changestool (1) Linux Manual Page

NAME

changestool – verify, dump, modify, create or fix Debian .changes files

SYNOPSIS

changestool –help

changestool [ options ] .changes-filename command [ per-command-arguments ]

DESCRIPTION

changestool is a little program to operate on Debian .changes files, as they are produced by dpkg-genchanges(1) and used to feed built Debian packages into Debian repository managers like reprepro(1) or dak.

EXAMPLES

changestool bloat.changes setdistribution local
will modify the Distribution: header inside bloat.changes to say local instead of what was there before.

changestool reprepro_1.2.0-1.local_sparc.changes includeallsources
will modify the given file to also list .orig.tar.gz it does not list because you forgot to build it with dpkg-buildpackage -sa.

changestool blafasel_1.0_abacus.changes updatechecksums
will update the md5sums to those of the files referenced by this file. (So one can do quick’n’dirty corrections to them before uploading to your private package repository)

changestool –create test.changes add bla_1-1.dsc bla_1-1_abacus.deb
will add the specified files (format detected by filename, use adddeb or adddsc if you know it). If the file test.changes does not exist yet, a minimal one will be generated. Though that might be too minimal for most direct uses.

GLOBAL OPTIONS

Options can be specified before the command. Each affects a different subset of commands and is ignored by other commands.

-h –help

Displays a short list of options and commands with description.

-o –outputdir dir

Not yet implemented.

-s –searchpath path

A colon-separated list of directories to search for files if they are not found in the directory of the .changes file.

–create

Flag for the commands starting with add to create the .changes file if it does not yet exists.

–create-with-all-fields

Flag for the commands starting with add to create the .changes file if it does not yet exists. Unlike –create, this creates more fields to make things like dupload happier. Currently that creates fake Urgency and Changes fields.

–unlzma command

External uncompressor used to uncompress lzma files to look into .diff.lzma, .tar.lzma or .tar.lzma within .debs.

–unxz command

External uncompressor used to uncompress xz files to look into .diff.xz, .tar.xz or .tar.xz within .debs.

–lunzip command

External uncompressor used to uncompress lzip files to look into .diff.lz, .tar.lz or .tar.lz within .debs.

–bunzip2 command

External uncompressor used to uncompress bz2 when compiled without libbz2.

COMMANDS

verify

Check for inconsistencies in the specified .changes file and the files referenced by it.

updatechecksums [ filename ]

Update the checksum (md5sum and size) information within the specified .changes file and all .dsc files referenced by it. Without arguments, all files will be updated. To only update specific files, give their filename (without path) as arguments.

setdistribution [ distributions ]

Change the Distribution: header to list the remaining arguments.

includeallsources [ filename ]

List all files referenced by .dsc files mentioned in the .changes file in said file. Without arguments, all missing files will be included. To only include specific files, give their filename (without path) as arguments.

Take a look at the description of -si, -sa and -sd in the manpage of dpkg-genchanges/dpkg-buildpackage how to avoid to have to do this at all.

Note that while reprepro will just ignore files listed in a .changes file when it already has the file with the same size and md5sum, dak might choke in that case.

adddeb filenames

Add the .deb and .udeb files specified by their filenames to the .changes file. Filenames without a slash will be searched in the current directory, the directory the changes file resides in and in the directories specified by the –searchpath.

adddsc filenames

Add the .dsc files specified by their filenames to the .changes file. Filenames without a slash will be searched in the the current directory, in the directory the changes file resides in and in the directories specified by the –searchpath.

addrawfile filenames

Add the files specified by their filenames to the .changes file. Filenames without a slash will be searched in the current directory, in the directory the changes file resides in and in the directories specified by the –searchpath.

add filenames

Behave like adddsc for filenames ending in .dsc, like adddeb for filenames ending in .deb or .udeb, and like addrawfile for all other filenames

dumbremove filenames

Remove the specified files from the .changes file. No other fields (Architectures, Binaries, …) are updated and no related files is removed. Just the given files (which must be specified without any /) are no longer listen in the .changes file (and only no longer in the changes file).

SEE ALSO

reprepro(1), dpkg-genchanges(1), dpkg-buildpackage(1), md5sum(1).

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs or wishlist requests the Debian BTS (e.g. by using reportbug reperepro) or directly to <brlink [at] debian.org>.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2006-2009 Bernhard R. Link
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

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