dpkg-scanpackages(1)		dpkg utilities		  dpkg-scanpackages(1)



NAME
       dpkg-scanpackages - create Packages files

SYNOPSIS
       dpkg-scanpackages  [-u] [-a  ] [-m] binarydir overridefile [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 CD-ROMs. 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 you
       will probably need to compress the  file  with  gzip(1)	(generating  a
       Packages.gz  file).  apt  ignores uncompressed Packages files except on
       local access (i.e.  file:// sources).

       binarydir 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.

       overridefile  is  the name of a file to read which contains information
       about how the package fits into the distribution; see below.

       pathprefix is an optional  string  to  be  prepended  to  the  Filename
       fields.

       If -u is specified, then scan for *.udeb, instead of *.deb.

       When  -a  is  specified, then instead of scanning for all debs, a
       pattern consisting of *_all.deb and *_arch.deb is used.

       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. You can override this
       behaviour with the -m switch. If given, all found packages are included
       in the output.

THE OVERRIDE FILE
       While most information about a package can  be  found  in  the  control
       file,  some  must be filled in by the distribution czars rather than by
       the maintainer, because they relate to the  arrangement	of  files  for
       release	rather	than  the  actual  dependencies and description of the
       package.  This information is found in the override file.

       The override file has a simple  whitespace-delimited  format.  Comments
       are allowed (denoted with a #).

	    package priority section [maintainerinfo]

       package	is  the  name of the package. Entries in the override file for
       packages not found in the tree of binary packages are ignored.

       priority and section place the package within the release  tree;  these
       ought not to be found in the control file. If the package is found in a
       subdirectory of binarydir, that will be checked against section.

       maintainerinfo, if present, can be either the name of a maintainer  for
       an  unconditional  override,  or else oldmaintainer => newmaintainer to
       perform a substitution.

       The override files used to make the  official  Packages	lists  may  be
       found in the indices directory on any Debian mirror.

DIAGNOSTICS
       dpkg-scanpackages  outputs  the	usual self-explanatory errors. It also
       warns about packages that are in the  wrong  subdirectory,  are	dupli
       cated,  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), dpkg-scansources(1).



Debian Project			  2006-05-10		  dpkg-scanpackages(1)