
104 The name of the distribution this package is originating from. This field is
108 .BI Section: " section"
109 This is a general field that gives the package a category based on the
110 software that it installs. Some common sections are "utils", "net",
111 "mail", "text", "x11", etc.
114 .BI Priority: " priority"
115 Sets the importance of this package in relation to the system as a whole.
116 Common priorities are "required", "standard", "optional", "extra", etc.
122 fields have a defined set of accepted values based on the Policy Manual.
123 A list of these values can be obtained from the latest version of the
128 .BI Build\-Depends: " package-list"
129 A list of packages that need to be installed and configured to be able
130 to build the source package. Including a dependency in this list has
131 the same effect as including it in both \fBBuild\-Depends\-Arch\fP and
132 \fBBuild\-Depends\-Indep\fP, with the additional effect of being used
133 for source-only builds.
136 .BI Build\-Depends\-Arch: " package list"
137 Same as \fBBuild\-Depends\fP, but they are only needed when building the
138 architecture dependent packages. The \fBBuild\-Depends\fP are also
139 installed in this case. This field was introduced in dpkg version
140 1.16.4; in order to build with older dpkg versions, \fBBuild\-Depends\fP
141 should be used instead.
144 .BI Build\-Depends\-Indep: " package-list"
145 Same as \fBBuild\-Depends\fP, but they are only needed when building the
146 architecture independent packages. The \fBBuild\-Depends\fP are also
147 installed in this case.
150 .BI Build\-Conflicts: " package list"
151 A list of packages that should not be installed when the package is
152 built, for example because they interfere with the build system used.
153 Including a dependency in this list has the same effect as including
154 it in both \fBBuild\-Conflicts\-Arch\fP and
155 \fBBuild\-Conflicts\-Indep\fP, with the additional effect of being
156 used for source-only builds.
159 .BI Build\-Conflicts\-Arch: " package list"
160 Same as \fBBuild\-Conflicts\fP, but only when building the architecture
161 dependent packages. This field was introduced in dpkg version 1.16.4; in
162 order to build with older dpkg versions, \fBBuild\-Conflicts\fP should
166 .BI Build\-Conflicts\-Indep: " package-list"
167 Same as \fBBuild\-Conflicts\fP, but only when building the architecture
168 independent packages.
173 .B Build\-Depends\-Arch
175 .B Build\-Depends\-Indep
176 fields is a list of groups of alternative packages. Each group is a list
177 of packages separated by vertical bar (or "pipe") symbols, "|". The
178 groups are separated by commas. Commas are to be read as "AND", and pipes
179 as "OR", with pipes binding more tightly. Each package name is
180 optionally followed by a version number specification in parentheses and an
181 architecture specification in square brackets.
184 .BR Build\-Conflicts ,
185 .B Build\-Conflicts\-Arch
187 .B Build\-Conflicts\-Indep
188 fields is a list of comma-separated package names, where the comma is read
189 as an "AND". Specifying alternative packages using a "pipe" is not supported.
190 Each package name is optionally followed by a version number specification in
191 parentheses and an architecture specification in square brackets.
193 A version number may start with a ">>", in which case any later version
194 will match, and may specify or omit the Debian packaging revision (separated
195 by a hyphen). Accepted version relationships are ">>" for greater than,
196 "<<" for less than, ">=" for greater than or equal to, "<=" for less than
197 or equal to, and "=" for equal to.
199 A architecture specification consists of one or more architecture names,
200 separated by whitespace. Exclamation marks may be prepended to each of the
201 names, meaning "NOT".
203 Note that dependencies on packages in the
205 set can be omitted and that declaring build conflicts against them is
206 impossible. A list of these packages is in the build\-essential package.
213 .BR Priority ", " Section
216 fields can also be in a binary paragraph to override the global value from the
220 .BR Package: " \fIbinary-package-name\fP (required)"
221 This field is used to name the binary package name. The same restrictions as
222 to a source package name apply.
225 .BR Architecture: " \fIarch\fP|\fBall\fP|\fBany\fP (required)"
226 The architecture specifies on which type of hardware this package runs. For
227 packages that run on all architectures, use the
229 value. For packages that are architecture independent, such as shell and Perl
230 scripts or documentation, use the
232 value. To restrict the packages to a certain set of architectures, specify the
233 architecture names, separated by a space. It's also possible to put
234 architecture wildcards in that list (see
235 .BR dpkg\-architecture (1)
236 for more information about them).
239 .BR Package\-Type: " \fBdeb\fP|\fBudeb\fP"
240 This field defines the type of the package. "udeb" is for size-constrained
241 packages used by the debian installer. "deb" is the default value, it's
242 assumed if the field is absent. More types might be added in the future.
246 .BI Subarchitecture: " value"
249 .BI Kernel\-Version: " value"
252 .BI Installer\-Menu\-Item: " value"
253 These fields are used by the debian\-installer and are usually not needed.
254 See /usr/share/doc/debian\-installer/devel/modules.txt from the
256 package for more details about them.
260 .BR Essential: " \fByes\fP|\fBno\fP"
263 .BR Multi\-Arch: " \fBsame\fP|\fBforeign\fP|\fBallowed\fP"
269 .BR Description: " \fIshort-description\fP (required)"
270 These fields are described in the
272 manual page, as they are copied literally to the control file of the binary
277 .BI Depends: " package-list"
280 .BI Pre\-Depends: " package-list"
283 .BI Recommends: " package-list"
286 .BI Suggests: " package-list"
289 .BI Breaks: " package-list"
292 .BI Enhances: " package-list"
295 .BI Replaces: " package-list"
298 .BI Conflicts: " package-list"
301 .BI Provides: " package-list"
304 .BI Built\-Using: " package-list"
306 These fields declare relationships between packages. They are discussed in
313 .SH USER-DEFINED FIELDS
314 It is allowed to add additional user-defined fields to the control file. The
315 tools will ignore these fields. If you want the fields to be copied over to
316 the output files, such as the binary packages, you need to use a custom naming
317 scheme: the fields should start with a X, followed by one or more of the
318 letters BCS and a hypen. If the letter B is used, the field will appear in the
319 control file in the binary package, see
320 .BR deb\-control (5),
321 for the letter S in the source package control file as constructed by
323 and for the letter C in the upload control (.changes) file. Note that the
324 X[BCS]\- prefixes are stripped when the fields are copied over to the
325 output files. A field \fBXC\-Approved\-By\fP will appear as
326 \fBApproved\-By\fP in the changes file and will not appear in the binary or
327 source package control files.
329 Take into account that these user-defined fields will be using the global
330 namespace, which might at some point in the future collide with officially
331 recognized fields. To avoid such potential situation you can prefix those
332 fields with \fBPrivate\-\fP, such as \fBXB\-Private\-New\-Field\fP, which as
333 a side effect will make \fBdpkg\-deb\fP not warn on them as unknown fields.
342 Maintainer: Dpkg Developers <debian\-dpkg@lists.debian.org>
343 # this field is copied to the binary and source packages
344 XBS\-Upstream\-Release\-Status: stable
345 Homepage: http://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg
346 Vcs\-Browser: http://git.debian.org/?p=dpkg/dpkg.git
347 Vcs\-Git: git://git.debian.org/git/dpkg/dpkg.git
348 Standards\-Version: 3.7.3
349 Build\-Depends: pkg\-config, debhelper (>= 4.1.81),
350 libselinux1\-dev (>= 1.28\-4) [!linux\-any]
356 # this is a custom field in the binary package
357 XB\-Mentoring\-Contact: Raphael Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
358 Depends: dpkg (>= 1.14.6), perl5, perl\-modules, cpio (>= 2.4.2\-2),
359 bzip2, lzma, patch (>= 2.2\-1), make, binutils, libtimedate\-perl
360 Recommends: gcc | c\-compiler, build\-essential
361 Suggests: gnupg, debian\-keyring
362 Conflicts: dpkg\-cross (<< 2.0.0), devscripts (<< 2.10.26)
363 Replaces: manpages\-pl (<= 20051117\-1)
364 Description: Debian package development tools
365 This package provides the development tools (including dpkg\-source)
366 required to unpack, build and upload Debian source packages.
368 Most Debian source packages will require additional tools to build;
369 for example, most packages need make and the C compiler gcc.
375 .BR deb\-control (5),
376 .BR deb\-version (5),