deb-buildinfo(5) dpkg suite deb-buildinfo(5)
NAME
deb-buildinfo - Debian build information file format
SYNOPSIS
filename.buildinfo
DESCRIPTION
Each Debian source package build can record the build information in a
.buildinfo control file, which contains a number of fields in deb822(5)
format.
Each field begins with a tag, such as Source or Binary (case
insensitive), followed by a colon, and the body of the field (case
sensitive unless stated otherwise). Fields are delimited only by field
tags. In other words, field text may be multiple 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 Binary-Only-
Changes, Installed-Build-Depends, Environment, Checksums-Md5,
Checksums-Sha1 and Checksums-Sha256, see below).
The control data might be enclosed in an OpenPGP ASCII Armored
signature, as specified in RFC9580.
The name of the .buildinfo file will depend on the type of build and
will be as specific as necessary but not more; the name will be:
source-name_binary-version_arch.buildinfo
for a build that includes any
source-name_binary-version_all.buildinfo
otherwise for a build that includes all
source-name_source-version_source.buildinfo
otherwise for a build that includes source
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 1.0.
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 build is
for a binary-only non-maintainer upload.
Binary: binary-package-list (required in context)
This folded field is a space-separated list of binary packages
built. If the build is source-only, then the field is omitted
(since dpkg 1.20.0).
Architecture: arch-list (required)
This space-separated field lists the architectures of the files
currently being built. Common 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 built, 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
revision number (for non-native packages). The exact format and
sorting algorithm are described in deb-version(7).
Binary-Only-Changes:
changelog-entry
This multiline field contains the concatenated text of the changelog
entry for a binary-only non-maintainer upload (binNMU) if that is
the case. 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 depends on the changelog
format.
Checksums-Md5: (required, weak)
Checksums-Sha1: (required, weak)
Checksums-Sha256: (required, strong)
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: MD5 for Checksums-Md5, SHA-1
for Checksums-Sha1 and SHA-256 for Checksums-Sha256.
Note: The MD5 and SHA-1 checksums are considered weak, and should
never be assumed to be sufficient for secure verification.
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 build.
Build-Origin: name
The name of the distribution this package is originating from.
Build-Architecture: arch (required)
The Debian architecture for the installation the packages is being
built in. Common architectures are amd64, armel, i386, etc.
Build-Date: build-date
The date the package was built. It must be in the same format as
the date in a deb-changelog(5) entry.
Build-Kernel-Version: build-kernel-version
The release and version (in an unspecified format) of the kernel
running on the build system. This field is only going to be present
if the builder has explicitly requested it, to avoid leaking
possibly sensitive information.
Build-Path: build-path
The absolute build path, which correspond to the unpacked source
tree. This field is only going to be present if the vendor has
allowed it via some pattern match to avoid leaking possibly
sensitive information.
On Debian and derivatives only build paths starting with /build/
will emit this field.
Build-Tainted-By:
taint-reason-list
This folded field contains a space-separated list of non-exhaustive
reason tags (formed by alphanumeric and dash characters) which
identify why the current build has been tainted (since dpkg 1.19.5).
On Debian and derivatives the following reason tags can be emitted:
usr-local-has-configs
The system has configuration files under /usr/local/etc.
usr-local-has-includes
The system has header files under /usr/local/include.
usr-local-has-programs
The system has programs under /usr/local/bin or /usr/local/sbin.
usr-local-has-libraries
The system has libraries, either static or shared under
/usr/local/lib.
can-execute-cross-built-programs
The system can execute cross built programs, either directly or
via some emulation layer.
Since dpkg 1.21.10.
Installed-Build-Depends: (required)
package-list
The list of installed and configured packages that might affect the
package build process.
The list consists of each package name, optionally arch-qualified
for foreign architectures, with an exact version restriction,
separated by commas.
The list includes all essential packages, packages listed in Build-
Depends, Build-Depends-Arch, Build-Depends-Indep source control
fields, any vendor specific builtin dependencies, and all their
recursive dependencies. On Debian and derivatives the dependency
builtin is build-essential.
For dependencies coming from the source control fields, all
dependency alternatives and all providers of virtual packages
depended on will be included.
Environment:
variable-list
The list of environment variables that are known to affect the
package build process, with each environment variable followed by an
equal sign (‘=’) and the variable's quoted value, using double
quotes (‘"’), and backslashes escaped (‘\\’).
SEE ALSO
deb822(5), deb-changes(5), deb-version(7), dpkg-genbuildinfo(1).
1.22.21 2025-06-30 deb-buildinfo(5)
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