dpkg-parsechangelog(1) dpkg suite dpkg-parsechangelog(1)
NAME
dpkg-parsechangelog - parse Debian changelog files
SYNOPSIS
dpkg-parsechangelog [option...]
DESCRIPTION
dpkg-parsechangelog reads and parses the changelog of an unpacked Debian
source tree and outputs the information in it to standard output in a
machine-readable form.
OPTIONS
-l, --file changelog-file
Specifies the changelog file to read information from. A ‘-’ can be
used to specify reading from standard input. The default is
debian/changelog.
-F changelog-format
Specifies the format of the changelog. By default the format is
read from a special line near the bottom of the changelog or failing
that defaults to the debian standard format. See also "CHANGELOG
FORMATS".
-L libdir
Obsolete option without effect (since dpkg 1.18.8). Setting the
perl environment variables PERL5LIB or PERLLIB has a similar effect
when looking for the parser perl modules.
-S, --show-field field
Specifies the name of the field to show (since dpkg 1.17.0). The
field name is not printed, only its value.
-?, --help
Show the usage message and exit.
--version
Show the version and exit.
Parser Options
The following options can be used to influence the output of the
changelog parser, for example the range of entries or the format of the
output.
--format output-format
Set the output format. Currently supported values are dpkg and
rfc822. dpkg is the classic output format (from before this option
existed) and the default. It consists of one stanza in Debian
control format (see deb-control(5)). If more than one entry is
requested, then most fields are taken from the first entry (usually
the most recent entry), except otherwise stated:
Source: pkg-name
The source package name.
Version: version
The source version number. Note: For binary-only releases there
might be no corresponding source release.
Distribution: target-distribution
A space-separated list of one or more distribution names where
this version should be installed when it is uploaded.
Urgency: urgency
The highest urgency of all included entries is used, followed by
the concatenated (space-separated) comments from all the
versions requested.
Maintainer: author
The name and email address of the person who prepared these
changes, they are not necessarily those of the uploader or the
usual package maintainer.
Date: date
The date of the entry as a string, as it appears in the
changelog. With a strptime(3) format "%a, %d %b %Y %T %z", but
where the day of the week might not actually correspond to the
real day obtained from the rest of the date string. If you need
a more accurate representation of the date, use the Timestamp
field, but take into account it might not be possible to map it
back to the exact value in this field.
Timestamp: timestamp
The date of the entry as a timestamp in seconds since the epoch
(since dpkg 1.18.8).
Closes: bug-number
The Closes fields of all included entries are merged.
Changes: changelog-entries
The text of all changelog entries is concatenated. To make this
field a valid Debian control format multiline field empty lines
are replaced with a single full stop and all lines is intended
by one space character. The exact content depends on the
changelog format.
The Version, Distribution, Urgency, Maintainer and Changes fields
are mandatory.
There might be additional user-defined fields present.
The rfc822 format uses the same fields but outputs a separate stanza
for each changelog entry so that all metadata for each entry is
preserved.
--reverse
Include all changes in reverse order (since dpkg 1.19.1).
Note: For the dpkg format the first entry will be the most ancient
entry.
--all
Include all changes. Note: Other options have no effect when this
is in use.
-s, --since version
-v version
Include all changes later than version.
-u, --until version
Include all changes earlier than version.
-f, --from version
Include all changes equal or later than version.
-t, --to version
Include all changes up to or equal than version.
-c, --count number
-n number
Include number entries from the top (or the tail if number is lower
than 0).
-o, --offset number
Change the starting point for --count, counted from the top (or the
tail if number is lower than 0).
CHANGELOG FORMATS
It is possible to use a different format to the standard one, by
providing a parser for that alternative format.
In order to have dpkg-parsechangelog run the new parser, a line must be
included within the last 40 lines of the changelog file, matching the
Perl regular expression: “\schangelog-format:\s+([0-9a-z]+)\W”. The
part in parentheses should be the name of the format. For example:
@@@ changelog-format: otherformat @@@
Changelog format names are non-empty strings of lowercase alphanumerics
(“a-z0-9”).
If such a line exists then dpkg-parsechangelog will look for the parser
as a Dpkg::Changelog::Otherformat perl module; it is an error for it not
being present. The parser name in the perl module will be automatically
capitalized. The default changelog format is debian, and a parser for
it is provided by default.
The parser should be derived from the Dpkg::Changelog class and
implement the required documented interface.
If the changelog format which is being parsed always or almost always
leaves a blank line between individual change notes, these blank lines
should be stripped out, so as to make the resulting output compact.
If the changelog format does not contain date or package name
information this information should be omitted from the output. The
parser should not attempt to synthesize it or find it from other
sources.
If the changelog does not have the expected format the parser should
error out, rather than trying to muddle through and possibly generating
incorrect output.
A changelog parser may not interact with the user at all.
NOTES
All Parser Options except for -v are only supported since dpkg 1.14.16.
Short option parsing with non-bundled values available only since dpkg
1.18.0.
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).
FILES
debian/changelog
The changelog file, used to obtain version-dependent information
about the source package, such as the urgency and distribution of an
upload, the changes made since a particular release, and the source
version number itself.
BUGS
The Maintainer field has a confusing name matching the field in the
debian/control file but not its exact semantics, where its meaning would
be better represented by the Changed-By field name used in the .changes
file.
SEE ALSO
deb-changelog(5).
1.22.21 2025-06-30 dpkg-parsechangelog(1)
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