dpkg-parsechangelog - parse Debian changelog files
dpkg-parsechangelog [option...]
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.
- -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.
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
- Version:
version
- Distribution:
target-distribution
- 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
- 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).
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.
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.
- 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).
- 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.