deb-symbols(5) dpkg suite deb-symbols(5)
NAME
deb-symbols - Debian's extended shared library information file
SYNOPSIS
DEBIAN/symbols
DESCRIPTION
The symbol files are shipped in Debian binary packages, and its format
is a subset of the template symbol files used by dpkg-gensymbols(1) in
Debian source packages, see deb-src-symbols(5).
The format for an extended shared library dependency information entry
in these files is:
library-soname main-dependency-template
[| alternative-dependency-template]
[...]
[* field-name: field-value]
[...]
symbol minimal-version [id-of-dependency-template]
The library-soname is exactly the value of the SONAME field as exported
by objdump(1). A dependency-template is a dependency where #MINVER# is
dynamically replaced either by a version check like “(>= minimal-
version)” or by nothing (if an unversioned dependency is deemed
sufficient).
Each exported symbol (listed as name@version, with version being “Base”
if the library is not versioned) is associated to a minimal-version of
its dependency template (the main dependency template is always used and
will end up being combined with the dependency template referenced by
id-of-dependency-template if present). The first alternative dependency
template is numbered 1, the second one 2, etc. Each column is separated
by exactly a single whitespace.
Each entry for a library can also have some fields of meta-information.
Those fields are stored on lines starting with an asterisk. Currently,
the only valid fields are:
Build-Depends-Package
It indicates the name of the “-dev” package associated to the
library and is used by dpkg-shlibdeps to make sure that the
dependency generated is at least as strict as the corresponding
build dependency (since dpkg 1.14.13).
Build-Depends-Packages
The same as Build-Depends-Package but accepts a comma-separated list
of package names (since dpkg 1.20.0). This field will override any
Build-Depends-Package field present, and is mostly useful with
“-dev” packages and metapackages depending on these, say for a
transition period.
Allow-Internal-Symbol-Groups
It indicates what internal symbol groups should be ignored, as a
whitespace separated list, so that the symbols contained in those
groups get included in the output file (since dpkg 1.20.1). This
should only be necessary for toolchain packages providing those
internal symbols. The available groups are system dependent, for
ELF and GNU-based systems these are aeabi and gomp.
Ignore-Blacklist-Groups
A deprecated alias for Allow-Internal-Symbol-Groups (since dpkg
1.20.1, supported since dpkg 1.17.6).
EXAMPLES
Simple symbols file
libftp.so.3 libftp3 #MINVER#
DefaultNetbuf@Base 3.1-1-6
FtpAccess@Base 3.1-1-6
[...]
Advanced symbols file
libGL.so.1 libgl1
| libgl1-mesa-glx #MINVER#
* Build-Depends-Package: libgl1-mesa-dev
publicGlSymbol@Base 6.3-1
[...]
implementationSpecificSymbol@Base 6.5.2-7 1
[...]
SEE ALSO
<https://wiki.debian.org/Projects/ImprovedDpkgShlibdeps>,
deb-src-symbols(5), dpkg-shlibdeps(1), dpkg-gensymbols(1).
1.22.21 2025-06-30 deb-symbols(5)
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