NAME

       deb-shlibs - Debian shared library information file

SYNOPSIS

       debian/shlibs, debian/binary-name.shlibs, DEBIAN/shlibs

DESCRIPTION

       shlibs files map shared library names and versions (SONAMEs) to dependencies suitable for a package
       control file.  There is one entry per line.  Blank lines are not allowed.  Lines beginning with a #
       character are considered commentary, and are ignored.  All other lines must have the format:

           [type:] library version dependencies

       The library and version fields are whitespace-delimited, but the dependencies field extends to the end of
       the line.  The type field is optional and normally not needed.

       The dependencies field has the same syntax as the Depends field in a binary control file, see
       deb-control(5).

SONAME FORMATS

       The SONAME formats supported are:

           name.so.version

       and

           name-version.so

       where name is usually prefixed by lib.

       The former tends to be used by shared libraries with stable interfaces.  The latter by shared libraries
       with unstable interfaces, where the whole version becomes part of the SONAME and needs to be specified in
       full when linking against those libraries.

EXAMPLES

       The shlibs file for a typical library package, named libcrunch1, that provides one library whose SONAME
       is libcrunch.so.1, might read

        libcrunch 1 libcrunch1 (>= 1.2-1)

       The dependencies must mention the most recent version of the package that added new symbols to the
       library: in the above example, new symbols were added to version 1.2 of libcrunch.  This is not the only
       reason the dependencies might need to be tightened.

SEE ALSO

       deb-control(5), deb-symbols(5), dpkg-shlibdeps(1).

1.22.6                                             2025-09-18                                      deb-shlibs(5)