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NAME

       deb-control - Debian packages' master control file format

SYNOPSIS

       control

DESCRIPTION

       Each  Debian package contains the master `control' file, which contains
       a number of fields, or comments when the line  starts  with  '#'.  Each
       field begins with a tag, such as Package or Version (case insensitive),
       followed by a colon, and the body of the field.  Fields  are  delimited
       only by field tags. In other words, field text may be multiple lines in
       length, but the installation  tools  will  generally  join  lines  when
       processing the body of the field (except in the case of the Description
       field, see below).

REQUIRED FIELDS

       Package: <package name>
              The value of this field determines the package name, and is used
              to generate file names by most installation tools.

       Version: <version string>
              Typically,  this  is  the  original  package's version number in
              whatever form the program's author uses. It may also  include  a
              Debian  revision  number  (for  non-native  packages). The exact
              format and sorting algorithm are described in deb-version(5).

       Maintainer: <fullname email>
              Should be in the format `Joe Bloggs <jbloggs@foo.com>',  and  is
              typically  the person who created the package, as opposed to the
              author of the software that was packaged.

       Description: <short description>
               <long description>
              The format for the package description is a short brief  summary
              on the first line (after the "Description" field). The following
              lines should be used as a  longer,  more  detailed  description.
              Each  line  of the long description must be preceded by a space,
              and blank lines in the long description must  contain  a  single
              '.' following the preceding space.

OPTIONAL FIELDS

       Section: <section>
              This  is a general field that gives the package a category based
              on the software that  it  installs.  Some  common  sections  are
              `utils', `net', `mail', `text', `x11' etc.

       Priority: <priority>
              Sets the importance of this package in relation to the system as
              a  whole.   Common  priorities   are   `required',   `standard',
              `optional', `extra' etc.

       In  Debian,  the  Section  and  Priority  fields  have a defined set of
       accepted values based on the Policy Manual.  A list of these values can
       be obtained from the latest version of the debian-policy package.

       Essential: <yes|no>
              This  field  is usually only needed when the answer is `yes'. It
              denotes a package that is required for proper operation  of  the
              system.  Dpkg  or  any other installation tool will not allow an
              Essential package to be removed (at least not without using  one
              of the force options).

       Architecture: <arch|all>
              The  architecture  specifies which type of hardware this package
              was compiled  for.  Common  architectures  are  `i386',  `m68k',
              `sparc',  `alpha',  `powerpc'  etc.  Note that the all option is
              meant for  packages  that  are  architecture  independent.  Some
              examples  of this are shell and Perl scripts, and documentation.

       Origin: <name>
              The name of the distribution this package is originating from.

       Bugs: <url>
              The url of the bug tracking system for this package. The current
              used      format     is     <bts_type>://<bts_address>,     like
              debbugs://bugs.debian.org.

       Homepage: <url>
              The upstream project home page URL.

       Tag: <tag list>
              List of tags  describing  the  qualities  of  the  package.  The
              description  and  list  of  supported  tags  can be found in the
              debtags package.

       Source: <source name>
              The name of the source package that  this  binary  package  came
              from, if different than the name of the package itself.

       Depends: <package list>
              List of packages that are required for this package to provide a
              non-trivial amount of  functionality.  The  package  maintenance
              software  will  not  allow  a  package  to  be  installed if the
              packages listed in its Depends field aren't installed (at  least
              not  without  using the force options).  In an installation, the
              postinst scripts of packages listed in Depends: fields  are  run
              before  those  of  the  packages  which  depend  on them. On the
              opposite, in a removal, the prerm script of  a  package  is  run
              before those of the packages listed in its Depends: field.

       Pre-Depends: <package list>
              List  of  packages  that must be installed and configured before
              this one can be installed. This is  usually  used  in  the  case
              where  this  package  requires  another  package for running its
              preinst script.

       Recommends: <package list>
              Lists packages that would be found together with this one in all
              but unusual installations. The package maintenance software will
              warn the user if they install a package without those listed  in
              its Recommends field.

       Suggests: <package list>
              Lists  packages  that  are  related  to this one and can perhaps
              enhance  its  usefulness,  but  without  which  installing  this
              package is perfectly reasonable.

       The syntax of Depends, Pre-Depends, Recommends and Suggests fields is a
       list of groups of  alternative  packages.  Each  group  is  a  list  of
       packages separated by vertical bar (or `pipe') symbols, `|'. The groups
       are separated by commas. Commas are to be read as `AND', and  pipes  as
       `OR',  with pipes binding more tightly. Each package name is optionally
       followed by a version number specification in parentheses.

       A version number may start with a `>>', in which case any later version
       will  match,  and  may  specify  or  omit the Debian packaging revision
       (separated by a hyphen). Accepted version relationships  are  ">>"  for
       greater  than,  "<<"  for less than, ">=" for greater than or equal to,
       "<=" for less than or equal to, and "=" for equal to.

       Breaks: <package list>
              Lists packages that this one breaks,  for  example  by  exposing
              bugs  when  the  named  packages  rely  on this one. The package
              maintenance software  will  not  allow  broken  packages  to  be
              configured;  generally the resolution is to upgrade the packages
              named in a Breaks field.

       Conflicts: <package list>
              Lists packages that conflict  with  this  one,  for  example  by
              containing  files  with  the same names. The package maintenance
              software will not allow conflicting packages to be installed  at
              the  same  time.  Two conflicting packages should each include a
              Conflicts line mentioning the other.

       Replaces: <package list>
              List of packages files from which this  one  replaces.  This  is
              used for allowing this package to overwrite the files of another
              package and is usually used with the Conflicts  field  to  force
              removal  of  the  other  package,  if this one also has the same
              files as the conflicted package.

       Provides: <package list>
              This is a list of  virtual  packages  that  this  one  provides.
              Usually  this  is  used  in  the  case  of  several packages all
              providing the same service.  For example, sendmail and exim  can
              serve as a mail server, so they provide a common package (`mail-
              transport-agent') on which other packages can depend. This  will
              allow sendmail or exim to serve as a valid option to satisfy the
              dependency. This prevents the packages that  depend  on  a  mail
              server  from  having  to know the package names for all of them,
              and using `|' to separate the list.

       The syntax of Breaks, Conflicts, Replaces and Provides  is  a  list  of
       package  names,  separated by commas (and optional whitespace).  In the
       Breaks and Conflicts fields, the comma  should  be  read  as  `OR'.  An
       optional  version  can  also be given with the same syntax as above for
       the Breaks, Conflicts and Replaces fields.

EXAMPLE

       # Comment
       Package: grep
       Essential: yes
       Priority: required
       Section: base
       Maintainer: Wichert Akkerman <wakkerma@debian.org>
       Architecture: sparc
       Version: 2.4-1
       Pre-Depends: libc6 (>= 2.0.105)
       Provides: rgrep
       Conflicts: rgrep
       Description: GNU grep, egrep and fgrep.
        The GNU family of grep utilities may be the "fastest grep in the west".
        GNU grep is based on a fast lazy-state deterministic matcher (about
        twice as fast as stock Unix egrep) hybridized with a Boyer-Moore-Gosper
        search for a fixed string that eliminates impossible text from being
        considered by the full regexp matcher without necessarily having to
        look at every character. The result is typically many times faster
        than Unix grep or egrep. (Regular expressions containing backreferencing
        will run more slowly, however).

SEE ALSO

       deb(5), deb-version(5), debtags(1), dpkg(1), dpkg-deb(1).