Manual: dpkg-scanpackages

dpkg-scanpackages(1)					 dpkg suite					dpkg-scanpackages(1)

NAME
       dpkg-scanpackages - create Packages index files

SYNOPSIS
       dpkg-scanpackages [option...] binary-path [override-file [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 media discs.  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(8) you will probably need to compress the file with
       xz(1) (generating a Packages.xz file), bzip2(1) (generating a Packages.bz2 file) or gzip(1) (generating a Packages.gz
       file).  apt(8) ignores uncompressed Packages files except on local access (i.e.	file:// sources).

       binary-path 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.

       override-file is the name of a file to read which contains information about how the package fits into the
       distribution (the file can be compressed since dpkg 1.15.5); see deb-override(5).

       path-prefix is an optional string to be prepended to the Filename fields.

       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.

OPTIONS
       -t, --type type
	   Scan for *.type packages, instead of *.deb.

       -e, --extra-override file
	   Scan	  file	 to   find   supplementary   overrides	(the  file  can	 be  compressed	 since	dpkg  1.15.5).	 See
	   deb-extra-override(5) for more information on its format.

       -a, --arch arch
	   Use a pattern consisting of *_all.deb and *_arch.deb, or *_arch.deb if  --no-implicit-arch  has  been  specified,
	   instead of scanning for all debs.

       --no-implicit-arch
	   Do not implicitly add architecture all binary packages when specifying --arch.

	   Supported since dpkg 1.23.6.

       -h, --hash hash-list
	   Only	 generate  file	 hashes	 for  the  comma-specified  list  specified (since dpkg 1.17.14).  The default is to
	   generate all currently supported hashes.  Supported values: md5, sha1, sha256.

       -m, --multiversion
	   Include all found packages in the output.

       -M, --medium id-string
	   Add an X-Medium field containing the value id-string (since dpkg 1.15.5).  This field is required if you want  to
	   generate Packages.cd files for use by the media access method of dselect.

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

       --version
	   Show the version and exit.

ENVIRONMENT
       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).

DIAGNOSTICS
       dpkg-scanpackages  outputs  the	usual  self-explanatory	 errors.  It also warns about packages that are in the wrong
       subdirectory, are duplicated, 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), deb-override(5), deb-extra-override(5), dpkg-scansources(1).

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