1dpkg-deb(1) dpkg suite dpkg-deb(1)
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6 dpkg-deb - Debian package archive (.deb) manipulation tool
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9 dpkg-deb [options] command
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12 dpkg-deb packs, unpacks and provides information about Debian archives.
13 Use dpkg to install and remove packages from your system.
15 You can also invoke dpkg-deb by calling dpkg with whatever options you
17 want to pass to dpkg-deb. dpkg will spot that you wanted dpkg-deb and
18 run it for you.
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21 -b, --build directory [archive|directory]
22 Creates a debian archive from the filesystem tree stored in
23 directory. directory must have a DEBIAN subdirectory, which con‐
24 tains the control information files such as the control file
25 itself. This directory will not appear in the binary package's
26 filesystem archive, but instead the files in it will be put in
27 the binary package's control information area.
28 Unless you specify --nocheck, dpkg-deb will read DEBIAN/control
30 and parse it. It will check it for syntax errors and other prob‐
31 lems, and display the name of the binary package being built.
32 dpkg-deb will also check the permissions of the maintainer
33 scripts and other files found in the DEBIAN control information
34 directory.
35 If no archive is specified then dpkg-deb will write the package
37 into the file directory.deb.
38 If the archive to be created already exists it will be overwrit‐
40 ten.
41 If the second argument is a directory then dpkg-deb will write
43 to the file package_version_arch.deb, or package_version.deb if
44 no Architecture field is present in the package control file.
45 When a target directory is specified, rather than a file, the
46 --nocheck option may not be used (since dpkg-deb needs to read
47 and parse the package control file to determine which filename
48 to use).
49 -I, --info archive [control-file-name...]
51 Provides information about a binary package archive.
52 If no control-file-names are specified then it will print a sum‐
54 mary of the contents of the package as well as its control file.
55 If any control-file-names are specified then dpkg-deb will print
57 them in the order they were specified; if any of the components
58 weren't present it will print an error message to stderr about
59 each one and exit with status 2.
60 -W, --show archive
62 Provides information about a binary package archive in the for‐
63 mat specified by the --showformat argument. The default format
64 displays the package's name and version on one line, separated
65 by a tabulator.
66 -f, --field archive [control-field-name...]
68 Extracts control file information from a binary package archive.
69 If no control-file-fields are specified then it will print the
71 whole control file.
72 If any are specified then dpkg-deb will print their contents, in
74 the order in which they appear in the control file. If more than
75 one control-file-field is specified then dpkg-deb will precede
76 each with its field name (and a colon and space).
77 No errors are reported for fields requested but not found.
79 -c, --contents archive
81 Lists the contents of the filesystem tree archive portion of the
82 package archive. It is currently produced in the format gener‐
83 ated by tar's verbose listing.
84 -x, --extract archive directory
86 Extracts the filesystem tree from a package archive into the
87 specified directory.
88 Note that extracting a package to the root directory will not
90 result in a correct installation! Use dpkg to install packages.
91 directory (but not its parents) will be created if necessary,
93 and its permissions modified to match the contents of the pack‐
94 age.
95 -X, --vextract archive directory
97 Is like --extract (-x) but prints a listing of the files
98 extracted as it goes.
99 --fsys-tarfile archive
101 Extracts the filesystem tree data from a binary package and
102 sends it to standard output in tar format. Together with tar(1)
103 this can be used to extract a particular file from a package ar‐
104 chive.
105 -e, --control archive [directory]
107 Extracts the control information files from a package archive
108 into the specified directory.
109 If no directory is specified then a subdirectory DEBIAN in the
111 current directory is used.
112 The target directory (but not its parents) will be created if
114 necessary.
115 -h, --help
117 Show the usage message and exit.
118 --version
120 Show the version and exit.
121 --license, --licence
123 Show the copyright licensing terms and exit.
124
126 --showformat=format
127 This option is used to specify the format of the output --show
128 will produce. The format is a string that will be output for
129 each package listed.
130 The string may reference any status field using the "${field-
132 name}" form, a list of the valid fields can be easily produced
133 using -I on the same package. A complete explanation of the for‐
134 matting options (including escape sequences and field tabbing)
135 can be found in the explanation of the --showformat option in
136 dpkg-query(1).
137 The default for this field is "${Package}\t${Version}\n".
139 -zcompress_level
141 Specify which compression level to pass to the compressor back‐
142 end program, when building a package.
143 -Zcompress_type
145 Specify which compression type to use when building a package.
146 Allowed values are gzip, bzip2, lzma, and none (default is
147 gzip).
148 --new Ensures that dpkg-deb builds a `new' format archive. This is the
150 default.
151 --old Forces dpkg-deb to build an `old' format archive. This old ar‐
153 chive format is less easily parsed by non-Debian tools and is
154 now obsolete; its only use is when building packages to be
155 parsed by versions of dpkg older than 0.93.76 (September 1995),
156 which was released as i386 a.out only.
157 --nocheck
159 Inhibits dpkg-deb --build's usual checks on the proposed con‐
160 tents of an archive. You can build any archive you want, no mat‐
161 ter how broken, this way.
162 -D, --debug
164 Enables debugging output. This is not very interesting.
165
167 dpkg-deb -I package1.deb package2.deb does the wrong thing.
168 There is no authentication on .deb files; in fact, there isn't even a
170 straightforward checksum. (Higher level tools like APT support authen‐
171 ticating .deb packages retrieved from a given repository, and most
172 packages nowadays provide an md5sum control file generated by
173 debian/rules. Though this is not directly supported by the lower level
174 tools.)
175 Do not attempt to use just dpkg-deb to install software! You must use
177 dpkg proper to ensure that all the files are correctly placed and the
178 package's scripts run and its status and contents recorded.
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181 deb(5), deb-control(5), dpkg(1), dselect(1).
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184 Copyright © 1995-1996 Ian Jackson
185 This is free software; see the GNU General Public Licence version 2 or
187 later for copying conditions. There is NO WARRANTY.
188Debian Project 2009-01-07 dpkg-deb(1)