1deb-src-control(5) dpkg suite deb-src-control(5)
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6 deb-src-control - Debian source packages' master control file format
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9 debian/control
10
12 Each Debian source package contains the master «debian/control» file,
13 and its deb822(5) format is a superset of the control file shipped in
14 Debian binary packages, see deb-control(5).
15 This file contains at least 2 paragraphs, separated by a blank line.
17 The first paragraph lists all information about the source package in
18 general, while each following paragraph describes exactly one binary
19 package. Each paragraph consists of at least one field. A field starts
20 with a fieldname, such as Package or Section (case insensitive),
21 followed by a colon, the body of the field (case sensitive unless
22 stated otherwise) and a newline. Multi-line fields are also allowed,
23 but each supplementary line, without a fieldname, should start with at
24 least one space. The content of the multi-line fields is generally
25 joined to a single line by the tools (except in the case of the
26 Description field, see below). To insert empty lines into a multi-line
27 field, insert a dot after the space. Lines starting with a ‘#’ are
28 treated as comments.
29
31 Source: source-package-name (required)
32 The value of this field is the name of the source package, and
33 should match the name of the source package in the debian/changelog
34 file. A package name must consist only of lowercase letters (a-z),
35 digits (0-9), plus (+) and minus (-) signs, and periods (.).
36 Package names must be at least two characters long and must start
37 with a lowercase alphanumeric character (a-z0-9).
38 Maintainer: fullname-email (recommended)
40 Should be in the format «Joe Bloggs <jbloggs@foo.com>», and
41 references the person who currently maintains the package, as
42 opposed to the author of the software or the original packager.
43 Uploaders: fullname-email
45 Lists all the names and email addresses of co-maintainers of the
46 package, in the same format as the Maintainer field. Multiple co-
47 maintainers should be separated by a comma.
48 Standards-Version: version-string
50 This documents the most recent version of the distribution policy
51 standards this package complies with.
52 Description short-description
54 long-description
55 The format for the source package description is a short brief
56 summary on the first line (after the Description field). The
57 following lines should be used as a longer, more detailed
58 description. Each line of the long description must be preceded by
59 a space, and blank lines in the long description must contain a
60 single ‘.’ following the preceding space.
61 Homepage: url
63 The upstream project home page URL.
64 Bugs: url
66 The url of the bug tracking system for this package. The current
67 used format is bts-type://bts-address, like
68 debbugs://bugs.debian.org. This field is usually not needed.
69 Rules-Requires-Root: no|binary-targets|impl-keywords
71 This field is used to indicate whether the debian/rules file
72 requires (fake)root privileges to run some of its targets, and if
73 so when.
74 no The binary targets will not require (fake)root at all.
76 binary-targets
78 The binary targets must always be run under (fake)root. This
79 value is the default when the field is omitted; adding the
80 field with an explicit binary-targets while not strictly
81 needed, marks it as having been analyzed for this requirement.
82 impl-keywords
84 This is a space-separated list of keywords which define when
85 (fake)root is required.
86 Keywords consist of namespace/cases. The namespace part cannot
88 contain "/" or whitespace. The cases part cannot contain
89 whitespace. Furthermore, both parts must consist entirely of
90 printable ASCII characters.
91 Each tool/package will define a namespace named after itself
93 and provide a number of cases where (fake)root is required.
94 (See "Implementation provided keywords" in
95 rootless-builds.txt).
96 When the field is set to one of the impl-keywords, the builder
98 will expose an interface that is used to run a command under
99 (fake)root. (See "Gain Root API" in rootless-builds.txt.)
100 Testsuite: name-list
102 Testsuite-Triggers: package-list
103 These fields are described in the dsc(5) manual page, as they are
104 generated from information inferred from debian/tests/control or
105 copied literally to the source control file.
106 Vcs-Arch: url
108 Vcs-Bzr: url
109 Vcs-Cvs: url
110 Vcs-Darcs: url
111 Vcs-Git: url
112 Vcs-Hg: url
113 Vcs-Mtn: url
114 Vcs-Svn: url
115 The url of the Version Control System repository used to maintain
116 this package. Currently supported are Arch, Bzr (Bazaar), Cvs,
117 Darcs, Git, Hg (Mercurial), Mtn (Monotone) and Svn (Subversion).
118 Usually this field points to the latest version of the package,
119 such as the main branch or the trunk.
120 Vcs-Browser: url
122 The url of a webinterface to browse the Version Control System
123 repository.
124 Origin: name
126 The name of the distribution this package is originating from. This
127 field is usually not needed.
128 Section: section
130 This is a general field that gives the package a category based on
131 the software that it installs. Some common sections are utils,
132 net, mail, text, x11, etc.
133 Priority: priority
135 Sets the importance of this package in relation to the system as a
136 whole. Common priorities are required, standard, optional, extra,
137 etc.
138 The Section and Priority fields usually have a defined set of
140 accepted values based on the specific distribution policy.
141 Build-Depends: package-list
143 A list of packages that need to be installed and configured to be
144 able to build from source package. These dependencies need to be
145 satisfied when building binary architecture dependent or
146 independent packages and source packages. Including a dependency
147 in this field does not have the exact same effect as including it
148 in both Build-Depends-Arch and Build-Depends-Indep, because the
149 dependency also needs to be satisfied when building the source
150 package.
151 Build-Depends-Arch: package-list
153 Same as Build-Depends, but they are only needed when building the
154 architecture dependent packages. The Build-Depends are also
155 installed in this case. This field is supported since dpkg 1.16.4;
156 in order to build with older dpkg versions, Build-Depends should be
157 used instead.
158 Build-Depends-Indep: package-list
160 Same as Build-Depends, but they are only needed when building the
161 architecture independent packages. The Build-Depends are also
162 installed in this case.
163 Build-Conflicts: package-list
165 A list of packages that should not be installed when the package is
166 built, for example because they interfere with the build system
167 used. Including a dependency in this list has the same effect as
168 including it in both Build-Conflicts-Arch and Build-Conflicts-
169 Indep, with the additional effect of being used for source-only
170 builds.
171 Build-Conflicts-Arch: package-list
173 Same as Build-Conflicts, but only when building the architecture
174 dependent packages. This field is supported since dpkg 1.16.4; in
175 order to build with older dpkg versions, Build-Conflicts should be
176 used instead.
177 Build-Conflicts-Indep: package-list
179 Same as Build-Conflicts, but only when building the architecture
180 independent packages.
181 The syntax of the Build-Depends, Build-Depends-Arch and Build-Depends-
183 Indep fields is a list of groups of alternative packages. Each group
184 is a list of packages separated by vertical bar (or “pipe”) symbols,
185 ‘|’. The groups are separated by commas ‘,’, and can end with a
186 trailing comma that will be eliminated when generating the fields for
187 deb-control(5) (since dpkg 1.10.14). Commas are to be read as “AND”,
188 and pipes as “OR”, with pipes binding more tightly. Each package name
189 is optionally followed by an architecture qualifier appended after a
190 colon ‘:’, optionally followed by a version number specification in
191 parentheses ‘(’ and ‘)’, an architecture specification in square
192 brackets ‘[’ and ‘]’, and a restriction formula consisting of one or
193 more lists of profile names in angle brackets ‘<’ and ‘>’.
194 The syntax of the Build-Conflicts, Build-Conflicts-Arch and Build-
196 Conflicts-Indep fields is a list of comma-separated package names,
197 where the comma is read as an “AND”, and where the list can end with a
198 trailing comma that will be eliminated when generating the fields for
199 deb-control(5) (since dpkg 1.10.14). Specifying alternative packages
200 using a “pipe” is not supported. Each package name is optionally
201 followed by a version number specification in parentheses, an
202 architecture specification in square brackets, and a restriction
203 formula consisting of one or more lists of profile names in angle
204 brackets.
205 An architecture qualifier name can be a real Debian architecture name
207 (since dpkg 1.16.5), any (since dpkg 1.16.2) or native (since dpkg
208 1.16.5). If omitted, the default for Build-Depends fields is the
209 current host architecture, the default for Build-Conflicts fields is
210 any. A real Debian architecture name will match exactly that
211 architecture for that package name, any will match any architecture for
212 that package name if the package is marked with Multi-Arch: allowed,
213 and native will match the current build architecture if the package is
214 not marked with Multi-Arch: foreign.
215 A version number may start with a ‘>>’, in which case any later version
217 will match, and may specify or omit the Debian packaging revision
218 (separated by a hyphen). Accepted version relationships are ‘>>’ for
219 greater than, ‘<<’ for less than, ‘>=’ for greater than or equal to,
220 ‘<=’ for less than or equal to, and ‘=’ for equal to.
221 An architecture specification consists of one or more architecture
223 names, separated by whitespace. Exclamation marks may be prepended to
224 each of the names, meaning “NOT”.
225 A restriction formula consists of one or more restriction lists,
227 separated by whitespace. Each restriction list is enclosed in angle
228 brackets. Items in the restriction list are build profile names,
229 separated by whitespace and can be prefixed with an exclamation mark,
230 meaning “NOT”. A restriction formula represents a disjunctive normal
231 form expression.
232 Note that dependencies on packages in the build-essential set can be
234 omitted and that declaring build conflicts against them is impossible.
235 A list of these packages is in the build-essential package.
236
238 Note that the Priority, Section and Homepage fields can also be in a
239 binary paragraph to override the global value from the source package.
240 Package: binary-package-name (required)
242 This field is used to name the binary package name. The same
243 restrictions as to a source package name apply.
244 Package-Type: deb|udeb|type
246 This field defines the type of the package. udeb is for size-
247 constrained packages used by the debian installer. deb is the
248 default value, it is assumed if the field is absent. More types
249 might be added in the future.
250 Architecture: arch|all|any (required)
252 The architecture specifies on which type of hardware this package
253 runs. For packages that run on all architectures, use the any
254 value. For packages that are architecture independent, such as
255 shell and Perl scripts or documentation, use the all value. To
256 restrict the packages to a certain set of architectures, specify
257 the architecture names, separated by a space. It's also possible to
258 put architecture wildcards in that list (see dpkg-architecture(1)
259 for more information about them).
260 Build-Profiles: restriction-formula
262 This field specifies the conditions for which this binary package
263 does or does not build. To express that condition, the same
264 restriction formula syntax from the Build-Depends field is used.
265 If a binary package paragraph does not contain this field, then it
267 implicitly means that it builds with all build profiles (including
268 none at all).
269 In other words, if a binary package paragraph is annotated with a
271 non-empty Build-Profiles field, then this binary package is
272 generated if and only if the condition expressed by the conjunctive
273 normal form expression evaluates to true.
274 Protected: Byes|no
276 Essential: yes|no
277 Build-Essential: yes|no
278 Multi-Arch: same|foreign|allowed|no
279 Tag: tag-list
280 Description: short-description (recommended)
281 These fields are described in the deb-control(5) manual page, as
282 they are copied literally to the control file of the binary
283 package.
284 Depends: package-list
286 Pre-Depends: package-list
287 Recommends: package-list
288 Suggests: package-list
289 Breaks: package-list
290 Enhances: package-list
291 Replaces: package-list
292 Conflicts: package-list
293 Provides: package-list
294 Built-Using: package-list
295 Static-Built-Using: package-list
296 These fields declare relationships between packages. They are
297 discussed in the deb-control(5) manpage. When these fields are
298 found in debian/control they can also end with a trailing comma
299 (since dpkg 1.10.14), have architecture specifications and
300 restriction formulas which will all get reduced when generating the
301 fields for deb-control(5).
302 Subarchitecture: value
304 Kernel-Version: value
305 Installer-Menu-Item: value
306 These fields are used by the debian-installer in udebs and are
307 usually not needed. See
308 /usr/share/doc/debian-installer/devel/modules.txt from the debian-
309 installer package for more details about them.
310
312 It is allowed to add additional user-defined fields to the control
313 file. The tools will ignore these fields. If you want the fields to be
314 copied over to the output files, such as the binary packages, you need
315 to use a custom naming scheme: the fields should start with an X,
316 followed by zero or more of the letters SBC and a hyphen.
317 S The field will appear in the source package control file, see
319 dsc(5).
320 B The field will appear in the control file in the binary package,
322 see deb-control(5).
323 C The field will appear in the upload control (.changes) file, see
325 deb-changes(5).
326 Note that the X[SBC]- prefixes are stripped when the fields are copied
328 over to the output files. A field XC-Approved-By will appear as
329 Approved-By in the changes file and will not appear in the binary or
330 source package control files.
331 Take into account that these user-defined fields will be using the
333 global namespace, which might at some point in the future collide with
334 officially recognized fields. To avoid such potential situation you can
335 prefix those fields with Private-, such as XB-Private-New-Field.
336
338 # Comment
339 Source: dpkg
340 Section: admin
341 Priority: required
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: https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg
346 Vcs-Browser: https://git.dpkg.org/cgit/dpkg/dpkg.git
347 Vcs-Git: https://git.dpkg.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]
351 Package: dpkg-dev
353 Section: utils
354 Priority: optional
355 Architecture: all
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.
367 .
368 Most Debian source packages will require additional tools to build;
369 for example, most packages need make and the C compiler gcc.
370
372 /usr/share/doc/dpkg/spec/rootless-builds.txt, deb822(5), deb-
373 control(5), deb-version(7), dpkg-source(1)
3741.21.9 2022-07-01 deb-src-control(5)