NAME

       deb-symbols - Debian's extended shared library information file

SYNOPSIS

       symbols

DESCRIPTION

       The format for an extended shared library dependency information entry in these files is:

       library-soname main-dependency-template
       [| alternative-dependency-template]
       [...]
       [* field-name: field-value]
       [...]
        symbol minimal-version [id-of-dependency-template]

       The  library-soname  is  exactly  the  value of the SONAME field as exported by objdump(1). A dependency-
       template is a dependency where #MINVER# is dynamically replaced either  by  a  version  check  like  "(>=
       minimal-version)" or by nothing (if an unversioned dependency is deemed sufficient).

       Each  exported symbol (listed as name@version, with version being "Base" if the library is not versioned)
       is associated to a minimal-version of its dependency template (the main dependency template  is  used  if
       id-of-dependency-template  is  not present). The first alternative dependency template is numbered 1, the
       second one 2, etc.

       Each entry for a library can also have some fields of meta-information.  Those fields are stored on lines
       starting  with  an  asterisk.  Currently, the only valid field is Build-Depends-Package, it indicates the
       name of the "-dev" package associated to the library and is used by dpkg-shlibdeps to make sure that  the
       dependency generated is at least as strict as the corresponding build dependency.

EXAMPLES

   Simple symbols file
       libftp.so.3 libftp3 #MINVER#
        DefaultNetbuf@Base 3.1-1-6
        FtpAccess@Base 3.1-1-6
        [...]

   Advanced symbols file
       libGL.so.1 libgl1
       | libgl1-mesa-glx #MINVER#
       * Build-Depends-Package: libgl1-mesa-dev
        publicGlSymbol@Base 6.3-1
        [...]
        implementationSpecificSymbol@Base 6.5.2-7 1
        [...]

SEE ALSO

       https://wiki.debian.org/Projects/ImprovedDpkgShlibdeps
       dpkg-shlibdeps(1), dpkg-gensymbols(1).