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.