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.TH dpkg\-scanpackages 1 "2011-08-14" "Debian Project" "dpkg utilities"
.SH NAME
dpkg\-scanpackages \- create Packages index files
.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B dpkg\-scanpackages
.RI [ option "...] " binary-dir
.RI [ override-file
.RI [ path-prefix ]]
.B >
.I Packages
.
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B dpkg\-scanpackages
sorts through a tree of Debian binary packages and creates a Packages
file, used by
.BR apt (8),
.BR 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 CD-ROMs. You might use
.B dpkg\-scanpackages
yourself if making a directory of local packages to install on a cluster
of machines.
.PP
.B Note:
If you want to access the generated Packages file with
.B apt
you will probably need to compress the file with
.BR bzip2 (1)
(generating a Packages.bz2 file) or
.BR gzip (1)
(generating a Packages.gz file). apt ignores uncompressed Packages
files except on local access (i.e.
.B file://
sources).
.PP
.I binarydir
is the name of the tree of the binary packages to process (for example,
.BR 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.
.PP
.I overridefile
is the name of a file to read which contains information about how the
package fits into the distribution (it can be a compressed file); see
.BR deb\-override (5).
.PP
.I pathprefix
is an optional string to be prepended to the Filename fields.
.PP
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.
.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BR \-t ", " \-\-type " \fItype\fP"
Scan for *.\fItype\fP packages, instead of *.deb.
.TP
.BR \-u ", " \-\-udeb
\fBObsolete\fP alias for \fB\-tudeb\fP.
.TP
.BR \-e ", " \-\-extra\-override " \fIfile\fP"
Scan \fIfile\fP to find supplementary overrides (the file can be
compressed). See
.BR deb\-extra\-override (5)
for more information on its format.
.TP
.BR \-a ", " \-\-arch " \fIarch\fP"
Use a pattern consisting of \fI*_all.deb\fP and \fI*_arch.deb\fP instead of
scanning for all debs.
.TP
.BR \-m ", " \-\-multiversion
Include all found packages in the output.
.TP
.BR \-M ", " \-\-medium " \fIid-string\fP"
Add an X\-Medium field containing the value \fIid-string\fP. This field
is required if you want to generate \fBPackages.cd\fP files for use
by the multicd access method of dselect.
.TP
.BR \-h ", " \-\-help
Show the usage message and exit.
.TP
.BR \-\-version
Show the version and exit.
.
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
.B 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.
.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR dpkg (1),
.BR dselect (1),
.BR deb\-override (5),
.BR deb\-extra\-override (5),
.BR dpkg\-scansources (1).