Manual: dpkg-scansources

dpkg-scansources(1)					 dpkg suite					 dpkg-scansources(1)

NAME
       dpkg-scansources - create Sources index files

SYNOPSIS
       dpkg-scansources [option...] binary-dir [override-file [path-prefix]] > Sources

DESCRIPTION
       dpkg-scansources scans the given binary-dir for .dsc files.  These are used to create a Debian source index, which is
       output to stdout.

       The override-file, if given, is used to set priorities in the resulting index stanzas and to override the maintainer
       field given in the .dsc files.  The file can be compressed (since dpkg 1.15.5).	See deb-override(5) for the format
       of this file.

       Note: Since the override file is indexed by binary, not source packages, there's a bit of a problem here.  The
       current implementation uses the highest priority of all the binary packages produced by a .dsc file for the priority
       of the source package, and the override entry for the first binary package listed in the .dsc file to modify
       maintainer information.	This might change.

       The path-prefix, if given, is prepended to the directory field in the generated source index.  You generally use this
       to make the directory fields contain the path from the top of the Debian archive hierarchy.

       Note: If you want to access the generated Sources file with apt(8) you will probably need to compress the file with
       gzip(1) (generating a Sources.gz file).	apt(8) ignores uncompressed Sources files except on local access (i.e.
       file:// sources).

OPTIONS
       -n, --no-sort
	   Do not sort the index stanzas.  Normally they are sorted by source package name.

       -e, --extra-override file
	   Scan file to find supplementary overrides (since dpkg 1.15.4; the file can be compressed since dpkg 1.15.5).	 See
	   deb-extra-override(5) for more information on its format.

       -s, --source-override file
	   Use	file as the source override file (the file can be compressed since dpkg 1.15.5).  The default is the name of
	   the override file you specified with .src appended.

	   The source override file is in a different format from the binary override file.  It contains only two whitespace
	   separated fields, the first is the source package name and the second is the section.  Blank	 lines	and  comment
	   lines  are ignored in the normal manner.  If a package appears in both files the source override takes precedence
	   for setting the section.

       --debug
	   Turn debugging on.

       --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).

SEE ALSO
       deb-override(5), deb-extra-override(5), dpkg-scanpackages(1).

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