deb-symbols

deb-symbols(5)                    dpkg suite                    deb-symbols(5)

NAME
       deb-symbols - Debian's extended shared library information file

SYNOPSIS
       symbols

DESCRIPTION
       The  symbol files are shipped in Debian binary packages, and its format
       is a subset of the template symbol files used by dpkg-gensymbols(1)  in
       Debian source packages.

       The  format for an extended shared library dependency information entry
       in these files is:

       library-soname main-dependency-template
       [| alternative-dependency-template]
       [...]
       [* field-name: field-value]
       [...]
        symbol minimal-version [id-of-dependency-template]

       The library-soname is exactly the value of the SONAME field as exported
       by  objdump(1). A dependency-template is a dependency where #MINVER# is
       dynamically replaced either by  a  version  check  like  "(>=  minimal-
       version)"  or  by  nothing  (if  an  unversioned  dependency  is deemed
       sufficient).

       Each exported symbol (listed as name@version, with version being "Base"
       if  the library is not versioned) is associated to a minimal-version of
       its dependency template (the main dependency template  is  always  used
       and  will end up being combined with the dependency template referenced
       by  id-of-dependency-template  if  present).  The   first   alternative
       dependency template is numbered 1, the second one 2, etc.

       Each entry for a library can also have some fields of meta-information.
       Those fields are stored on lines starting with an asterisk.  Currently,
       the only valid fields are:

       Build-Depends-Package
              It  indicates  the  name of the "-dev" package associated to the
              library and is used by dpkg-shlibdeps  to  make  sure  that  the
              dependency  generated is at least as strict as the corresponding
              build dependency (since dpkg 1.14.13).

       Ignore-Blacklist-Groups
              It indicates what blacklist  groups  should  be  ignored,  as  a
              whitespace  separated  list,  so  that  the symbols contained in
              those groups  get  included  in  the  output  file  (since  dpkg
              1.17.6).   This  should only be necessary for toolchain packages
              providing those blacklisted symbols. The  available  groups  are
              system  dependent, for ELF and GNU-based systems these are aeabi
              and gomp.

EXAMPLES
   Simple symbols file
       libftp.so.3 libftp3 #MINVER#
        DefaultNetbuf@Base 3.1-1-6
        FtpAccess@Base 3.1-1-6
        [...]

   Advanced symbols file
       libGL.so.1 libgl1
       | libgl1-mesa-glx #MINVER#
       * Build-Depends-Package: libgl1-mesa-dev
        publicGlSymbol@Base 6.3-1
        [...]
        implementationSpecificSymbol@Base 6.5.2-7 1
        [...]

SEE ALSO
       https://wiki.debian.org/Projects/ImprovedDpkgShlibdeps
       dpkg-shlibdeps(1), dpkg-gensymbols(1).

1.19.7                            2022-05-25                    deb-symbols(5)