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dpkg-scansources(1)                          dpkg suite                          dpkg-scansources(1)



NAME
       dpkg-scansources - create Sources index files

SYNOPSIS
       dpkg-scansources [option...] binary-dir [override-file [path-prefix]] > Sources

DESCRIPTION
       dpkg-scansources scans the given binary-dir for .dsc files.  These are used to create a
       Debian source index, which is output to stdout.

       The override-file, if given, is used to set priorities in the resulting index records and to
       override the maintainer field given in the .dsc files.  The file can be compressed (since
       dpkg 1.15.5).  See deb-override(5) for the format of this file.

       Note: Since the override file is indexed by binary, not source packages, there's a bit of a
       problem here. The current implementation uses the highest priority of all the binary packages
       produced by a .dsc file for the priority of the source package, and the override entry for
       the first binary package listed in the .dsc file to modify maintainer information. This might
       change.

       The path-prefix, if given, is prepended to the directory field in the generated source index.
       You generally use this to make the directory fields contain the path from the top of the
       Debian archive hierarchy.

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

OPTIONS
       -n, --no-sort
           Don't sort the index records. Normally they are sorted by source package name.

       -e, --extra-override file
           Scan file to find supplementary overrides (since dpkg 1.15.4; the file can be compressed
           since dpkg 1.15.5).  See deb-extra-override(5) for more information on its format.

       -s, --source-override file
           Use file as the source override file (the file can be compressed since dpkg 1.15.5).  The
           default is the name of the override file you specified with .src appended.

           The source override file is in a different format from the binary override file. It
           contains only two whitespace separated fields, the first is the source package name and
           the second is the section. Blank lines and comment lines are ignored in the normal
           manner. If a package appears in both files the source override takes precedence for
           setting the section.

       --debug
           Turn debugging on.

       --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).

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



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