1deb-split(5)                      dpkg suite                      deb-split(5)
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NAME

6       deb-split - Debian multi-part binary package format
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SYNOPSIS

9       filename.deb
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DESCRIPTION

12       The multi-part .deb format is used to split big packages into smaller
13       pieces to ease transport in small media.
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FORMAT

16       The file is an ar archive with a magic value of !<arch>.  The file
17       names might contain a trailing slash (since dpkg 1.15.6).
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19       The first member is named debian-split and contains a series of lines,
20       separated by newlines. Currently eight lines are present:
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22       •   The format version number, 2.1 at the time this manual page was
23           written.
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25       •   The package name.
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27       •   The package version.
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29       •   The md5sum of the package.
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31       •   The total size of the package.
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33       •   The maximum part size.
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35       •   The current part number, followed by a slash and the total amount
36           of parts (as in ‘1/10’).
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38       •   The package architecture (since dpkg 1.16.1).
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40       Programs which read multi-part archives should be prepared for the
41       minor format version number to be increased and additional lines to be
42       present, and should ignore these if this is the case.
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44       If the major format version number has changed, an incompatible change
45       has been made and the program should stop. If it has not, then the
46       program should be able to safely continue, unless it encounters an
47       unexpected member in the archive (except at the end), as described
48       below.
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50       The second, last required member is named data.N, where N denotes the
51       part number. It contains the raw part data.
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53       These members must occur in this exact order. Current implementations
54       should ignore any additional members after data.N.  Further members may
55       be defined in the future, and (if possible) will be placed after these
56       two.
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SEE ALSO

59       deb(5), dpkg-split(1).
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631.21.9                            2022-07-01                      deb-split(5)