dpkg-parsechangelog

dpkg-parsechangelog(1)            dpkg suite            dpkg-parsechangelog(1)

NAME
       dpkg-parsechangelog - parse Debian changelog files

SYNOPSIS
       dpkg-parsechangelog [option...]

DESCRIPTION
       dpkg-parsechangelog  reads  and  parses  the  changelog  of an unpacked
       Debian source tree and outputs the information in it to standard output
       in a machine-readable form.

OPTIONS
       -l, --file changelog-file
              Specifies  the  changelog  file to read information from.  A '-'
              can be used to specify reading from standard input.  The default
              is debian/changelog.

       -F changelog-format
              Specifies  the format of the changelog. By default the format is
              read from a special line near the bottom  of  the  changelog  or
              failing  that  defaults  to the debian standard format. See also
              CHANGELOG FORMATS.

       -L libdir
              Obsolete option without effect (since dpkg 1.18.8).  Setting the
              perl  environment  variables  PERL5LIB  or PERLLIB has a similar
              effect when looking for the parser perl modules.

       -S, --show-field field
              Specifies the name of the field to  show  (since  dpkg  1.17.0).
              The field name is not printed, only its value.

       -?, --help
              Show the usage message and exit.

       --version
              Show the version and exit.

   Parser Options
       The  following  options  can  be  used  to  influence the output of the
       changelog parser, e.g. the range  of  entries  or  the  format  of  the
       output.

       --format output-format
              Set  the  output format. Currently supported values are dpkg and
              rfc822.  dpkg is the classic output  format  (from  before  this
              option existed) and the default. It consists of one paragraph in
              Debian control format (see deb-control(5)).  If  more  than  one
              entry  is  requested,  then most fields are taken from the first
              entry (usually the most recent entry), except otherwise stated:

              Source: pkg-name

              Version: version

              Distribution: target-distribution

              Urgency: urgency
                     The highest urgency of  all  included  entries  is  used,
                     followed  by  the concatenated (space-separated) comments
                     from all the versions requested.

              Maintainer: author

              Date: date
                     The date of the entry as a string, as it appears  in  the
                     changelog.   With  a  strptime(3) format "%a, %d %b %Y %T
                     %z", but where the day of the  week  might  not  actually
                     correspond  to the real day obtained from the rest of the
                     date string.  If you need a more accurate  representation
                     of  the  date,  use  the  Timestamp  field, but take into
                     account it might not be possible to map it  back  to  the
                     exact value in this field.

              Timestamp: timestamp
                     The date of the entry as a timestamp in seconds since the
                     epoch (since dpkg 1.18.8).

              Closes: bug-number
                     The Closes fields of all included entries are merged.

              Changes: changelog-entries
                     The text of all changelog  entries  is  concatenated.  To
                     make  this  field a valid Debian control format multiline
                     field empty lines are replaced with a  single  full  stop
                     and  all  lines  is  intended by one space character. The
                     exact content depends on the changelog format.

              The  Version,  Distribution,  Urgency,  Maintainer  and  Changes
              fields are mandatory.

              There might be additional user-defined fields present.

              The  rfc822  format  uses the same fields but outputs a separate
              paragraph for each changelog entry so that all metadata for each
              entry is preserved.

       --reverse
              Include all changes in reverse order (since dpkg 1.19.1).  Note:
              for the dpkg format the first entry will  be  the  most  ancient
              entry.

       --all  Include  all  changes.  Note:  other options have no effect when
              this is in use.

       -s, --since version
       -v version
              Include all changes later than version.

       -u, --until version
              Include all changes earlier than version.

       -f, --from version
              Include all changes equal or later than version.

       -t, --to version
              Include all changes up to or equal than version.

       -c, --count number
       -n number
              Include number entries from the top (or the tail  if  number  is
              lower than 0).

       -o, --offset number
              Change  the starting point for --count, counted from the top (or
              the tail if number is lower than 0).

CHANGELOG FORMATS
       It is possible to use a  different  format  to  the  standard  one,  by
       providing a parser for that alternative format.

       In order to have dpkg-parsechangelog run the new parser, a line must be
       included within the last 40 lines of the changelog file,  matching  the
       Perl  regular  expression:  "\schangelog-format:\s+([0-9a-z]+)\W".  The
       part in parentheses should be the name of the format. For example:

              @@@ changelog-format: otherformat @@@

       Changelog format names are non-empty strings of lowercase alphanumerics
       ("a-z0-9").

       If such a line exists then dpkg-parsechangelog will look for the parser
       as a Dpkg::Changelog::Otherformat perl module; it is an  error  for  it
       not  being  present.   The  parser  name  in  the  perl  module will be
       automatically capitalized.  The default changelog format is debian, and
       a parser for it is provided by default.

       The  parser  should  be  derived  from  the  Dpkg::Changelog  class and
       implement the required documented interface.

       If the changelog format which is being parsed always or  almost  always
       leaves  a blank line between individual change notes, these blank lines
       should be stripped out, so as to make the resulting output compact.

       If  the  changelog  format  does  not  contain  date  or  package  name
       information  this  information  should  be omitted from the output. The
       parser should not attempt to  synthesize  it  or  find  it  from  other
       sources.

       If  the  changelog  does not have the expected format the parser should
       error out, rather than trying to muddle through and possibly generating
       incorrect output.

       A changelog parser may not interact with the user at all.

NOTES
       All Parser Options except for -v are only supported since dpkg 1.14.16.

       Short  option parsing with non-bundled values available only since dpkg
       1.18.0.

ENVIRONMENT
       DPKG_COLORS
              Sets the color mode (since dpkg 1.18.5).  The currently accepted
              values are: auto (default), always and never.

       DPKG_NLS
              If  set,  it  will  be used to decide whether to activate Native
              Language Support, also known as internationalization  (or  i18n)
              support  (since  dpkg 1.19.0).  The accepted values are: 0 and 1
              (default).

FILES
       debian/changelog
              The changelog file, used to obtain version-dependent information
              about  the  source package, such as the urgency and distribution
              of an upload, the changes made since a particular  release,  and
              the source version number itself.

SEE ALSO
       deb-changelog(5).

1.19.7                            2022-05-25            dpkg-parsechangelog(1)