# phpman > man > deb-old(5)

[deb-old(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/deb-old/5/markdown)                                   dpkg suite                                   [deb-old(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/deb-old/5/markdown)



## NAME
       deb-old - old style Debian binary package format

## SYNOPSIS
       _filename_**.deb**

## DESCRIPTION
       The **.deb** format is the Debian binary package file format. This manual page describes the **old**
       format, used before Debian 0.93. Please see [**deb**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/deb/5/markdown) for details of the new format.

## FORMAT
       The file is two lines of format information as ASCII text, followed by two concatenated
       gzipped ustar files.

       The first line is the format version number padded to 8 digits, and is **0.939000** for all old-
       format archives.

       The second line is a decimal string (without leading zeroes) giving the length of the first
       gzipped tarfile.

       Each of these lines is terminated with a single newline character.

       The first tarfile contains the control information, as a series of ordinary files. The file
       **control** must be present, as it contains the core control information.

       In some very old archives, the files in the control tarfile may optionally be in a **DEBIAN**
       subdirectory. In that case, the **DEBIAN** subdirectory will be in the control tarfile too, and
       the control tarfile will have only files in that directory. Optionally the control tarfile
       may contain an entry for ‘**.**’, that is, the current directory.

       The second gzipped tarfile is the filesystem archive, containing pathnames relative to the
       root directory of the system to be installed on. The pathnames do not have leading slashes.

## SEE ALSO
       [**deb**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/deb/5/markdown), [**dpkg-deb**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/dpkg-deb/1/markdown), [**deb-control**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/deb-control/5/markdown).



1.21.1                                       2025-09-09                                   [deb-old(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/deb-old/5/markdown)