Provided by: debram_1.0.3-0.2_amd64 bug

NAME

       debram - look .debs up in the Debian Ramification

SYNOPSIS

       debram   [   -cwprtxABTXDMNP1lLu.sj?V  ]  [  -d  package  ]...  [  -m  maintainer  ]...  [
       ramification...  ]

DESCRIPTION

       Debian GNU/Linux provides thousands upon daunting thousands of software packages.  Sorting
       them  into  broad  classes  then  dividing  and  redividing them into finer, more specific
       branches, this command ramifies Debian's packages in much the same manner as a  university
       library  ramifies its books.  If you know what you want your computer to do but do not yet
       know the package to do it, you can find the package here.

QUICK START

       Give the command

              debram -cx

       (Omit the `c' option if your terminal has a white background or does not  support  color.)
       Now explore ram 1000 with

              debram -cx 1000

       Observe the output, then retrieve a plan of ram 1100 with

              debram -cp 1100

       Repeat the same operation with the abbreviation

              debram -cp 11

       Again, but with cross-references.

              debram -cpx 11

       Show the trunk above 1100.

              debram -cpt 11

       Retrieve 1100's plan, showing also the trunk.

              debram -cptr 11

       Enough  plans.   Let's look at some packages.  Notice 1112 File Listing and Finding in the
       previous output, then

              debram -cx 1112

       (Try adding a -w option to the command if your terminal is at  least  132  columns  wide.)
       Now list the same ram in brief.

              debram -cXD 1112

       Again, and show the trunk this time.

              debram -cXDt 1112

       Be very brief: list only the package names.

              debram -1 1112

       Limit the listing to packages currently installed (or dpkg-selected).

              dpkg --get-selections | debram -cXDs 1112

       What packages does E. Zini keep?

              debram -cm 'E. Zini'

       Suppose that you have been looking for the tar package, but have not seen it yet.  Find it
       now.

              debram -cd tar

       Retrieve the entire Ramification plan.

              debram -cp | more -f

       Now you know enough to begin using the debram(1) profitably.  If you have or  can  open  a
       text terminal at least 132 columns wide, you will also wish to try the -w option:

              debram -cxrw 3110 | less -r

       (Press `q' to exit less(1).)  To view the long, long listing of the entire ramification at
       once, enter

              debram -cxrw | less -r

       omitting the -w if your terminal is only 80 columns wide.

OPTIONS

   Basic Output Formatting
       -c, --color
              Color-code the output (recommended).

       -w, --wide
              Output in 132-column format.  This is recommended if your terminal is  sufficiently
              wide.  (See below for a way to boot Linux into a 132x60 terminal.)

   Other General Options
       -dpackage
       --find-deb=package
              Find the named package.

       -mmaintainer
       --maint=maintainer
              Find all maintainer's packages.

       -p, --plan
              Print  the ramification plan or table of contents.  If a ramification is specified,
              print a partial plan descending from it.  (Implies -r, except when -t is given.)

       -r, --recursive
              Print the entire tree under the given ramification.

       -t, --trunk, --recursive-up
              Print the trunk above the given ramification.  That is, print the ram,  the  parent
              ram, the grandparent ram, and so on, up to the root of the tree.

       -x, --expand-xref
              Print  cross-references in long-form, showing each ram's title rather than just its
              number.

   Selective Output Suppression
       The -A and -B options focus debram(1)'s overall operation.  Usually debram(1)  prints  the
       tables  both  of  end-level  ramifications  (such as 1311 and 1312, each having a table of
       Debian packages) and of higher-level ramifications (such as 1350  and  1300,  each  having
       only  a  table  of  subramifications); but you may not always wish the two kinds of tables
       intermixed, especially when requesting an -r or -T listing.  The -A  (--no-end-level)  and
       -B  (--only-end-level) options respectively cause debram(1) not to print the end-level and
       higher-level ramification tables.

       -A, --no-end-level
              Omit package tables.

       -B, --only-end-level
              Omit subramification tables.

       -T, --no-title
              Omit ramification titles.  (Implies -X.)

       -X, --no-xref
              Omit cross-references.

       -D, --no-desc
              Omit package descriptions.

       -M, --no-maint
              Omit names of package maintainers.

       -N, --no-count
              Omit per-ramification .deb counts.

       -P, --no-pri
              Omit package priorities.

       -1, --names-only
              Print package names only.  This option is equivalent to -BTXDMNP.

   Manual Character-Encoding Selection
       debram(1) defaults appropriately for  your  locale,  so  selecting  a  character  encoding
       manually  is  optional.   If your locale is the default C/POSIX non-locale, then debram(1)
       defaults to Latin-1—which is technically nonstandard behavior but for  debram  is  usually
       the right thing to do.  Use -L if you definitely want pure ascii.

       -l, --latin1
              Output and accept arguments in Latin-1 (iso-8859-1).

       -L, --ascii, --no-latin1
              Output and accept arguments in ascii.  (See also the -.  option.)

       -u, --utf8
              Output and accept arguments in utf-8 (Unicode) rather than Latin-1.

   Other Options
       -., --ascii-dots
              In  the  output,  fill blanks with ascii's `.' full-stop character (rather than the
              middle dot, which ascii does not provide; see also the -L option).

       -s, --selections
              Print only packages named on stdin.  The principal use of this option is  in  “dpkg
              --get-selections  | debram -s ...”, which causes debram to ignore packages you have
              neither installed nor selected for  installation.   As  such,  the  option  accepts
              package  names  on standard input, one name per line, each name optionally followed
              the word “install” (which debram ignores).

   Seldom Used Options
       -j, --pri-one-color
              Output the package-priority column all in the same color: do not differentiate.

       --data-file=file
              Substitute clear-text file for the library data file.

       --data-file-gz=file
              Substitute compressed file for the library data file.

   Metaoptions
       -?, --help
              Give a help list.

       --usage
              Give a short usage message.

       -V, --version
              Print the program version.

RAMIFICATIONS

       A ramification is a branch of the Debian archive whose packages  serve  approximately  the
       same  application  domain  or interest similar groups of users.  The first division of the
       archive follows the traditional GNU/Linux manpage hierarchy, with ram  1000  corresponding
       roughly   to   man  section  (1),  ram  3000  to  section  (3),  and  so  forth.   Further
       subramifications successively focus on tighter domains.

       debram(1) works on the ramifications you specify on the command line,  defaulting  to  the
       umbrella metaramification 0000 if you specify none.  The useful -r recursive option causes
       debram(1)  to  select  the  named  ramifications  plus  all   subramifications   branching
       recursively  from  them.  Many rams cross-reference other rams across the tree; by default
       the program concisely prints only cross-reference ram numbers, but with the -x  option  it
       prints expanded cross-reference information.

       The branch-numbering system needs little explanation, except perhaps in one respect: a ram
       number's count of non-zero digits always reveals its ram's  level.   Thus,  for  instance,
       5060  and 5600 would each be second-level rams under the top-level 5000, but 5660 would be
       a third-level ram under the second-level 5600.

       If you give fewer than four ramification  digits,  debram(1)  completes  the  number  with
       zeros.  Thus 8 is a valid abbreviation for 8000, for example.

       Although the usage is not entirely consistent (even within this manpage),

       •      the  top-level  rams  like  1000  and  8000  are usually called sections (after the
              traditional “man section” nomenclature),

       •      the second-level rams like 1100 and 1200 are usually called divisions,

       •      the third-level rams like 1110 and 1120 are usually called groups, and

       •      the end-level rams like 1121 and 1140 (the latter of  which  is  an  end-level  ram
              despite its number's ending in a zero) are usually called branches.

UPDATING THE LIBRARY DATA

       As  an  autobiographer  cannot cover the last events of his life, neither can debram cover
       the last packages to enter Debian's stable release.  Debram is fine  as  is,  but  if  you
       prefer  complete  full coverage, then after the release you can look for a revised debram-
       data package bearing the same number as the version you now have (run “debram -V” for  the
       number)  but  with  a single letter appended.  For example, if you now have version 1.2.3,
       then you can look for debram-data version 1.2.3a, 1.2.3b or the like.  Besides  completing
       the  coverage  of  the  stable  release, such an update will undoubtedly also correct some
       errors and oversights; so, it is worth getting if you want it.

       The easiest place to get the update if you time it right will be  from  Debian's  unstable
       archive.   However,  that  archive  must  eventually drop it in favor of a new development
       version, which is not what you want if you are running  Debian  stable.   A  more  lasting
       source for the update will be

              http://sourceforge.net/projects/debram/

       (Of  course,  no  update  can  be guaranteed to appear—what is guaranteed to appear is the
       debram-data you already have—but an update did appear  for  the  last  stable  release  of
       Debian  and  is  equally  likely  to  appear for this one.  Look for it within four to six
       months.)

       If running Debian stable, you need not and probably should not update the  debram  package
       itself; it suffices to update debram-data.  Furthermore, for Debian stable you should only
       update to the same version with the single letter appended, as 1.2.3a.   Versions  bearing
       later  numbers  (like  1.2.4  or  1.3.0 against 1.2.3) are development versions toward the
       following Debian release; they are probably not what you want.

WIDENING THE LINUX CONSOLE

       debram(1) was originally programmed to  provide  the  most  easily  readable  output  when
       invoked with the -cw options on a 132-column wide terminal—especially on the standard non-
       X(7) Linux console (see console(4)).  Fewer users today use the console than used to,  and
       X(7) terminals typically show 132 columns or more in any case, so it's not as important an
       issue as it used to be.  However, some console users may still be interested to learn  how
       to  widen  their consoles to the standard wide-console width of 132 columns.  This section
       of the man page tells how it can be done, at least on some computer hardware.

       Exactly how to widen  your  Linux  console  depends  on  your  specific  hardware  and  OS
       installation.   Nevertheless  the  following  instructions  should lead you in the correct
       direction.

              Print a hard copy of this manpage with

                     man -Tps 1 debram | lpr

              Reboot while holding <Shift> down (without the <Shift>,  some  Linux  machines  are
              programmed never to offer you a boot prompt).  At the boot prompt, enter

                     Linux video=vga16:off vga=ask

              (Your  kernel image may have some other name than “Linux”.  Also, the video= option
              may not be necessary for you.  Adapt your boot-prompt entry accordingly.)

              Notice that the kernel offers you the choice of several video modes.  If you do not
              yet see 132x60, scan.

              Choose  132x60.   (The  kernel may offer you hexadecimal numbers but demand decimal
              numbers in return.  If you are reading this section of the  manpage,  you  probably
              already  know how to convert hexadecimal to decimal, but if you feel uncertain then
              refer to the table in ascii(7).)

       If all is well the kernel now boots into a 132x60 console.

       The foregoing procedure naturally gives you 132x60 only once: the  kernel  returns  to  80
       columns  the  next  time  you  boot  it.  Configuring the kernel to boot 132x60 by default
       requires editing /etc/lilo.conf then running lilo(8) (presuming that you are booting  with
       lilo(8); else see Grub below).  The author has added the lines

              vga=0x123
              append="video=vga16:off"

       to the appropriate stanza of his own /etc/lilo.conf on at least one machine, but yours may
       need something slightly different to achieve the desired  effect.   (The  author  got  the
       number 0x123 for his video hardware during the boot-time video-mode scan referenced above.
       You can do likewise to obtain the needed number for your video hardware.)

       You may like the 132x60 non-X(7) Linux console.  The author does.  Try it if you wish.

   Grub
       The foregoing assumes that you boot your Debian system  with  lilo(8).   A  modern  Debian
       system,  however,  is  more  likely booted with grub(8).  The author does not yet know the
       latter boot system well enough to write a new man page section  on  it,  but  perhaps  the
       present section provides information even grub(8) users will find of interest or use.

FILES

       /usr/share/debram/debram.txt.gz
              the default library data file (it is human-readable, too)
       /usr/share/doc/debram/
              reference documents including the Command Selection Guide.

ENVIRONMENT

       LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LANG
              These  variables  optionally  specify  your  locale, which determines how debram(1)
              outputs non-ascii characters by default.  See  locale(7)  for  general  information
              about locales.

BUGS

       The  -c  or  --color  option  produces  pleasing  colors  only  on a terminal with a black
       background, such as xterm and the standard non-X Linux console.  Other  common  terminals,
       such  as  the  standard Gnome terminal, have white backgrounds by default.  Users of these
       terminals probably will not find the -c option very useful.

       Non-i386 architectures enjoy a handful of special packages not available on i386.   Debram
       does  not  cover  these.   Debram  probably  should  at  least cover all the special amd64
       packages, but it doesn't, yet.

       Unavoidably in a ramification of this size, several packages inadvertently yet undoubtedly
       remain  misramified.   Report  misramifications sensibly, please, to Debian's Bug Tracking
       System.  If you are running Debian stable, please check the latest debram-data  in  Debian
       unstable before reporting the bug.

AUTHOR

       Thaddeus H. Black <thb@debian.org>

       Although the changelog details the direct parts several have played in debram development,
       the author particularly wishes to acknowledge the  contributions  of  his  Debian  sponsor
       Giacomo  Catenazzi,  whose  review  and  counsel  have  made debram significantly better a
       package than it otherwise would have been; and of the  debtags  development  team  led  by
       Enrico Zini, who have welcomed the debram (they might easily have done otherwise) and have
       gone out of their way to integrate it successfully into the larger debtags structure.

COPYLEFT

       Copyright (C) 2002-2006 Thaddeus H. Black

       debram(1) and all the files included in the debram package  are  free  software;  you  can
       redistribute  them  and/or  modify them under the terms of the GNU General Public License,
       Version 2.

SEE ALSO

       dpkg(8), apt-get(8), more(1), less(1),  the  Command  Selection  Guide  (included  in  the
       standard debram distribution), debtags.deb