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//usr/share/doc/dpkg/README

dpkg - Debian's package maintenance system

This is the dpkg suite of programs that form the foundation of the Debian's
package management system; on the lower layer there are ‘dpkg-deb’ and
‘dpkg-split’ programs handling the binary formats, and ‘dpkg-source’ program
handling the source formats; there is a collection of tools to handle building
source packages into binary packages; there is the medium-level and less
user-friendly command-line interface (CLI) in the form of the ‘dpkg’ command;
and then there is the terminal user interface (TUI) ‘dselect’ program (which
has gone out of preference in favor of the apt (CLI) and aptitude (TUI)
programs).

The dpkg suite also includes some other programs currently maintained
on external repositories, namely ‘dpkg-repack’, ‘dpkg-www’, ‘dupload’
and ‘debsig-verify’.

Releases
--------

The current legacy, stable and development releases can be found at:

<https://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/dpkg/>

For older releases check:

<https://snapshot.debian.org/package/dpkg/>

Mailing List
------------

The subscription interface and web archives can be found at:

<https://lists.debian.org/debian-dpkg/>

The mailing list address is (no subscription required to post):

debian-dpkg@lists.debian.org

Source Repository
-----------------

The primary repository can be browsed and cloned from:

<https://git.dpkg.org/git/dpkg/dpkg.git>

Building from git source
------------------------

To prepare the dpkg source tree from git before starting the build process
some required software needs to be installed:

GNU autoconf >= 2.60
  GNU automake >= 1.11
  GNU libtool >= 2.0
  GNU autopoint >= 0.19.7 (from GNU gettext)
  GNU gettext >= 0.19.7 (only with --enable-nls)

After installing the needed software, and running the following command on
the git tree:

$ ./autogen

the source should be roughly equivalent to the distributed tar source.

To enable translated documentation this software will be needed:

po4a >= 0.59

Building from tar source
------------------------

The minimum software required to configure and build dpkg from a tarball is:

C99 compiler (see doc/coding-style.txt)
  perl (see doc/coding-style.txt)
  pkgconf
  GNU make

To enable optional functionality or programs, this software might be needed:

libmd (used by libdpkg, required if libc is missing digest functions)
  libz (from zlib, used instead of gzip command-line tool)
  liblzma (from xz utils, used instead of xz command-line tool)
  libzstd (from libzstd, used instead of zstd command-line tool)
  libbz2 (from bzip2, used instead of bzip2 command-line tool)
  libselinux
  curses compatible library (needed on --enable-dselect)

To run the test suite («make check» or «make authorcheck» for author tests,
those that might not be pertinent during release builds) the following
software might be needed:

Test::MinimumVersion perl module (optional, author)
  Test::Pod perl module (optional)
  Test::Pod::Coverage perl module (optional, author)
  Test::Spelling perl module (optional, author)
  Test::Strict perl module (optional)
  Test::Synopsis perl module (optional, author)
  Test::Perl::Critic perl module (optional, author)
  aspell (optional, author)
  aspell-en (optional, author)
  codespell (optional, author)
  cppcheck (optional, author)
  fakeroot (optional)
  sop [sqop (from Sequoia-PGP), pgpainless-cli] (optional)
  sq (from Sequoia-PGP, optional)
  gpg-sq (from Sequoia-PGP, optional), gpg (optional)
  i18nspector (optional, author)
  shellcheck (optional, author)

To enable additional developer's documentation («make doc») this software
will be needed:

pod2man
  doxygen
  dot

To enable code coverage («./configure --enable-coverage; make coverage»)
this software is needed:

lcov (from the Linux Test Project)
  Devel-Cover perl module

The build process is done by running the usual «./configure; make». To
see all available configuration options please run «./configure --help».
The following configure options might be of interest to disable specific
programs:

--disable-dselect
  --disable-start-stop-daemon
  --disable-update-alternatives

And the following to disable modifications to the build flags:

--disable-compiler-warnings
  --disable-compiler-optimizations
  --disable-linker-optimizations