dpkg-gencontrol(1) dpkg utilities dpkg-gencontrol(1)
NAME
dpkg-gencontrol - generate Debian control files
SYNOPSIS
dpkg-gencontrol [options]
DESCRIPTION
dpkg-gencontrol reads information from an unpacked Debian source tree and generates a binary package control file (which defaults to
debian/tmp/DEBIAN/control); during this process it will simplify the relation fields.
Thus Pre-Depends, Depends, Recommends and Suggests are simplified in this order by removing dependencies which are known to be true accord-
ing to the stronger dependencies already parsed. It will also remove any self-dependency (in fact it will remove any dependency which eval-
uates to true given the current version of the package as installed). Logically it keeps the intersection of multiple dependencies on the
same package. The order of dependencies is preserved as best as possible: if any dependency must be discarded due to another dependency
appearing further in the field, the superseding dependency will take the place of the discarded one.
The other relation fields (Enhances, Conflicts, Breaks, Replaces and Provides) are also simplified individually by computing the union of
the various dependencies when a package is listed multiple times in the field.
dpkg-gencontrol also adds an entry for the binary package to debian/files.
OPTIONS
-vversion
Sets the version number of the binary package which will be generated.
-Vname=value
Set an output substitution variable. See deb-substvars(5) for discussion of output substitution.
-Tsubstvarsfile
Read substitution variables in substvarsfile; the default is debian/substvars. This option can be used multiple times to read sub-
stitution variables from multiple files.
-Dfield=value
Override or add an output control file field.
-Ufield
Remove an output control file field.
-ccontrolfile
Specifies the main source control file to read information from. The default is debian/control.
-lchangelogfile
Specifies the change log file to read information from. The default is debian/changelog.
-ffileslistfile
Read or write the list of files to be uploaded here, rather than using debian/files.
-Fchangelogformat
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.
-ppackage
Generate information for the binary package package. If the source control file lists only one binary package then this option may
be omitted; otherwise it is essential to select which binary package's information to generate.
-nfilename
Assume the filename of the package will be filename instead of the normal package_version_arch.deb filename.
-is, -ip, -isp
These options are ignored for compatibility with older versions of dpkg-dev but are now deprecated. Previously they were used to
tell dpkg-gencontrol to include the Section and Priority fields in the control file. This is now the default behaviour. If you want
to get the old behaviour you can use the -U option to delete the fields from the control file.
-Ppackagebuilddir
Tells dpkg-source that the package is being built in packagebuilddir instead of debian/tmp. This value is used to find the default
value of the Installed-Size substitution variable and control file field (using du), and for the default location of the output
file.
-O Print the control file to standard output, rather than to debian/tmp/DEBIAN/control (or packagebuilddir/DEBIAN/control if -P was
used).
-h, --help
Show the usage message and exit.
--version
Show the version and exit.
FILES
debian/control
The main source control information file, giving version-independent information about the source package and the binary packages it
can produce.
debian/files
The list of generated files which are part of the upload being prepared. dpkg-gencontrol adds the presumed filenames of binary
packages whose control files it generates here.
AUTHORS
Copyright (C) 1995-1996 Ian Jackson
Copyright (C) 2000 Wichert Akkerman
Copyright (C) 2007-2008 Raphael Hertzog
This is free software; see the GNU General Public Licence version 2 or later for copying conditions. There is NO WARRANTY.
Debian Project 2008-08-18 dpkg-gencontrol(1)