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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | SOURCE FIELDS | BINARY FIELDS | USER-DEFINED FIELDS | EXAMPLE | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
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deb-src-control(5) dpkg suite deb-src-control(5)
deb-src-control - Debian source package template control file
format
debian/control
Each Debian source package contains the «debian/control» template
source control file, and its deb822(5) format is a superset of the
control file shipped in Debian binary packages, see
deb-control(5).
This file contains at least 2 stanzas, separated by a blank line.
The first stanza is called the source package stanza and lists all
information about the source package in general, while each
following stanzas are called the binary package stanzas and
describe exactly one binary package per stanza. Each stanza
consists of at least one field. A field starts with a field name,
such as Package or Section (case insensitive), followed by a
colon, the body of the field (case sensitive unless stated
otherwise) and a newline. Multi-line fields are also allowed, but
each supplementary line, without a field name, must start with at
least one space. The content of the multi-line fields is
generally joined to a single line by the tools (except in the case
of the Description field, see below). To insert empty lines into
a multi-line field, insert a dot after the space. Lines starting
with a ‘#’ are treated as comments.
Source: source-package-name (required)
The value of this field is the name of the source package, and
must match the name of the source package in the
debian/changelog file. A package name must consist only of
lowercase letters (a-z), digits (0-9), plus (+) and minus (-)
signs, and periods (.). Package names must be at least two
characters long and must start with a lowercase alphanumeric
character (a-z0-9).
Maintainer: fullname-email (recommended)
Should be in the format «Joe Bloggs <jbloggs@foo.com>», and
references the person who currently maintains the package, as
opposed to the author of the software or the original
packager.
Uploaders: fullname-email
Lists all the names and email addresses of co-maintainers of
the package, in the same format as the Maintainer field.
Multiple co-maintainers should be separated by a comma.
Standards-Version: version-string
This documents the most recent version of the distribution
policy standards this package complies with.
Description short-description
long-description
The format for the source package description is a short brief
summary on the first line (after the Description field). The
following lines should be used as a longer, more detailed
description. Each line of the long description must be
preceded by a space, and blank lines in the long description
must contain a single ‘.’ following the preceding space.
Homepage: url
The upstream project home page URL.
Bugs: url
The url of the bug tracking system for this package. The
current used format is bts-type://bts-address, like
debbugs://bugs.debian.org. This field is usually not needed.
Build-Driver: driver-name
This experimental field specifies the name of the build driver
to use to build this package. When omitted the driver-name
defaults to debian-rules.
This field is supported since dpkg 1.22.7.
Rules-Requires-Root: no|binary-targets|impl-keywords
This field is used to indicate whether the debian/rules file
requires (fake)root privileges to run some of its targets, and
if so when.
no The binary targets will not require (fake)root at all.
This is the default in dpkg-build-api level >= 1, or since
dpkg 1.22.13.
binary-targets
The binary targets must always be run under (fake)root.
This value is the default in dpkg-build-api level 0 until
dpkg 1.22.13, when the field is omitted; adding the field
with an explicit binary-targets, while not strictly
needed, marks it as having been analyzed for this
requirement.
impl-keywords
This is a space-separated list of keywords which define
when (fake)root is required.
Keywords consist of namespace/cases. The namespace part
cannot contain "/" or whitespace. The cases part cannot
contain whitespace. Furthermore, both parts must consist
entirely of printable ASCII characters.
Each tool/package will define a namespace named after
itself and provide a number of cases where (fake)root is
required. (See "Implementation provided keywords" in
rootless-builds.txt).
When the field is set to one of the impl-keywords, the
builder will expose an interface that is used to run a
command under (fake)root. (See "Gain Root API" in
rootless-builds.txt.)
Testsuite: name-list
Testsuite-Triggers: package-list
These fields are described in the dsc(5) manual page, as they
are generated from information inferred from
debian/tests/control or copied literally to the source control
file.
Vcs-Arch: url
Vcs-Bzr: url
Vcs-Cvs: url
Vcs-Darcs: url
Vcs-Git: url
Vcs-Hg: url
Vcs-Mtn: url
Vcs-Svn: url
The url of the Version Control System repository used to
maintain this package. Currently supported are Arch, Bzr
(Bazaar), Cvs, Darcs, Git, Hg (Mercurial), Mtn (Monotone) and
Svn (Subversion). Usually this field points to the latest
version of the package, such as the main branch or the trunk.
Vcs-Browser: url
The url of a web interface to browse the Version Control
System repository.
Origin: name
The name of the distribution this package is originating from.
This field is usually not needed.
Section: section
This is a general field that gives the package a category
based on the software that it installs. Some common sections
are utils, net, mail, text, x11, etc.
When omitted, the section defaults to unknown (since dpkg
1.22.13).
The accepted values are based on the specific distribution
policy.
Priority: priority
Sets the importance of this package in relation to the system
as a whole. The known priorities are required, important,
standard, optional, extra, and unknown, but other values can
be used as well.
When omitted, the priority defaults to optional (since dpkg
1.22.13).
How to apply these values depends on the specific distribution
policy.
Build-Depends: package-list
A list of packages that need to be installed and configured to
be able to build from source package. These dependencies need
to be satisfied when building binary architecture dependent or
independent packages and source packages. Including a
dependency in this field does not have the exact same effect
as including it in both Build-Depends-Arch and
Build-Depends-Indep, because the dependency also needs to be
satisfied when building the source package.
Build-Depends-Arch: package-list
Same as Build-Depends, but they are only needed when building
the architecture dependent packages. The Build-Depends are
also installed in this case. This field is supported since
dpkg 1.16.4; in order to build with older dpkg versions,
Build-Depends should be used instead.
Build-Depends-Indep: package-list
Same as Build-Depends, but they are only needed when building
the architecture independent packages. The Build-Depends are
also installed in this case.
Build-Conflicts: package-list
A list of packages that should not be installed when the
package is built, for example because they interfere with the
build system used. Including a dependency in this list has
the same effect as including it in both Build-Conflicts-Arch
and Build-Conflicts-Indep, with the additional effect of being
used for source-only builds.
Build-Conflicts-Arch: package-list
Same as Build-Conflicts, but only when building the
architecture dependent packages. This field is supported
since dpkg 1.16.4; in order to build with older dpkg versions,
Build-Conflicts should be used instead.
Build-Conflicts-Indep: package-list
Same as Build-Conflicts, but only when building the
architecture independent packages.
The syntax of the Build-Depends, Build-Depends-Arch and
Build-Depends-Indep fields is a list of groups of alternative
packages. Each group is a list of packages separated by vertical
bar (or “pipe”) symbols, ‘|’. The groups are separated by commas
‘,’, and can end with a trailing comma that will be eliminated
when generating the fields for deb-control(5) (since dpkg
1.10.14). Commas are to be read as “AND”, and pipes as “OR”, with
pipes binding more tightly. Each package name is optionally
followed by an architecture qualifier appended after a colon ‘:’,
optionally followed by a version number specification in
parentheses ‘(’ and ‘)’, an architecture specification in square
brackets ‘[’ and ‘]’, and a restriction formula consisting of one
or more lists of profile names in angle brackets ‘<’ and ‘>’.
The syntax of the Build-Conflicts, Build-Conflicts-Arch and
Build-Conflicts-Indep fields is a list of comma-separated package
names, where the comma is read as an “AND”, and where the list can
end with a trailing comma that will be eliminated when generating
the fields for deb-control(5) (since dpkg 1.10.14). Specifying
alternative packages using a “pipe” is not supported. Each
package name is optionally followed by a version number
specification in parentheses, an architecture specification in
square brackets, and a restriction formula consisting of one or
more lists of profile names in angle brackets.
An architecture qualifier name can be a real Debian architecture
name (since dpkg 1.16.5), any (since dpkg 1.16.2) or native (since
dpkg 1.16.5). If omitted, the default for Build-Depends fields is
the current host architecture, the default for Build-Conflicts
fields is any. A real Debian architecture name will match exactly
that architecture for that package name, any will match any
architecture for that package name if the package is marked with
Multi-Arch: allowed, and native will match the current build
architecture if the package is not marked with Multi-Arch:
foreign.
A version number may start with a ‘>>’, in which case any later
version will match, and may specify or omit the Debian packaging
revision (separated by a hyphen). Accepted version relationships
are ‘>>’ for greater than, ‘<<’ for less than, ‘>=’ for greater
than or equal to, ‘<=’ for less than or equal to, and ‘=’ for
equal to.
An architecture specification consists of one or more architecture
names, separated by whitespace. Exclamation marks may be
prepended to each of the names, meaning “NOT”.
A restriction formula consists of one or more restriction lists,
separated by whitespace. Each restriction list is enclosed in
angle brackets. Items in the restriction list are build profile
names, separated by whitespace and can be prefixed with an
exclamation mark, meaning “NOT”. A restriction formula represents
a disjunctive normal form expression.
Note that dependencies on packages in the build-essential set can
be omitted and that declaring build conflicts against them is
impossible. A list of these packages is in the build-essential
package.
Note that the Priority, Section and Homepage fields can also be in
a binary stanza to override the global value from the source
package.
Package: binary-package-name (required)
This field is used to name the binary package name. The same
restrictions as to a source package name apply.
Package-Type: deb|udeb|type
This field defines the type of the package. udeb is for
size-constrained packages used by the debian installer. deb
is the default value, it is assumed if the field is absent.
More types might be added in the future.
Architecture: arch|all|any (required)
The architecture specifies on which type of hardware this
package runs. For packages that run on all architectures, use
the any value. For packages that are architecture
independent, such as shell and Perl scripts or documentation,
use the all value. To restrict the packages to a certain set
of architectures, specify the architecture names, separated by
a space. It's also possible to put architecture wildcards in
that list (see dpkg-architecture(1) for more information about
them).
Build-Profiles: restriction-formula
This field specifies the conditions for which this binary
package does or does not build. To express that condition,
the same restriction formula syntax from the Build-Depends
field is used (including the angle brackets).
If a binary package stanza does not contain this field, then
it implicitly means that it builds with all build profiles
(including none at all).
In other words, if a binary package stanza is annotated with a
non-empty Build-Profiles field, then this binary package is
generated if and only if the condition expressed by the
conjunctive normal form expression evaluates to true.
Protected: yes|no
Essential: yes|no
Build-Essential: yes|no
Multi-Arch: same|foreign|allowed|no
Tag: tag-list
Description: short-description (recommended)
These fields are described in the deb-control(5) manual page,
as they are copied literally to the control file of the binary
package.
Depends: package-list
Pre-Depends: package-list
Recommends: package-list
Suggests: package-list
Breaks: package-list
Enhances: package-list
Replaces: package-list
Conflicts: package-list
Provides: package-list
Built-Using: package-list
Static-Built-Using: package-list
These fields declare relationships between packages. They are
discussed in the deb-control(5) manual page. When these
fields are found in debian/control they can also end with a
trailing comma (since dpkg 1.10.14), have architecture
specifications and restriction formulas which will all get
reduced when generating the fields for deb-control(5).
Subarchitecture: value
Kernel-Version: value
Installer-Menu-Item: value
These fields are used by the debian-installer in udebs and are
usually not needed. For more details about them, see
<https://salsa.debian.org/installer-team/debian-installer/-/raw/master/doc/devel/modules.txt>.
It is allowed to add additional user-defined fields to the control
file. The tools will ignore these fields. If you want the fields
to be copied over to the output files, such as the binary
packages, you need to use a custom naming scheme: the fields
should start with an X, followed by zero or more of the letters
SBC and a hyphen.
S The field will appear in the source package control file, see
dsc(5).
B The field will appear in the control file in the binary
package, see deb-control(5).
C The field will appear in the upload control (.changes) file,
see deb-changes(5).
Note that the X[SBC]- prefixes are stripped when the fields are
copied over to the output files. A field XC-Approved-By will
appear as Approved-By in the changes file and will not appear in
the binary or source package control files.
Take into account that these user-defined fields will be using the
global namespace, which might at some point in the future collide
with officially recognized fields. To avoid such potential
situation you can prefix those fields with Private-, such as
XB-Private-New-Field.
# Comment
Source: dpkg
Section: admin
Priority: required
Maintainer: Dpkg Developers <debian-dpkg@lists.debian.org>
# This field is copied to the binary and source packages.
XBS-Upstream-Release-Status: stable
Homepage: https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg
Vcs-Browser: https://git.dpkg.org/cgit/dpkg/dpkg.git
Vcs-Git: https://git.dpkg.org/git/dpkg/dpkg.git
Standards-Version: 4.7.0
Build-Depends:
debhelper-compat (= 13),
debhelper (>= 13.10~),
pkgconf,
libselinux1-dev (>= 1.28-4) [!linux-any],
Package: dpkg-dev
Section: utils
Priority: optional
Architecture: all
# This is a custom field in the binary package.
XB-Mentoring-Contact: Raphael Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
Depends:
binutils,
bzip2,
cpio (>= 2.4.2-2),
# This is a comment in the middle of a field value.
dpkg (>= 1.14.6),
libtimedate-perl,
lzma,
make,
patch (>= 2.2-1),
perl-modules,
perl5,
Recommends:
gcc | c-compiler,
build-essential,
Suggests:
gnupg,
debian-keyring,
Conflicts:
dpkg-cross (<< 2.0.0),
devscripts (<< 2.10.26),
Replaces:
manpages-pl (<= 20051117-1),
Description: Debian package development tools
This package provides the development tools (including dpkg-source)
required to unpack, build and upload Debian source packages.
.
Most Debian source packages will require additional tools to build;
for example, most packages need make and the C compiler gcc.
/usr/local/share/doc/dpkg/spec/rootless-builds.txt, deb822(5),
deb-control(5), deb-version(7), dpkg-source(1)
This page is part of the dpkg (Debian Package Manager) project.
Information about the project can be found at
⟨https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg/⟩. If you have a bug report
for this manual page, see
⟨http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?src=dpkg⟩. This
page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository ⟨git
clone https://git.dpkg.org/git/dpkg/dpkg.git⟩ on 2025-08-11. (At
that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
the repository was 2025-08-06.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org
1.22.12-10-g32fee 2025-01-01 deb-src-control(5)
Pages that refer to this page: dpkg-genchanges(1), dpkg-gencontrol(1), dpkg-source(1), deb-changes(5), deb-control(5), dsc(5), dpkg-build-api(7)
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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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