{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "dpkg-parsechangelog",
    "section": "1",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/dpkg-parsechangelog/1/json",
    "generated": "2026-10-05T18:46:12Z",
    "synopsis": "dpkg-parsechangelog [option...]",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "dpkg-parsechangelog - parse Debian changelog files\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SYNOPSIS": {
            "content": "dpkg-parsechangelog [option...]\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "dpkg-parsechangelog reads and parses the changelog of an unpacked Debian source tree and\noutputs the information in it to standard output in a machine-readable form.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "OPTIONS": {
            "content": "",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "-l --file _",
                    "content": "Specifies  the  changelog  file  to  read information from.  A ‘-’ can be used to specify\nreading from standard input.  The default is debian/changelog.\n",
                    "flag": "-l",
                    "long": "--file"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-F _",
                    "content": "Specifies the format of the changelog.  By default the format is read from a special line\nnear the bottom of the changelog or failing that defaults to the debian standard  format.\nSee also \"CHANGELOG FORMATS\".\n",
                    "flag": "-F"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-L _",
                    "content": "Obsolete  option  without  effect  (since  dpkg  1.18.8).   Setting  the perl environment\nvariables PERL5LIB or PERLLIB has a similar effect  when  looking  for  the  parser  perl\nmodules.\n",
                    "flag": "-L"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-S --show-field _",
                    "content": "Specifies  the  name  of  the  field  to show (since dpkg 1.17.0).  The field name is not\nprinted, only its value.\n\n-?, --help\nShow the usage message and exit.\n",
                    "flag": "-S",
                    "long": "--show-field"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--version",
                    "content": "Show the version and exit.\n",
                    "long": "--version"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Parser Options",
                    "content": "The following options can be used to influence  the  output  of  the  changelog  parser,  for\nexample the range of entries or the format of the output.\n\n--format output-format\nSet  the  output  format.   Currently  supported values are dpkg and rfc822.  dpkg is the\nclassic output format (from before this option existed) and the default.  It consists  of\none  stanza  in  Debian  control  format (see deb-control(5)).  If more than one entry is\nrequested, then most fields are taken from the  first  entry  (usually  the  most  recent\nentry), except otherwise stated:\n\nSource: pkg-name\nThe source package name.\n\nVersion: version\nThe  source  version  number.   Note:  For  binary-only  releases  there  might be no\ncorresponding source release.\n\nDistribution: target-distribution\nA space-separated list of one or more distribution names where this version should be\ninstalled when it is uploaded.\n\nUrgency: urgency\nThe highest urgency of all included entries is used,  followed  by  the  concatenated\n(space-separated) comments from all the versions requested.\n\nMaintainer: author\nThe  name  and  email  address of the person who prepared these changes, they are not\nnecessarily those of the uploader or the usual package maintainer.\n\nDate: date\nThe date of the entry  as  a  string,  as  it  appears  in  the  changelog.   With  a\nstrptime(3)  format  \"%a,  %d  %b  %Y %T %z\", but where the day of the week might not\nactually correspond to the real day obtained from the rest of the  date  string.   If\nyou  need  a  more  accurate representation of the date, use the Timestamp field, but\ntake into account it might not be possible to map it back to the exact value in  this\nfield.\n\nTimestamp: timestamp\nThe date of the entry as a timestamp in seconds since the epoch (since dpkg 1.18.8).\n\nCloses: bug-number\nThe Closes fields of all included entries are merged.\n\nChanges: changelog-entries\nThe text of all changelog entries is concatenated.  To make this field a valid Debian\ncontrol  format  multiline field empty lines are replaced with a single full stop and\nall lines is intended by one space character.   The  exact  content  depends  on  the\nchangelog format.\n\nThe Version, Distribution, Urgency, Maintainer and Changes fields are mandatory.\n\nThere might be additional user-defined fields present.\n\nThe  rfc822  format uses the same fields but outputs a separate stanza for each changelog\nentry so that all metadata for each entry is preserved.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--reverse",
                    "content": "Include all changes in reverse order (since dpkg 1.19.1).\n\nNote: For the dpkg format the first entry will be the most ancient entry.\n",
                    "long": "--reverse"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--all",
                    "content": "Include all changes.  Note: Other options have no effect when this is in use.\n",
                    "long": "--all"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-s --since _",
                    "content": "",
                    "flag": "-s",
                    "long": "--since"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-v _",
                    "content": "Include all changes later than version.\n",
                    "flag": "-v"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-u --until _",
                    "content": "Include all changes earlier than version.\n",
                    "flag": "-u",
                    "long": "--until"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-f --from _",
                    "content": "Include all changes equal or later than version.\n",
                    "flag": "-f",
                    "long": "--from"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-t --to _",
                    "content": "Include all changes up to or equal than version.\n",
                    "flag": "-t",
                    "long": "--to"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-c --count _",
                    "content": "",
                    "flag": "-c",
                    "long": "--count"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-n _",
                    "content": "Include number entries from the top (or the tail if number is lower than 0).\n",
                    "flag": "-n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-o --offset _",
                    "content": "Change the starting point for --count, counted from the top (or the  tail  if  number  is\nlower than 0).\n",
                    "flag": "-o",
                    "long": "--offset"
                }
            ]
        },
        "CHANGELOG FORMATS": {
            "content": "It  is possible to use a different format to the standard one, by providing a parser for that\nalternative format.\n\nIn order to have dpkg-parsechangelog run the new parser, a line must be included  within  the\nlast   40   lines   of   the   changelog   file,   matching   the  Perl  regular  expression:\n“\\schangelog-format:\\s+([0-9a-z]+)\\W”.  The part in parentheses should be  the  name  of  the\nformat.  For example:\n\n@@@ changelog-format: otherformat @@@\n\nChangelog format names are non-empty strings of lowercase alphanumerics (“a-z0-9”).\n\nIf   such   a   line   exists  then  dpkg-parsechangelog  will  look  for  the  parser  as  a\nDpkg::Changelog::Otherformat perl module; it is an error  for  it  not  being  present.   The\nparser  name  in  the  perl  module will be automatically capitalized.  The default changelog\nformat is debian, and a parser for it is provided by default.\n\nThe parser should be derived from  the  Dpkg::Changelog  class  and  implement  the  required\ndocumented interface.\n\nIf  the  changelog  format  which is being parsed always or almost always leaves a blank line\nbetween individual change notes, these blank lines should be stripped out, so as to make  the\nresulting output compact.\n\nIf  the  changelog  format does not contain date or package name information this information\nshould be omitted from the output.  The parser should not attempt to synthesize it or find it\nfrom other sources.\n\nIf the changelog does not have the expected format the parser should error out,  rather  than\ntrying to muddle through and possibly generating incorrect output.\n\nA changelog parser may not interact with the user at all.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "NOTES": {
            "content": "All Parser Options except for -v are only supported since dpkg 1.14.16.\n\nShort option parsing with non-bundled values available only since dpkg 1.18.0.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "ENVIRONMENT": {
            "content": "DPKGCOLORS\nSets  the  color  mode  (since  dpkg  1.18.5).   The  currently accepted values are: auto\n(default), always and never.\n\nDPKGNLS\nIf set, it will be used to decide whether to activate Native Language Support, also known\nas internationalization (or i18n) support (since dpkg 1.19.0).  The accepted values  are:\n0 and 1 (default).\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "FILES": {
            "content": "",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "debian/changelog",
                    "content": "The  changelog  file,  used  to  obtain  version-dependent  information  about the source\npackage, such as the urgency and distribution of an upload,  the  changes  made  since  a\nparticular release, and the source version number itself.\n"
                }
            ]
        },
        "BUGS": {
            "content": "The  Maintainer  field has a confusing name matching the field in the debian/control file but\nnot its exact semantics, where its meaning would be  better  represented  by  the  Changed-By\nfield name used in the .changes file.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SEE ALSO": {
            "content": "deb-changelog(5).\n\n1.22.6                                       2026-05-06                       dpkg-parsechangelog(1)",
            "subsections": []
        }
    },
    "summary": "dpkg-parsechangelog - parse Debian changelog files",
    "flags": [
        {
            "flag": "-l",
            "long": "--file",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Specifies the changelog file to read information from. A ‘-’ can be used to specify reading from standard input. The default is debian/changelog."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-F",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Specifies the format of the changelog. By default the format is read from a special line near the bottom of the changelog or failing that defaults to the debian standard format. See also \"CHANGELOG FORMATS\"."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-L",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Obsolete option without effect (since dpkg 1.18.8). Setting the perl environment variables PERL5LIB or PERLLIB has a similar effect when looking for the parser perl modules."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-S",
            "long": "--show-field",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Specifies the name of the field to show (since dpkg 1.17.0). The field name is not printed, only its value. -?, --help Show the usage message and exit."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--version",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Show the version and exit."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--reverse",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Include all changes in reverse order (since dpkg 1.19.1). Note: For the dpkg format the first entry will be the most ancient entry."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--all",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Include all changes. Note: Other options have no effect when this is in use."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-s",
            "long": "--since",
            "arg": null,
            "description": ""
        },
        {
            "flag": "-v",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Include all changes later than version."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-u",
            "long": "--until",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Include all changes earlier than version."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-f",
            "long": "--from",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Include all changes equal or later than version."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-t",
            "long": "--to",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Include all changes up to or equal than version."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-c",
            "long": "--count",
            "arg": null,
            "description": ""
        },
        {
            "flag": "-n",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Include number entries from the top (or the tail if number is lower than 0)."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-o",
            "long": "--offset",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Change the starting point for --count, counted from the top (or the tail if number is lower than 0)."
        }
    ],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": [
        {
            "name": "deb-changelog",
            "section": "5",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/deb-changelog/5/json"
        }
    ]
}