{ "mode": "man", "parameter": "debc", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/debc/1/json", "generated": "2026-06-12T01:38:55Z", "synopsis": "debc [options] [changes file] [package ...]", "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "debc - view contents of a generated Debian package\n", "subsections": [] }, "SYNOPSIS": { "content": "debc [options] [changes file] [package ...]\n", "subsections": [] }, "DESCRIPTION": { "content": "debc figures out the current version of a package and displays information about the .deb and\n.udeb files which have been generated in the current build process. If a .changes file is\nspecified on the command line, the filename must end with .changes, as this is how the pro‐\ngram distinguishes it from package names. If not, then debc has to be called from within the\nsource code directory tree. In this case, it will look for the .changes file corresponding\nto the current package version (by determining the name and version number from the\nchangelog, and the architecture in the same way as dpkg-buildpackage(1) does). It then runs\ndpkg-deb -I and dpkg-deb -c on every .deb and .udeb archive listed in the .changes file to\ndisplay information about the contents of the .deb / .udeb files. It precedes every .deb or\n.udeb file with the name of the file. It assumes that all of the .deb / .udeb archives live\nin the same directory as the .changes file. It is useful for ensuring that the expected\nfiles have ended up in the Debian package.\n\nIf a list of packages is given on the command line, then only those debs or udebs with names\nin this list of packages will be processed.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "Directory name checking", "content": "In common with several other scripts in the devscripts package, debc will climb the directory\ntree until it finds a debian/changelog file. As a safeguard against stray files causing po‐\ntential problems, it will examine the name of the parent directory once it finds the de‐\nbian/changelog file, and check that the directory name corresponds to the package name. Pre‐\ncisely how it does this is controlled by two configuration file variables DE‐‐\nVSCRIPTSCHECKDIRNAMELEVEL and DEVSCRIPTSCHECKDIRNAMEREGEX, and their corresponding com‐\nmand-line options --check-dirname-level and --check-dirname-regex.\n\nDEVSCRIPTSCHECKDIRNAMELEVEL can take the following values:\n\n0 Never check the directory name.\n\n1 Only check the directory name if we have had to change directory in our search for de‐\nbian/changelog. This is the default behaviour.\n\n2 Always check the directory name.\n\nThe directory name is checked by testing whether the current directory name (as determined by\npwd(1)) matches the regex given by the configuration file option DE‐‐\nVSCRIPTSCHECKDIRNAMEREGEX or by the command line option --check-dirname-regex regex. Here\nregex is a Perl regex (see perlre(3perl)), which will be anchored at the beginning and the\nend. If regex contains a '/', then it must match the full directory path. If not, then it\nmust match the full directory name. If regex contains the string ´PACKAGE', this will be re‐\nplaced by the source package name, as determined from the changelog. The default value for\nthe regex is: ´PACKAGE(-.+)?', thus matching directory names such as PACKAGE and PACKAGE-ver‐\nsion.\n" } ] }, "OPTIONS": { "content": "", "subsections": [ { "name": "-a -t", "content": "See dpkg-architecture(1) for a description of these options. They affect the search\nfor the .changes file. They are provided to mimic the behaviour of dpkg-buildpackage\nwhen determining the name of the .changes file.\n\n--debs-dir directory\nLook for the .changes, .deb and .udeb files in directory instead of the parent of the\nsource directory. This should either be an absolute path or relative to the top of\nthe source directory.\n\n--check-dirname-level N\nSee the above section Directory name checking for an explanation of this option.\n\n--check-dirname-regex regex\nSee the above section Directory name checking for an explanation of this option.\n", "flag": "-t" }, { "name": "--list-changes", "content": "List the filename of the .changes file, and do not display anything else. This option\nonly makes sense if a .changes file is NOT passed explicitly in the command line. This\ncan be used for example in a script that needs to reference the .changes file, without\nhaving to duplicate the heuristics for finding it that debc already implements.\n", "long": "--list-changes" }, { "name": "--list-debs", "content": "List the filenames of the .deb packages, and do not display their contents.\n\n--no-conf, --noconf\nDo not read any configuration files. This can only be used as the first option given\non the command-line.\n\n--help, --version\nShow help message and version information respectively.\n", "long": "--list-debs" } ] }, "CONFIGURATION VARIABLES": { "content": "The two configuration files /etc/devscripts.conf and ~/.devscripts are sourced in that order\nto set configuration variables. Command line options can be used to override configuration\nfile settings. Environment variable settings are ignored for this purpose. The currently\nrecognised variables are:\n\nDEBRELEASEDEBSDIR\nThis specifies the directory in which to look for the .changes, .deb and .udeb files,\nand is either an absolute path or relative to the top of the source tree. This corre‐\nsponds to the --debs-dir command line option. This directive could be used, for exam‐\nple, if you always use pbuilder or svn-buildpackage to build your packages. Note that\nit also affects debrelease(1) in the same way, hence the strange name of the option.\n\nDEVSCRIPTSCHECKDIRNAMELEVEL, DEVSCRIPTSCHECKDIRNAMEREGEX\nSee the above section Directory name checking for an explanation of these variables.\nNote that these are package-wide configuration variables, and will therefore affect\nall devscripts scripts which check their value, as described in their respective man‐\npages and in devscripts.conf(5).\n", "subsections": [] }, "SEE ALSO": { "content": "debdiff(1), dpkg-deb(1), devscripts.conf(5)\n", "subsections": [] }, "AUTHOR": { "content": "Julian Gilbey , based on an original script by Christoph Lameter .\n\n\n\nDEBIAN Debian Utilities DEBC(1)", "subsections": [] } }, "summary": "debc - view contents of a generated Debian package", "flags": [ { "flag": "-t", "long": null, "arg": null, "description": "See dpkg-architecture(1) for a description of these options. They affect the search for the .changes file. They are provided to mimic the behaviour of dpkg-buildpackage when determining the name of the .changes file. --debs-dir directory Look for the .changes, .deb and .udeb files in directory instead of the parent of the source directory. This should either be an absolute path or relative to the top of the source directory. --check-dirname-level N See the above section Directory name checking for an explanation of this option. --check-dirname-regex regex See the above section Directory name checking for an explanation of this option." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--list-changes", "arg": null, "description": "List the filename of the .changes file, and do not display anything else. This option only makes sense if a .changes file is NOT passed explicitly in the command line. This can be used for example in a script that needs to reference the .changes file, without having to duplicate the heuristics for finding it that debc already implements." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--list-debs", "arg": null, "description": "List the filenames of the .deb packages, and do not display their contents. --no-conf, --noconf Do not read any configuration files. This can only be used as the first option given on the command-line. --help, --version Show help message and version information respectively." } ], "examples": [], "see_also": [ { "name": "debdiff", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/debdiff/1/json" }, { "name": "dpkg-deb", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/dpkg-deb/1/json" }, { "name": "devscripts.conf", "section": "5", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/devscripts.conf/5/json" } ], "tldr": { "source": "not_found", "examples": [] } }