# man > RMADISON(1)

[_RMADISON_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/RMADISON/1/markdown)                                                                              [_RMADISON_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/RMADISON/1/markdown)

## NAME
       rmadison -- Remotely query the Debian archive database about packages

## SYNOPSIS
       **rmadison **[_OPTIONS_] _PACKAGE_ ...

## DESCRIPTION
       **dak ls **queries the Debian archive database ("projectb") and displays which package version is
       registered  per  architecture/component/suite.   The CGI at **<https://qa.debian.org/madison.php>**
       provides that service without requiring SSH access to ftp-master.debian.org or the mirror  on
       mirror.ftp-master.debian.org. This script, **rmadison**, is a command line frontend to this CGI.

## OPTIONS
### -a --architecture=_
           only show info for ARCH(s)

### -b --binary-type=_
           only show info for binary TYPE

### -c --component=_
           only show info for COMPONENT(s)

### -g --greaterorequal
           show buildd 'dep-wait pkg >= {highest version}' info

### -G --greaterthan
           show buildd 'dep-wait pkg >> {highest version}' info

### -h --help
           show this help and exit

### -s --suite=_
           only show info for this suite

### -r --regex
           treat PACKAGE as a regex

           **Note:  **Since **-r **can easily DoS the database ("-r ."), this option is not supported by the
           CGI on qa.debian.org and most other installations.

### -S --source-and-binary
           show info for the binary children of source pkgs

### -t --time
           show projectb snapshot and reload time (not supported by all archives)

### -u --url=_
           use _URL_ for the query. Supported shorthands are
            **debian **<https://api.ftp-master.debian.org/madison>
            **new **<https://api.ftp-master.debian.org/madison?s=new>
            **qa **<https://qa.debian.org/madison.php>
            **ubuntu **<https://ubuntu-archive-team.ubuntu.com/madison.cgi>
            **udd **<https://qa.debian.org/cgi-bin/madison.cgi>
            **archive **<https://qa.debian.org/cgi-bin/madison.cgi?table=archived>
            **ports **<https://qa.debian.org/cgi-bin/madison.cgi?table=ports>

           See the **RMADISON_URL_MAP_ **variable below for a method to add new shorthands.

### --version
           show version and exit

       **--no-conf**, **--noconf**
           don't read the devscripts configuration files

       ARCH,   COMPONENT   and   SUITE   can   be   comma   (or   space)   separated   lists,   e.g.
       --architecture=amd64,i386

## CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
       The  two configuration files _/etc/devscripts.conf_ and _~/.devscripts_ are sourced by a shell 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 variables are:

       **RMADISON_URL_MAP__**SHORTHAND_=_URL_
           Add an entry to the set of shorthand URLs listed above. _SHORTHAND_ should be replaced with
           the shorthand form to be used to refer to _URL_.

           Multiple  shorthand  entries  may  be  specified  by  using  multiple  **RMADISON_URL_MAP_***
           variables.

       **RMADISON_DEFAULT_URL**=_URL_
           Set  the  default URL to use unless overridden by a command line option.  For Debian this
           defaults to debian. For Ubuntu this defaults to ubuntu.

       **RMADISON_ARCHITECTURE**=_ARCH_
           Set the default architecture to use unless overridden by a command line option.   To  run
           an unrestricted query when **RMADISON_ARCHITECTURE **is set, use **--architecture='*'**.

       **RMADISON_SSL_CA_FILE**=_FILE_
           Use  the  specified  CA  file  instead  of the default CA bundle for curl/wget, passed as
           --cacert to curl, and as --ca-certificate to wget.

       **RMADISON_SSL_CA_PATH**=_PATH_
           Use the specified CA directory instead of the default CA bundle for curl/wget, passed  as
           --capath to curl, and as --ca-directory to wget.

## NOTES
       **dak ls **was formerly called **madison**.

       The protocol used by rmadison is fairly simple, the CGI accepts query the parameters a, b, c,
       g, G, r, s, S, t, and package. The parameter text is passed to enable plain-text output.

## SEE ALSO
       [**dak**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/dak/1/markdown), [**madison-lite**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/madison-lite/1/markdown)

## AUTHOR
       rmadison    and    <https://qa.debian.org/madison.php>   were   written   by   Christoph   Berg
       <<myon@debian.org>>.  dak  was  written  by  James  Troup  <<james@nocrew.org>>,  Anthony   Towns
       <<ajt@debian.org>>, and others.

Debian Utilities                             2026-02-25                                  [_RMADISON_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/RMADISON/1/markdown)