NAME

       dpkg-scanpackages - create Packages index files

SYNOPSIS

       dpkg-scanpackages [option...] binary-dir [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-dir 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.

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).