Manual: dpkg-gencontrol

dpkg-gencontrol(1)					 dpkg suite					  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 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 (since dpkg 1.15.6).

       -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 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 behavior.	 If you want to get the old behavior you can use the -U option to delete the
	   fields from the control file.

       -Ppackage-build-dir
	   Scan 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, and for the default location of the output file.

       -O[filename]
	   Print the control file to standard output  (or  filename  if	 specified,  since  dpkg  1.17.2),  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.

ENVIRONMENT
       DEB_HOST_ARCH
	   Sets the host architecture.

       DPKG_COLORS
	   Sets the color mode (since dpkg 1.18.5).  The currently accepted values are: auto (default), always and never.

       DPKG_NLS
	   If set, it will be used to decide whether to activate Native Language Support, also known as internationalization
	   (or i18n) support (since dpkg 1.19.0).  The accepted values are: 0 and 1 (default).

FILES
       debian/control
	   The source package template control 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-gencontrol adds the presumed
	   filenames of binary packages whose control files it generates here.

SEE ALSO
       deb-substvars(5), deb-src-control(5), deb-changelog(5), deb-control(5).

1.23.7							 2026-03-31					  dpkg-gencontrol(1)