dpkg-scanpackages(1) dpkg suite dpkg-scanpackages(1)
NAME
dpkg-scanpackages - create Packages index files
SYNOPSIS
dpkg-scanpackages [option...] binary-path [override-file [path-prefix]]
> Packages
DESCRIPTION
dpkg-scanpackages sorts through a tree of Debian binary packages and
creates a Packages file, used by apt(8), dselect(1), etc, to tell the
user what packages are available for installation. These Packages files
are the same as those found on Debian archive sites and media discs.
You might use dpkg-scanpackages yourself if making a directory of local
packages to install on a cluster of machines.
Note: If you want to access the generated Packages file with apt(8) you
will probably need to compress the file with xz(1) (generating a
Packages.xz file), bzip2(1) (generating a Packages.bz2 file) or gzip(1)
(generating a Packages.gz file). apt(8) ignores uncompressed Packages
files except on local access (i.e. file:// sources).
binary-path is the name of the tree of the binary packages to process
(for example, contrib/binary-i386). It is best to make this relative to
the root of the Debian archive, because every Filename field in the new
Packages file will start with this string.
override-file is the name of a file to read which contains information
about how the package fits into the distribution (the file can be
compressed since dpkg 1.15.5); see deb-override(5).
path-prefix is an optional string to be prepended to the Filename
fields.
If more than one version of a package is found only the newest one is
included in the output. If they have the same version and only differ
in architecture only the first one found is used.
OPTIONS
-t, --type type
Scan for *.type packages, instead of *.deb.
-e, --extra-override file
Scan file to find supplementary overrides (the file can be
compressed since dpkg 1.15.5). See deb-extra-override(5) for more
information on its format.
-a, --arch arch
Use a pattern consisting of *_all.deb and *_arch.deb instead of
scanning for all debs.
-h, --hash hash-list
Only generate file hashes for the comma-specified list specified
(since dpkg 1.17.14). The default is to generate all currently
supported hashes. Supported values: md5, sha1, sha256.
-m, --multiversion
Include all found packages in the output.
-M, --medium id-string
Add an X-Medium field containing the value id-string (since dpkg
1.15.5). This field is required if you want to generate Packages.cd
files for use by the media access method of dselect.
-?, --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).
DIAGNOSTICS
dpkg-scanpackages outputs the usual self-explanatory errors. It also
warns about packages that are in the wrong subdirectory, are duplicated,
have a Filename field in their control file, are missing from the
override file, or have maintainer substitutions which do not take
effect.
SEE ALSO
dpkg(1), dselect(1), deb-override(5), deb-extra-override(5),
dpkg-scansources(1).
1.22.21 2025-06-30 dpkg-scanpackages(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 04:53:03 CET 2025.