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-.\" Hey, Emacs! This is an -*- nroff -*- source file.
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-.\" Author: Raul Miller
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-.\" Includes text from the debian Guidelines by Ian Jackson, Ian Murdock
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-.TH DEB-CONTROL 5 "January 2000" "Debian Project" "Debian GNU/Linux"
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-.SH NAME
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-deb\-control \- Debian GNU/Linux packages' master control file format
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-.SH SYNOPSIS
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-control
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-.SH DESCRIPTION
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-Each Debian package contains the master `control' file, which contains
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-a number of fields. Each field begins with a tag, such as
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-.B Package
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-or
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-.B Version
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-(case insensitive), followed by a colon, and the body of the field.
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-Fields are delimited only by field tags. In other words, field text
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-may be multiple lines in length, but the installation tools will
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-generally join lines when processing the body of the field (except
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-in the case of the
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-.B Description
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-field, see below).
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-.SH REQUIRED FIELDS
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-.TP
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-.BR "Package: " "<package name>"
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-The value of this field determines the package name, and is used to
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-generate file names by most installation tools.
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-.TP
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-.BR "Version: " "<version string>"
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-Typically, this is the original package's version number in whatever form
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-the program's author uses. It may also include a Debian revision number
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-(for non-native packages). If both version and revision are supplied,
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-they are seperated by a hyphen, `-'. For this reason, the original version
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-may not have a hyphen in its version number.
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-.TP
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-.BR "Maintainer: " "<fullname email>"
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-Should be in the format `Joe Bloggs <jbloggs@foo.com>', and is typically
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-the person who created the package, as opposed to the author of the
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-software that was packaged.
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-.TP
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-.BR "Description: " "<short description>"
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-.BR " " "<long description>"
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-.br
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-The format for the package description is a short brief summary on the
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-first line (after the "Description" field). The following lines can be
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-used as a longer, more detailed description. Each line of the long description
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-must be preceded by a space, and blank lines in the long desription must
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-contain a single '.' following the preceding space.
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-.SH OPTIONAL FIELDS
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-.TP
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-.BR "Section: " "<section>"
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-This is a general field that gives the package a category based on the
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-software that it installs. Some common sections are `utils', `net',
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-`mail', `text', `x11' etc.
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-.TP
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-.BR "Priority: " "<priority>"
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-Sets the importance of this package in relation to the system as a whole.
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-Common priorities are `required', `standard', `optional', `extra' etc.
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-.LP
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-In Debian, the
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-.B Section
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-and
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-.B Priority
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-fields have a defined set of accepted values based on the Policy Manual.
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-They are used to decide how the packages are layed out in the archive.
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-A list of these can be obtained from the latest version of
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-.B debian-policy
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-package.
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-.TP
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-.BR "Essential: " "<yes|no>"
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-This field is usually only needed when the answer is `yes'. It denotes
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-a package that is required for proper operation of the system. Dpkg
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-or any other installation tool will not allow an
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-.B Essential
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-package to be removed (at least not without using one of the force options).
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-.TP
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-.BR "Architecture: " "<arch|all>"
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-The architecture specifies which type of hardware this package was compiled
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-for. Common architectures are `i386', `m68k', `sparc', `alpha', `powerpc'
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-etc. Note that the
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-.B all
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-option is meant for packages that are architecture independent. Some examples
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-of this are shell or Perl scripts, or documentation.
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-.TP
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-.BR "Source: " "<source name>"
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-The name of the source package that this binary package came from, if
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-different than the name of the package itself.
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-.TP
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-.BR "Depends: " "<package list>"
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-List of packages that are required for this package to provide a
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-non-trivial amount of functionality. The package maintenance software
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-will not allow a package to be installed if the packages listed in its
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-.B Depends
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-field aren't installed (at least not without using the force options),
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-and will run the postinst scripts of packages listed in Depends: fields
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-before those of the packages which depend on them, and run prerm scripts
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-before.
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-.TP
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-.BR "Pre-Depends: " "<package list>"
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-List of packages that must be installed
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-.B and
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-configured before this one can be installed. This is usually used in the
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-case where this package requires another package for running its preinst
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-script.
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-.TP
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-.BR "Recommends: " "<package list>"
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-Lists packages that would be found together with this one in all but
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-unusual installations. The package maintenance software will warn the
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-user if they install a package without those listed in its
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-.B Recommends
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-field.
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-.TP
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-.BR Suggests: \ <package\ list>
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-Lists packages that are related to this one and can perhaps enhance
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-its usefulness, but without which installing this package is perfectly
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-reasonable.
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-.LP
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-The syntax of
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-.B Depends ,
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-.B Pre-Depends ,
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-.B Recommends
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-and
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-.B Suggests
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-fields is a list of groups of alternative packages. Each group is a list
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-of packages separated by vertical bar (or `pipe') symbols, `|'. The
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-groups are separated by commas. Commas are to be read as `AND', and pipes
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-as `OR', with pipes binding more tightly. Each item is a package name
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-optionally followed by a version number specification in parentheses.
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-.LP
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-A version number may start with a `>>', in which case any later version
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-will match, and may specify or omit the Debian packaging revision (separated
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-by a hyphen). Accepted version relationships are ">>" for greater than,
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-"<<" for less than, ">=" for greater than or equal to, "<=" for less than
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-or equal to, and "=" for equal to.
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-.TP
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-.BR "Conflicts: " "<package list>"
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-Lists packages that conflict with this one, for example by containing
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-files with the same names. The package maintenance software will not
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-allow conflicting packages to be installed at the same time. Two
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-conflicting packages should each include a
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-.B Conflicts
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-line mentioning the other.
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-.TP
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-.BR "Replaces: " "<package list>"
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-List of packages files from which this one replaces. This is used for
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-allowing this package to overwrite the files of another package and
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-is usually used with the
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-.B Conflicts
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-field to force removal of the other package, if this one also has the
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-same files as the conflicted package.
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-.TP
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-.BR Provides: \ <package\ list>
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-This is a list of virtual packages that this one provides. Usuaully this is
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-used in the case of several packages all providing the same service.
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-For example, sendmail and exim can can serve as a mail server, so they
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-provide a common package (`mail-transport-agent') on which other packages
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-can depend. This will allow sendmail or exim to serve as a valid option
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-to satisy the dependency. This prevents the packages that depend on a mail
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-server from having to know the package names for all of them, and using
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-`|' to separate the list.
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-.LP
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-The syntax of
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-.B Conflicts ,
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-.B Replaces
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-and
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-.B Provides
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-is a list of package names, separated by commas (and optional whitespace).
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-In the
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-.B Conflicts
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-field, the comma should be read as `OR'. An optional version can also be
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-given with the same syntax as above for the
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-.B Conflicts
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-and
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-.B Replaces
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-fields.
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-.SH EXAMPLE
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-.\" .RS
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-.nf
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-Package: grep
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-Essential: yes
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-Priority: required
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-Section: base
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-Maintainer: Wichert Akkerman <wakkerma@debian.org>
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-Architecture: sparc
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-Version: 2.4-1
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-Pre-Depends: libc6 (>= 2.0.105)
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-Provides: rgrep
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-Conflicts: rgrep
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-Description: GNU grep, egrep and fgrep.
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- The GNU family of grep utilities may be the "fastest grep in the west".
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- GNU grep is based on a fast lazy-state deterministic matcher (about
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- twice as fast as stock Unix egrep) hybridized with a Boyer-Moore-Gosper
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- search for a fixed string that eliminates impossible text from being
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- considered by the full regexp matcher without necessarily having to
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- look at every character. The result is typically many times faster
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- than Unix grep or egrep. (Regular expressions containing backreferencing
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- will run more slowly, however.)
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-.fi
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-.\" .RE
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-.SH SEE ALSO
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-.BR deb (5),
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-.BR dpkg (8),
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-.BR dpkg-deb (1).
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Wichert Akkerman