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¶
- -lchangelog-file
- Specifies the changelog file to read information from. A '-' can be used
to specify reading from standard input. The default is
debian/changelog.
- -Fchangelog-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.
- -Llibdir
- Specify an additional directory to search for parser scripts. This
directory is searched before the default directories which are currently
/usr/local/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog and
/usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog.
- -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, e.g. the range of entries or the format of the output. They need to be
supported by the parser script in question. See also
NOTES.
- --file file
- Set the changelog filename to parse. Default is '-' (standard input).
- -l, --label file
- Set the name of the changelog file to use in error messages, instead of
using the name from the --file option, or its default value.
- --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 paragraph in Debian
control format (see deb-control(5)). If more than one entry is
requested, then most fields are taken from the most recent entry, except
otherwise stated:
- Source: pkg-name
- Version: version
- Distribution: target-distribution
- 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
- Date: date
- 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
paragraph for each changelog entry so that all metadata for each entry is
preserved.
- --since version, -sversion,
-vversion
- include all changes later than version.
- --until version, -uversion
- include all changes earlier than version.
- --from version, -fversion
- include all changes equal or later than version.
- --to version, -tversion
- include all changes up to or equal than version.
- --count number, -cnumber,
-nnumber
- include number entries from the top (or the tail if number
is lower than 0).
- --offset number, -onumber
- change the starting point for --count, counted from the top (or the
tail if number is lower than 0).
- --all
- include all changes. Note: other options have no effect when this is in
use.
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 alphanumerics.
If such a line exists then
dpkg-parsechangelog will look for the parser
as
/usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog/otherformat or
/usr/local/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog/ otherformat; it is an error
for it not being present or not being an executable program. The default
changelog format is
debian, and a parser for it is provided by default.
The parser will be invoked with the changelog open on standard input at the
start of the file. It should read the file (it may seek if it wishes) to
determine the information required and return the parsed information to
standard output in the format specified by the
--format option. It
should accept all
Parser Options.
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 exit with a
nonzero exit status, 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. Third party parsers for changelog formats other than
debian
might not support all options.
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.