Ubuntu Manpage: dpkg-parsechangelog - parse Debian changelog files

Provided by: dpkg-dev_1.22.6ubuntu6.1_all

NAME

       dpkg-parsechangelog - parse Debian changelog files

SYNOPSIS

       dpkg-parsechangelog [option...]

DESCRIPTION

       dpkg-parsechangelog reads and parses the changelog of an unpacked Debian source tree and outputs the
       information in it to standard output in a machine-readable form.

OPTIONS

-l, --file changelog-file
Specifies the changelog file to read information from. A ‘-’ can be used to specify reading from
standard input. The default is debian/changelog.

-F changelog-format
Specifies the format of the changelog. By default the format is read from a special line near the
bottom of the changelog or failing that defaults to the debian standard format. See also "CHANGELOG
FORMATS".

-L libdir
Obsolete option without effect (since dpkg 1.18.8). Setting the perl environment variables PERL5LIB
or PERLLIB has a similar effect when looking for the parser perl modules.

-S, --show-field field
Specifies the name of the field to show (since dpkg 1.17.0). The field name is not printed, only its
value.

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

--version
Show the version and exit.

Parser Options
The following options can be used to influence the output of the changelog parser, for example the range
of entries or the format of the output.

--format output-format
Set the output format. Currently supported values are dpkg and rfc822. dpkg is the classic output
format (from before this option existed) and the default. It consists of one stanza in Debian
control format (see deb-control(5)). If more than one entry is requested, then most fields are taken
from the first entry (usually the most recent entry), except otherwise stated:

Source: pkg-name
The source package name.

Version: version
The source version number. Note: For binary-only releases there might be no corresponding source
release.

Distribution: target-distribution
A space-separated list of one or more distribution names where this version should be installed
when it is uploaded.

Urgency: urgency
The highest urgency of all included entries is used, followed by the concatenated (space-
separated) comments from all the versions requested.

Maintainer: author
The name and email address of the person who prepared these changes, they are not necessarily
those of the uploader or the usual package maintainer.

Date: date
The date of the entry as a string, as it appears in the changelog. With a strptime(3) format
"%a, %d %b %Y %T %z", but where the day of the week might not actually correspond to the real day
obtained from the rest of the date string. If you need a more accurate representation of the
date, use the Timestamp field, but take into account it might not be possible to map it back to
the exact value in this field.

Timestamp: timestamp
The date of the entry as a timestamp in seconds since the epoch (since dpkg 1.18.8).

Closes: bug-number
The Closes fields of all included entries are merged.

Changes: changelog-entries
The text of all changelog entries is concatenated. To make this field a valid Debian control
format multiline field empty lines are replaced with a single full stop and all lines is intended
by one space character. The exact content depends on the changelog format.

The Version, Distribution, Urgency, Maintainer and Changes fields are mandatory.

There might be additional user-defined fields present.

The rfc822 format uses the same fields but outputs a separate stanza for each changelog entry so that
all metadata for each entry is preserved.

--reverse
Include all changes in reverse order (since dpkg 1.19.1).

Note: For the dpkg format the first entry will be the most ancient entry.

--all
Include all changes. Note: Other options have no effect when this is in use.

-s, --since version
-v version
Include all changes later than version.

-u, --until version
Include all changes earlier than version.

-f, --from version
Include all changes equal or later than version.

-t, --to version
Include all changes up to or equal than version.

-c, --count number
-n number
Include number entries from the top (or the tail if number is lower than 0).

-o, --offset number
Change the starting point for --count, counted from the top (or the tail if number is lower than 0).

CHANGELOG FORMATS

       It  is possible to use a different format to the standard one, by providing a parser for that alternative
       format.

       In order to have dpkg-parsechangelog run the new parser, a line must be included within the last 40 lines
       of the changelog file, matching the Perl regular expression: “\schangelog-format:\s+([0-9a-z]+)\W”.   The
       part in parentheses should be the name of the format.  For example:

           @@@ changelog-format: otherformat @@@

       Changelog format names are non-empty strings of lowercase alphanumerics (“a-z0-9”).

       If such a line exists then dpkg-parsechangelog will look for the parser as a Dpkg::Changelog::Otherformat
       perl  module;  it  is  an  error  for  it  not being present.  The parser name in the perl module will be
       automatically capitalized.  The default changelog format is debian, and a parser for it  is  provided  by
       default.

       The  parser  should  be  derived  from  the  Dpkg::Changelog  class and implement the required documented
       interface.

       If the changelog format which is being parsed always  or  almost  always  leaves  a  blank  line  between
       individual  change  notes,  these  blank lines should be stripped out, so as to make the resulting output
       compact.

       If the changelog format does not contain date or package name  information  this  information  should  be
       omitted from the output.  The parser should not attempt to synthesize it or find it from other sources.

       If  the  changelog  does  not have the expected format the parser should error out, rather than trying to
       muddle through and possibly generating incorrect output.

       A changelog parser may not interact with the user at all.

NOTES

       All Parser Options except for -v are only supported since dpkg 1.14.16.

       Short option parsing with non-bundled values available only since dpkg 1.18.0.

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).

FILES

       debian/changelog
           The  changelog  file,  used to obtain version-dependent information about the source package, such as
           the urgency and distribution of an upload, the changes made  since  a  particular  release,  and  the
           source version number itself.

BUGS

       The Maintainer field has a confusing name matching the field in the debian/control file but not its exact
       semantics,  where  its  meaning  would  be  better  represented  by the Changed-By field name used in the
       .changes file.