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NAME

       deb-split - Debian multi-part binary package format

SYNOPSIS

       filename.deb

DESCRIPTION

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

FORMAT

       The file is an ar archive with a magic  value  of  !<arch>.   The  file
       names might contain a trailing slash (since dpkg 1.15.6).

       The  first member is named debian-split and contains a series of lines,
       separated by newlines. Currently seven lines are present.  The first is
       the  format  version  number,  2.1  at  the  time  this manual page was
       written. The second is the package  name.  The  third  is  the  package
       version.  The  fourth  is  the md5sum of the package.  The fifth is the
       total size of the package. The sixth is  the  maximum  part  size.  The
       seventh  is  the current part number, followed by a slash and the total
       amount of parts (as in '1/10').

       Programs  which  read  multi-part  archives  should  be  prepared   for
       additional  lines to be present, and should ignore these if this is the
       case.

       If the version number has changed, an incompatible change has been made
       and  the program should stop. If it has not, then the program should be
       able to safely continue, unless it encounters an unexpected  member  in
       the archive (except at the end), as described below.

       The  second,  last required member is named data.N, where N denotes the
       part number. It contains the raw part data.

       These members must occur in this exact order.  Current  implementations
       should ignore any additional members after data.N.  Further members may
       be defined in the future, and (if possible) will be placed after  these
       two.

SEE ALSO

       deb(5), dpkg-split(1).