NAME

       dpkg-scanpackages - create Packages index files

SYNOPSIS

       dpkg-scanpackages [option...] binary-path [override-file [path-prefix]] > Packages

DESCRIPTION

       dpkg-scanpackages  sorts  through  a  tree of Debian binary packages and creates a Packages file, used by
       apt(8), dselect(1), etc, to tell the user what packages are available for  installation.  These  Packages
       files  are  the  same as those found on Debian archive sites and CD-ROMs. You might use dpkg-scanpackages
       yourself if making a directory of local packages to install on a cluster of machines.

       Note: If you want to access the generated Packages file with apt you will probably need to  compress  the
       file  with  xz(1)  (generating  a Packages.xz file), bzip2(1) (generating a Packages.bz2 file) or gzip(1)
       (generating a Packages.gz file). apt ignores uncompressed Packages files except  on  local  access  (i.e.
       file:// sources).

       binary-path is the name of the tree of the binary packages to process (for example, contrib/binary-i386).
       It is best to make this relative to the root of the Debian archive, because every Filename field  in  the
       new Packages file will start with this string.

       override-file  is  the  name of a file to read which contains information about how the package fits into
       the distribution (the file can be compressed since dpkg 1.15.5); see deb-override(5).

       path-prefix is an optional string to be prepended to the Filename fields.

       If more than one version of a package is found only the newest one is included in  the  output.  If  they
       have the same version and only differ in architecture only the first one found is used.

OPTIONS

       -t, --type type
              Scan for *.type packages, instead of *.deb.

       -e, --extra-override file
              Scan  file  to  find  supplementary overrides (the file can be compressed since dpkg 1.15.5).  See
              deb-extra-override(5) for more information on its format.

       -a, --arch arch
              Use a pattern consisting of *_all.deb and *_arch.deb instead of scanning for all debs.

       -h, --hash hash-list
              Only generate file hashes for the  comma-specified  list  specified  (since  dpkg  1.17.14).   The
              default is to generate all currently supported hashes.  Supported values: md5, sha1, sha256.

       -m, --multiversion
              Include all found packages in the output.

       -M, --medium id-string
              Add  an X-Medium field containing the value id-string (since dpkg 1.15.5).  This field is required
              if you want to generate Packages.cd files for use by the multicd access method of dselect.

       -?, --help
              Show the usage message and exit.

       --version
              Show the version and exit.

ENVIRONMENT

       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).

DIAGNOSTICS

       dpkg-scanpackages outputs the usual self-explanatory errors. It also warns about packages that are in the
       wrong subdirectory, are duplicated, have a Filename field in their control file,  are  missing  from  the
       override file, or have maintainer substitutions which do not take effect.

SEE ALSO

       dpkg(1), dselect(1), deb-override(5), deb-extra-override(5), dpkg-scansources(1).