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 remov‐
       ing dependencies which are known to be true according to the stronger dependencies already
       parsed.  It  will  also  remove any self-dependency (in fact it will remove any dependency
       which evaluates 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 possible: 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 generated.

       -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-parsechangelog(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 pack‐
              age_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  loca‐
              tion of the output file.

       -O[filename]
              Print  the  control file to standard output (or filename if specified), 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-independent  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-gen‐
              control adds the presumed filenames of binary packages whose control files it  gen‐
              erates here.



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