deb-symbols(5)                            dpkg utilities                           deb-symbols(5)



NAME
       deb-symbols - Debian's extended shared library information file

SYNOPSIS
       symbols

DESCRIPTION
       The format for an extended shared library dependency information entry in these files is:

       library-soname main-dependency-template
       [| alternative-dependency-template]
       [...]
       [* field-name: field-value]
       [...]
        symbol minimal-version [id-of-dependency-template]

       The  library-soname  is exactly the value of the SONAME field as exported by objdump(1). A
       dependency-template is a dependency where #MINVER# is dynamically  replaced  either  by  a
       version  check  like "(>= minimal-version)" or by nothing (if an unversioned dependency is
       deemed sufficient).

       Each exported symbol (listed as name@version, with version being "Base" if the library  is
       not  versioned)  is  associated  to a minimal-version of its dependency template (the main
       dependency template is always used and will end up being combined with the dependency tem‐
       plate  referenced  by  id-of-dependency-template if present). The first alternative depen‐
       dency template is numbered 1, the second one 2, etc.

       Each entry for a library can also have some fields of meta-information.  Those fields  are
       stored on lines starting with an asterisk. Currently, the only valid fields are:

       Build-Depends-Package
              It  indicates  the name of the "-dev" package associated to the library and is used
              by dpkg-shlibdeps to make sure that the dependency generated is at least as  strict
              as the corresponding build dependency.

       Ignore-Blacklist-Groups
              It  indicates  what  blacklist  groups should be ignored, as a whitespace separated
              list, so that the symbols contained in those groups  get  included  in  the  output
              file.  This  should only be necessary for toolchain packages providing those black‐
              listed symbols. The available groups are system dependent, for  ELF  and  GNU-based
              systems these are aeabi and gomp.

EXAMPLES
   Simple symbols file
       libftp.so.3 libftp3 #MINVER#
        DefaultNetbuf@Base 3.1-1-6
        FtpAccess@Base 3.1-1-6
        [...]

   Advanced symbols file
       libGL.so.1 libgl1
       | libgl1-mesa-glx #MINVER#
       * Build-Depends-Package: libgl1-mesa-dev
        publicGlSymbol@Base 6.3-1
        [...]
        implementationSpecificSymbol@Base 6.5.2-7 1
        [...]

SEE ALSO
       https://wiki.debian.org/Projects/ImprovedDpkgShlibdeps
       dpkg-shlibdeps(1), dpkg-gensymbols(1).



Debian Project                              2011-08-14                             deb-symbols(5)