dpkg-scanpackages(1) - man - phpman

dpkg-scanpackages(1)                         dpkg suite                         dpkg-scanpackages(1)



NAME
       dpkg-scanpackages - create Packages index files

SYNOPSIS
       dpkg-scanpackages [option...] binary-path [override-file [path-prefix]] > Packages

DESCRIPTION
       dpkg-scanpackages sorts through a tree of Debian binary packages and creates a Packages file,
       used by apt(8), dselect(1), etc, to tell the user what packages are available for
       installation. These Packages files are the same as those found on Debian archive sites and
       CD-ROMs. You might use dpkg-scanpackages yourself if making a directory of local packages to
       install on a cluster of machines.

       Note: If you want to access the generated Packages file with apt(8) you will probably need to
       compress the file with xz(1) (generating a Packages.xz file), bzip2(1) (generating a
       Packages.bz2 file) or gzip(1) (generating a Packages.gz file).  apt(8) ignores uncompressed
       Packages files except on local access (i.e.  file:// sources).

       binary-path is the name of the tree of the binary packages to process (for example,
       contrib/binary-i386).  It is best to make this relative to the root of the Debian archive,
       because every Filename field in the new Packages file will start with this string.

       override-file is the name of a file to read which contains information about how the package
       fits into the distribution (the file can be compressed since dpkg 1.15.5); see deb-
       override(5).

       path-prefix is an optional string to be prepended to the Filename fields.

       If more than one version of a package is found only the newest one is included in the output.
       If they have the same version and only differ in architecture only the first one found is
       used.

OPTIONS
       -t, --type type
           Scan for *.type packages, instead of *.deb.

       -e, --extra-override file
           Scan file to find supplementary overrides (the file can be compressed since dpkg 1.15.5).
           See deb-extra-override(5) for more information on its format.

       -a, --arch arch
           Use a pattern consisting of *_all.deb and *_arch.deb instead of scanning for all debs.

       -h, --hash hash-list
           Only generate file hashes for the comma-specified list specified (since dpkg 1.17.14).
           The default is to generate all currently supported hashes.  Supported values: md5, sha1,
           sha256.

       -m, --multiversion
           Include all found packages in the output.

       -M, --medium id-string
           Add an X-Medium field containing the value id-string (since dpkg 1.15.5).  This field is
           required if you want to generate Packages.cd files for use by the multicd access method
           of dselect.

       -?, --help
           Show the usage message and exit.

       --version
           Show the version and exit.

ENVIRONMENT
       DPKG_COLORS
           Sets the color mode (since dpkg 1.18.5).  The currently accepted values are: auto
           (default), always and never.

       DPKG_NLS
           If set, it will be used to decide whether to activate Native Language Support, also known
           as internationalization (or i18n) support (since dpkg 1.19.0).  The accepted values are:
           0 and 1 (default).

DIAGNOSTICS
       dpkg-scanpackages outputs the usual self-explanatory errors. It also warns about packages
       that are in the wrong subdirectory, are duplicated, have a Filename field in their control
       file, are missing from the override file, or have maintainer substitutions which do not take
       effect.

SEE ALSO
       dpkg(1), dselect(1), deb-override(5), deb-extra-override(5), dpkg-scansources(1).



1.21.1                                       2025-09-09                         dpkg-scanpackages(1)