1deb-symbols(5) dpkg suite deb-symbols(5)
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6 deb-symbols - Debian's extended shared library information file
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9 DEBIAN/symbols
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12 The symbol files are shipped in Debian binary packages, and its format
13 is a subset of the template symbol files used by dpkg-gensymbols(1) in
14 Debian source packages.
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16 The format for an extended shared library dependency information entry
17 in these files is:
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19 library-soname main-dependency-template
20 [| alternative-dependency-template]
21 [...]
22 [* field-name: field-value]
23 [...]
24 symbol minimal-version [id-of-dependency-template]
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26 The library-soname is exactly the value of the SONAME field as exported
27 by objdump(1). A dependency-template is a dependency where #MINVER# is
28 dynamically replaced either by a version check like “(>= minimal-
29 version)” or by nothing (if an unversioned dependency is deemed
30 sufficient).
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32 Each exported symbol (listed as name@version, with version being “Base”
33 if the library is not versioned) is associated to a minimal-version of
34 its dependency template (the main dependency template is always used
35 and will end up being combined with the dependency template referenced
36 by id-of-dependency-template if present). The first alternative
37 dependency template is numbered 1, the second one 2, etc. Each column
38 is separated by exactly a single whitespace.
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40 Each entry for a library can also have some fields of meta-information.
41 Those fields are stored on lines starting with an asterisk. Currently,
42 the only valid fields are:
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44 Build-Depends-Package
45 It indicates the name of the “-dev” package associated to the
46 library and is used by dpkg-shlibdeps to make sure that the
47 dependency generated is at least as strict as the corresponding
48 build dependency (since dpkg 1.14.13).
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50 Build-Depends-Packages
51 The same as Build-Depends-Package but accepts a comma-separated
52 list of package names (since dpkg 1.20.0). This field will
53 override any Build-Depends-Package field present, and is mostly
54 useful with “-dev” packages and metapackages depending on these,
55 say for a transition period.
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57 Allow-Internal-Symbol-Groups
58 It indicates what internal symbol groups should be ignored, as a
59 whitespace separated list, so that the symbols contained in those
60 groups get included in the output file (since dpkg 1.20.1). This
61 should only be necessary for toolchain packages providing those
62 internal symbols. The available groups are system dependent, for
63 ELF and GNU-based systems these are aeabi and gomp.
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65 Ignore-Blacklist-Groups
66 A deprecated alias for Allow-Internal-Symbol-Groups (since dpkg
67 1.20.1, supported since dpkg 1.17.6).
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70 Simple symbols file
71 libftp.so.3 libftp3 #MINVER#
72 DefaultNetbuf@Base 3.1-1-6
73 FtpAccess@Base 3.1-1-6
74 [...]
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76 Advanced symbols file
77 libGL.so.1 libgl1
78 | libgl1-mesa-glx #MINVER#
79 * Build-Depends-Package: libgl1-mesa-dev
80 publicGlSymbol@Base 6.3-1
81 [...]
82 implementationSpecificSymbol@Base 6.5.2-7 1
83 [...]
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86 <https://wiki.debian.org/Projects/ImprovedDpkgShlibdeps>, dpkg-
87 shlibdeps(1), dpkg-gensymbols(1).
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911.21.9 2022-07-01 deb-symbols(5)