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📛 NAME

dpkg-depcheck — determine packages used to execute a command

🚀 Quick Reference

Use Case	Command	Description
📦 Determine build dependencies for a Debian package	dpkg-depcheck -b debian/rules build	Runs debian/rules build under strace, outputs a Build-Depends list (excluding build-essential and essential packages)
🔍 List all packages used by any command	dpkg-depcheck --all command	Reports every package accessed during command execution (default behaviour)
📄 Minimal dependency set for a command	dpkg-depcheck -m command	Outputs only the minimal set of packages, accounting for direct dependencies (implies -d and -b)
📁 Show files accessed per package	dpkg-depcheck -l command	Also list the specific files used from each package
🌐 Run with C locale	dpkg-depcheck -C command	Forces the command to run in the C locale, useful for reproducible builds
⚙️ Customise features (e.g., disable /usr/local warnings)	dpkg-depcheck -f -warn-local command	Disables the warning about files in /usr/local or /var/local

📋 SYNOPSIS

dpkg-depcheck [options] command

📖 DESCRIPTION

This program runs the specified command under strace and then determines and outputs the packages used in the process. The list can be trimmed in various ways as described in the options below. A good example of this program would be the command dpkg-depcheck -b debian/rules build, which would give a good first approximation to the Build-Depends line needed by a Debian package. Note, however, that this does not give any direct information on versions required or architecture-specific packages.

⚙️ OPTIONS

• -a, --all — 📋 Report all packages used to run command. This is the default behaviour. If used in conjunction with -b, -d or -m, gives additional information on those packages skipped by these options.
• -b, --build-depends — 🚫 Do not report any build-essential or essential packages used, or any of their (direct or indirect) dependencies.
• -d, --ignore-dev-deps — 🚫 Do not show packages used which are direct dependencies of -dev packages used. This implies -b.
• -m, --min-deps — 🎯 Output a minimal set of packages needed, taking into account direct dependencies. Using -m implies -d and also -b.
• -C, --C-locale — 🌐 Run command with the C locale.
• --no-C-locale — 🌐 Don't change locale when running command.
• -l, --list-files — 📄 Also report the list of files used in each package.
• --no-list-files — 📄 Do not report the files used in each package. Cancels a -l option.
• -o, --output=FILE — 📁 Output the package diagnostics to FILE instead of stdout.
• -O, --strace-output=FILE — 📝 Write the strace output to FILE when tracing command instead of using a temporary file.
• -I, --strace-input=FILE — 📥 Get strace output from FILE instead of tracing command; strace must have been run with the -f -q options for this to work.
• -f, --features=LIST — ⚙️ Enable or disable features given in the comma-separated LIST as follows. A feature is enabled with +feature or just feature and disabled with -feature. The currently recognised features are:
  • warn-local — ⚠️ Warn if files in /usr/local or /var/local are used. Enabled by default.
  • discard-check-version — 🗑️ Discards execve when only a --version argument is given to the program; this works around some configure scripts that check for binaries they don't actually use. Enabled by default.
  • trace-local — 🔍 Also try to identify files which are accessed in /usr/local and /var/local. Not usually very useful, as Debian does not place files in these directories. Disabled by default.
  • catch-alternatives — ⚠️ Warn about access to files controlled by the Debian alternatives mechanism. Enabled by default.
  • discard-sgml-catalogs — 🗑️ Discards access to SGML catalogs; some SGML tools read all the registered catalogs at startup. Files matching the regexp /usr/share/sgml/.*\.cat are recognised as catalogs. Enabled by default.
• --no-conf, --noconf — 🚫 Do not read any configuration files. This can only be used as the first option given on the command-line.
• -h, --help — ❓ Display usage information and exit.
• -v, --version — ℹ️ Display version and copyright information and exit.

🔧 CONFIGURATION VARIABLES

The two configuration files /etc/devscripts.conf and ~/.devscripts are sourced in that order to set configuration variables. Command line options can be used to override configuration file settings. Environment variable settings are ignored for this purpose. The currently recognised variable is:

• DPKG_DEPCHECK_OPTIONS — ⚙️ These are options which are parsed before the command-line options. For example, DPKG_DEPCHECK_OPTIONS="-b -f-catch-alternatives" which passes these options to dpkg-depcheck before any command-line options are processed. You are advised not to try tricky quoting, because of the vagaries of shell quoting!

📚 SEE ALSO

dpkg(1), strace(1), devscripts.conf(5), update-alternatives(8)

📄 COPYING

Copyright 2001 Bill Allombert <ballombe AT debian.org>. Modifications copyright 2002,2003 Julian Gilbey <jdg AT debian.org>. dpkg-depcheck is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, version 2 or (at your option) any later version, and you are welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain conditions. There is absolutely no warranty for dpkg-depcheck.

dpkg-depcheck · March 2002 · DPKG-DEPCHECK(1)

📛 NAME 🚀 Quick Reference 📋 SYNOPSIS 📖 DESCRIPTION ⚙️ OPTIONS 🔧 CONFIGURATION VARIABLES 📚 SEE ALSO 📄 COPYING