dpkg-parsechangelog(1) dpkg utilities dpkg-parsechangelog(1)NAMEdpkg-parsechangelog - parse Debian changelog files
SYNOPSISdpkg-parsechangelog [option...]
DESCRIPTIONdpkg-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-lchangelog-file
Specifies the changelog file to read information from. The
default is debian/changelog.
-Fchangelog-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.
-Llibdir
Specify an additional directory to search for parser scripts.
This directory is searched before the default directories which
are currently /usr/local/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog and
/usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog.
-?, --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, e.g. the range of entries or the format of the out‐
put. They need to be supported by the parser script in question. See
also CAVEATS.
--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 paragraph in
Debian control format (see deb-control(5)). If more than one
entry is requested, then most fields are taken from the most
recent entry, except otherwise stated:
Source: pkg-name
Version: version
Distribution: target-distribution
Urgency: urgency
The highest urgency of all included entries is used, fol‐
lowed by the concatenated (space-separated) comments from
all the versions requested.
Maintainer: author
Date: date
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
paragraph for each changelog entry so that all metadata for each
entry is preserved.
--since version, -sversion, -vversion
include all changes later than version.
--until version, -uversion
include all changes earlier than version.
--from version, -fversion
include all changes equal or later than version.
--to version, -tversion
include all changes up to or equal than version.
--count number, -cnumber, -nnumber
include number entries from the top (or the tail if number is
lower than 0).
--offset number, -onumber
change the starting point for --count, counted from the top (or
the tail if number is lower than 0).
--all include all changes. Note: other options have no effect when
this is in use.
CHANGELOG FORMATS
It is possible to use a different format to the standard one, by pro‐
viding 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 alphanumerics.
If such a line exists then dpkg-parsechangelog will look for the parser
as /usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog/otherformat or /usr/local/lib/dpkg/par‐
sechangelog/otherformat; it is an error for it not being present or not
being an executable program. The default changelog format is debian,
and a parser for it is provided by default.
The parser will be invoked with the changelog open on standard input at
the start of the file. It should read the file (it may seek if it
wishes) to determine the information required and return the parsed
information to standard output in the format specified by the --format
option. It should accept all Parser Options.
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 informa‐
tion 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
exit with a nonzero exit status, rather than trying to muddle through
and possibly generating incorrect output.
A changelog parser may not interact with the user at all.
CAVEATS
All Parser Options except for -v are only supported in dpkg, version
1.14.16 and later. Third party parsers for changelog formats other than
debian might not support all options.
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.
Debian Project 2012-05-04 dpkg-parsechangelog(1)
