man > deb-split(5)

deb-split(5)                                 dpkg suite                                 deb-split(5)

NAME
       deb-split - Debian multi-part binary package format

SYNOPSIS
       filename.deb

DESCRIPTION
       The multi-part .deb format is used to split big packages into smaller pieces to ease
       transport in small media.

FORMAT
       The file is an ar archive with a magic value of !<arch>.  The file names might contain a
       trailing slash (since dpkg 1.15.6).

       The first member is named debian-split and contains a series of lines, separated by newlines.
       Currently eight lines are present:

       •   The format version number, 2.1 at the time this manual page was written.

       •   The package name.

       •   The package version.

       •   The md5sum of the package.

       •   The total size of the package.

       •   The maximum part size.

       •   The  current  part  number,  followed  by  a  slash  and the total amount of parts (as in
           ‘1/10’).

       •   The package architecture (since dpkg 1.16.1).

       Programs which read multi-part archives should be  prepared  for  the  minor  format  version
       number to be increased and additional lines to be present, and should ignore these if this is
       the case.

       If  the major format version number has changed, an incompatible change has been made and the
       program should stop.  If it has not, then the program should  be  able  to  safely  continue,
       unless  it  encounters  an unexpected member in the archive (except at the end), as described
       below.

       The second, last required member is named data.N,  where  N  denotes  the  part  number.   It
       contains the raw part data.

       These  members  must  occur  in  this exact order.  Current implementations should ignore any
       additional members after data.N.  Further members may be  defined  in  the  future,  and  (if
       possible) will be placed after these two.

SEE ALSO
       deb(5), dpkg-split(1).

1.22.6                                       2026-05-06                                 deb-split(5)