Ubuntu Manpage: dpkg-parsechangelog - parse Debian changelog files

Provided by: dpkg-dev_1.19.0.5ubuntu2.4_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, e.g.
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 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, 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 paragraph for each
changelog entry so that all metadata for each entry is preserved.

--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 alphanumerics.

       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.

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.