dpkg-scanpackages

dpkg-scanpackages(1)              dpkg suite              dpkg-scanpackages(1)

NAME
       dpkg-scanpackages - create Packages index files

SYNOPSIS
       dpkg-scanpackages [option...] binary-path [override-file [path-prefix]]
       > Packages

DESCRIPTION
       dpkg-scanpackages sorts through a tree of Debian  binary  packages  and
       creates  a  Packages file, used by apt(8), dselect(1), etc, to tell the
       user what packages are available for installation. These Packages files
       are  the  same  as those found on Debian archive sites and CD-ROMs. You
       might use dpkg-scanpackages yourself if making  a  directory  of  local
       packages to install on a cluster of machines.

       Note:  If  you  want to access the generated Packages file with apt you
       will probably need to  compress  the  file  with  xz(1)  (generating  a
       Packages.xz file), bzip2(1) (generating a Packages.bz2 file) or gzip(1)
       (generating a Packages.gz  file).  apt  ignores  uncompressed  Packages
       files except on local access (i.e.  file:// sources).

       binary-path  is  the name of the tree of the binary packages to process
       (for example, contrib/binary-i386).  It is best to make  this  relative
       to  the root of the Debian archive, because every Filename field in the
       new Packages file will start with this string.

       override-file is the name of a file to read which contains  information
       about  how  the  package  fits  into  the distribution (the file can be
       compressed since dpkg 1.15.5); see deb-override(5).

       path-prefix is an optional string  to  be  prepended  to  the  Filename
       fields.

       If  more  than one version of a package is found only the newest one is
       included in the output. If they have the same version and  only  differ
       in architecture only the first one found is used.

OPTIONS
       -t, --type type
              Scan for *.type packages, instead of *.deb.

       -e, --extra-override file
              Scan  file  to  find  supplementary  overrides  (the file can be
              compressed since dpkg 1.15.5).   See  deb-extra-override(5)  for
              more information on its format.

       -a, --arch arch
              Use  a pattern consisting of *_all.deb and *_arch.deb instead of
              scanning for all debs.

       -h, --hash hash-list
              Only generate file hashes for the comma-specified list specified
              (since  dpkg 1.17.14).  The default is to generate all currently
              supported hashes.  Supported values: md5, sha1, sha256.

       -m, --multiversion
              Include all found packages in the output.

       -M, --medium id-string
              Add an X-Medium field containing the value id-string (since dpkg
              1.15.5).   This  field  is  required  if  you  want  to generate
              Packages.cd files for  use  by  the  multicd  access  method  of
              dselect.

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

       --version
              Show the version and exit.

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).

DIAGNOSTICS
       dpkg-scanpackages  outputs  the  usual self-explanatory errors. It also
       warns  about  packages  that  are  in  the  wrong   subdirectory,   are
       duplicated,  have  a  Filename field in their control file, are missing
       from the override file, or have maintainer substitutions which  do  not
       take effect.

SEE ALSO
       dpkg(1), dselect(1), deb-override(5), deb-extra-override(5),
       dpkg-scansources(1).

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