dpkg-gencontrol(1)              dpkg utilities              dpkg-gencontrol(1)



NAME
       dpkg-gencontrol - generate Debian control files

SYNOPSIS
       dpkg-gencontrol [option...]

DESCRIPTION
       dpkg-gencontrol  reads  information from an unpacked Debian source tree
       and  generates  a  binary  package  control  file  (which  defaults  to
       debian/tmp/DEBIAN/control);  during  this  process it will simplify the
       relation fields.

       Thus Pre-Depends, Depends, Recommends and Suggests  are  simplified  in
       this  order by removing dependencies which are known to be true accord-
       ing to the stronger dependencies already parsed. It  will  also  remove
       any self-dependency (in fact it will remove any dependency which evalu-
       ates to true given the current version of the  package  as  installed).
       Logically  it  keeps  the  intersection of multiple dependencies on the
       same package. The order of dependencies is preserved as best as  possi-
       ble:  if  any  dependency  must  be discarded due to another dependency
       appearing further in the field, the superseding  dependency  will  take
       the place of the discarded one.

       The  other  relation  fields (Enhances, Conflicts, Breaks, Replaces and
       Provides) are also simplified individually by computing  the  union  of
       the various dependencies when a package is listed multiple times in the
       field.

       dpkg-gencontrol  also  adds  an  entry  for  the  binary   package   to
       debian/files.

OPTIONS
       -vversion
              Sets the version number of the binary package which will be gen-
              erated.

       -Vname=value
              Set an output substitution variable.  See  deb-substvars(5)  for
              discussion of output substitution.

       -Tsubstvars-file
              Read  substitution  variables  in substvars-file; the default is
              debian/substvars.  This option can be  used  multiple  times  to
              read substitution variables from multiple files.

       -Dfield=value
              Override or add an output control file field.

       -Ufield
              Remove an output control file field.

       -ccontrol-file
              Specifies the main source control file to read information from.
              The default is debian/control.

       -lchangelog-file
              Specifies the changelog  file  to  read  information  from.  The
              default is debian/changelog.

       -ffiles-list-file
              Read or write the list of files to be uploaded here, rather than
              using debian/files.

       -Fchangelog-format
              Specifies  the  format   of   the   changelog.   See   dpkg-par-
              sechangelog(1) for information about alternative formats.

       -ppackage
              Generate  information  for  the  binary package package.  If the
              source control file lists only  one  binary  package  then  this
              option may be omitted; otherwise it is essential to select which
              binary package's information to generate.

       -nfilename
              Assume the filename of the package will be filename  instead  of
              the normal package_version_arch.deb filename.

       -is, -ip, -isp
              These  options are ignored for compatibility with older versions
              of the dpkg build scripts but  are  now  deprecated.  Previously
              they  were  used  to tell dpkg-gencontrol to include the Section
              and Priority fields in the control file. This is now the default
              behaviour.  If you want to get the old behaviour you can use the
              -U option to delete the fields from the control file.

       -Ppackage-build-dir
              Tells dpkg-source that the package is being  built  in  package-
              build-dir instead of debian/tmp.  This value is used to find the
              default value of the Installed-Size  substitution  variable  and
              control  file  field (using du), and for the default location of
              the output file.

       -O[filename]
              Print the control file to standard output (or filename if speci-
              fied),  rather  than  to  debian/tmp/DEBIAN/control (or package-
              build-dir/DEBIAN/control if -P was used).

       -?, --help
              Show the usage message and exit.

       --version
              Show the version and exit.

FILES
       debian/control
              The main source control information file,  giving  version-inde-
              pendent  information  about  the  source  package and the binary
              packages it can produce.

       debian/files
              The list of generated files which are part of the  upload  being
              prepared.  dpkg-gencontrol adds the presumed filenames of binary
              packages whose control files it generates here.



Debian Project                    2013-09-06                dpkg-gencontrol(1)
