1dpkg-scanpackages(1)            dpkg utilities            dpkg-scanpackages(1)
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NAME

6       dpkg-scanpackages - create Packages index files
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SYNOPSIS

9       dpkg-scanpackages  [options] binary-dir [override-file [path-prefix]] >
10       Packages
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DESCRIPTION

13       dpkg-scanpackages sorts through a tree of Debian  binary  packages  and
14       creates  a  Packages file, used by apt(8), dselect(1), etc, to tell the
15       user what packages are available for installation. These Packages files
16       are  the  same  as those found on Debian archive sites and CD-ROMs. You
17       might use dpkg-scanpackages yourself if making  a  directory  of  local
18       packages to install on a cluster of machines.
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20       Note:  If  you  want to access the generated Packages file with apt you
21       will probably need to compress the file  with  bzip2(1)  (generating  a
22       Packages.bz2  file)  or  gzip(1)  (generatinc  a Packages.gz file). apt
23       ignores uncompressed  Packages  files  except  on  local  access  (i.e.
24       file:// sources).
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26       binarydir  is  the  name  of the tree of the binary packages to process
27       (for example, contrib/binary-i386).  It is best to make  this  relative
28       to  the root of the Debian archive, because every Filename field in the
29       new Packages file will start with this string.
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31       overridefile is the name of a file to read which  contains  information
32       about  how  the  package  fits  into the distribution (it can be a com‐
33       pressed file); see deb-override(5).
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35       pathprefix is an optional  string  to  be  prepended  to  the  Filename
36       fields.
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38       If  more  than one version of a package is found only the newest one is
39       included in the output. If they have the same version and  only  differ
40       in architecture only the first one found is used.
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OPTIONS

43       -t, --type type
44              Scan for *.type packages, instead of *.deb.
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46       -u, --udeb
47              Obsolete alias for -tudeb.
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49       -e, --extra-override file
50              Scan  file to find supplementary overrides (the file can be com‐
51              pressed). See deb-extra-override(5) for more information on  its
52              format.
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54       -a, --arch arch
55              Use  a pattern consisting of *_all.deb and *_arch.deb instead of
56              scanning for all debs,
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58       -m, --multiversion
59              Include all found packages in the output.
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61       -M, --medium id-string
62              Add an X-Medium field containing the value id-string. This field
63              is required if you want to generate Packages.cd files for use by
64              the multicd access method of dselect.
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66       -h, --help
67              Show the usage message and exit.
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69       --version
70              Show the version and exit.
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DIAGNOSTICS

73       dpkg-scanpackages outputs the usual self-explanatory  errors.  It  also
74       warns  about  packages  that  are in the wrong subdirectory, are dupli‐
75       cated, have a Filename field in their control file,  are  missing  from
76       the  override  file, or have maintainer substitutions which do not take
77       effect.
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SEE ALSO

80       dpkg(1), dselect(1), deb-override(5), deb-extra-override(5), dpkg-scan‐
81       sources(1).
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85Debian Project                    2009-10-01              dpkg-scanpackages(1)
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