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deb-changes(5)			   dpkg suite			  deb-changes(5)

NAME
     deb-changes - Debian changes file format

SYNOPSIS
     filename.changes

DESCRIPTION
     Each Debian upload is composed of a .changes control file, which contains a
     number  of  fields.  Each field begins with a tag, such as Source or Binary
     (case insensitive), followed by a colon, and the body of the field.  Fields
     are delimited only by field tags.	In other words, field text may be multi-
     ple lines in length, but the installation tools will generally  join  lines
     when  processing  the  body  of  the field (except in case of the multiline
     fields Description, Changes, Files,  Checksums-Sha1  and  Checksums-Sha256,
     see below).

     The  control  data might be enclosed in an OpenPGP ASCII Armored signature,
     as specified in RFC4880.

FIELDS
     Format: format-version (required)
	    The value of this field declares the format  version  of  the  file.
	    The  syntax  of the field value is a version number with a major and
	    minor component.  Backward incompatible changes to the  format  will
	    bump  the  major  version,	and backward compatible changes (such as
	    field additions) will bump the minor version.   The  current  format
	    version is 1.8.

     Date: release-date (required)
	    The  date  the  package was built or last edited.  It must be in the
	    same format as the date in a deb-changelog(5) entry.

	    The  value	of  this  field  is  usually  extracted  from  the   de-
	    bian/changelog file.

     Source: source-name [(source-version)] (required)
	    The  name of the source package.  If the source version differs from
	    the binary version, then the  source-name  will  be  followed  by  a
	    source-version in parenthesis.  This can happen when the upload is a
	    binary-only non-maintainer upload.

     Binary: binary-package-list (required in context)
	    This  folded  field  is a space-separated list of binary packages to
	    upload.  If the upload is source-only, then  the  field  is  omitted
	    (since dpkg 1.19.3).

     Architecture: arch-list
	    Lists the architectures of the files currently being uploaded.  Com-
	    mon  architectures	are  amd64, armel, i386, etc.  Note that the all
	    value is meant for packages that are architecture  independent.   If
	    the source for the package is also being uploaded, the special entry
	    source  is	also  present.	 Architecture  wildcards  must	never be
	    present in the list.

     Version: version-string (required)
	    Typically, this is the original package's version number in whatever
	    form the program's author uses.  It may also include a Debian  revi-
	    sion number (for non-native packages).  The exact format and sorting
	    algorithm are described in deb-version(7).

     Distribution: distributions (required)
	    Lists  one	or more space-separated distributions where this version
	    should be installed when it is uploaded to the archive.

     Urgency: urgency (recommended)
	    The urgency of the upload.	The currently known values, in	increas-
	    ing  order	of  urgency,  are: low, medium, high, critical and emer-
	    gency.

     Maintainer: fullname-email (required)
	    Should be in the format "Joe Bloggs <jbloggs@example.org>",  and  is
	    typically  the person who created the package, as opposed to the au-
	    thor of the software that was packaged.

     Changed-By: fullname-email
	    Should be in the format "Joe Bloggs <jbloggs@example.org>",  and  is
	    typically  the  person who prepared the package changes for this re-
	    lease.

     Description: (recommended)
      binary-package-name - binary-package-summary
	    This multiline field contains a list of binary  package  names  fol-
	    lowed  by  a  space, a dash (`-') and their possibly truncated short
	    descriptions.  If the upload is source-only, then the field is omit-
	    ted (since dpkg 1.19.3).

     Closes: bug-number-list
	    A space-separated list of bug report numbers that have been resolved
	    with this upload.  The distribution archive software might use  this
	    field to automatically close the referred bug numbers in the distri-
	    bution bug tracking system.

     Binary-Only: yes
	    This  field  denotes that the upload is a binary-only non-maintainer
	    build.  It originates from the binary-only=yes  key/value  from  the
	    changelog metadata entry.

     Built-For-Profiles: profile-list
	    This  field  specifies a whitespace separated list of build profiles
	    that this upload was built with.

     Changes: (required)
      changelog-entries
	    This multiline field contains the concatenated text of all changelog
	    entries that are part of the upload.  To make this a valid multiline
	    field empty lines are replaced with a single full stop (`.') and all
	    lines are indented by one space character.	The  exact  content  de-
	    pends on the changelog format.

     Files: (required)
      md5sum size section priority filename
	    This  multiline field contains a list of files with an md5sum, size,
	    section and priority for each one.

	    The first line of the field value (the part on the same line as  the
	    field name followed by a colon) is always empty.  The content of the
	    field  is  expressed as continuation lines, one line per file.  Each
	    line consists of space-separated entries describing  the  file:  the
	    md5sum,  the file size, the file section, the file priority, and the
	    file name.

	    This field lists all files that make up the  upload.   The	list  of
	    files  in  this  field must match the list of files in the other re-
	    lated Checksums fields.

     Checksums-Sha1: (required)
     Checksums-Sha256: (required)
      checksum size filename
	    These multiline fields contain a list of files with a  checksum  and
	    size  for  each  one.   These fields have the same syntax and differ
	    only in the checksum algorithm used: SHA-1	for  Checksums-Sha1  and
	    SHA-256 for Checksums-Sha256.

	    The  first line of the field value (the part on the same line as the
	    field name followed by a colon) is always empty.  The content of the
	    field is expressed as continuation lines, one line per  file.   Each
	    line  consists  of	space-separated entries describing the file: the
	    checksum, the file size, and the file name.

	    These fields list all files that make up the upload.   The	list  of
	    files  in  these  fields  must  match the list of files in the Files
	    field and the other related Checksums fields.

BUGS
     The Files field is inconsistent  with  the  other	Checksums  fields.   The
     Changed-By  and  Maintainer  fields have confusing names.	The Distribution
     field contains information about what is commonly referred to as a suite.

SEE ALSO
     deb-src-control(5), deb-version(7).

1.19.8				   2022-05-24			  deb-changes(5)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=deb-changes&sektion=5&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.1.quarterly>

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