NAME

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

SYNOPSIS

       symbols

DESCRIPTION

       The  symbol files are shipped in Debian binary packages, and its format is a subset of the
       template symbol files used by dpkg-gensymbols(1) in Debian source packages.

       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  always  used  and will end up being combined with the dependency
       template referenced  by  id-of-dependency-template  if  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 fields are:

       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 (since dpkg 1.14.13).

       Ignore-Blacklist-Groups
              It indicates what blacklist groups should be ignored,  as  a  whitespace  separated
              list, so that the symbols contained in those groups get included in the output file
              (since dpkg  1.17.6).   This  should  only  be  necessary  for  toolchain  packages
              providing those blacklisted symbols. The available groups are system dependent, for
              ELF and GNU-based systems these are aeabi and gomp.

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).