1 # dpkg manual page - dpkg-split(1)
3 # Copyright © 1995-1996 Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
4 # Copyright © 2011 Guillem Jover <guillem@debian.org>
6 # This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
7 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
8 # the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
9 # (at your option) any later version.
11 # This is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
12 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
13 # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
14 # GNU General Public License for more details.
16 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
17 # along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
23 dpkg-split - Debian package archive split/join tool
28 [I<option>...] I<command>
33 splits Debian binary package files into smaller parts and reassembles
34 them again, to support the storage of large package files on small
35 media such as floppy disks.
37 It can be operated manually using the
38 B<--split>, B<--join> and B<--info>
41 It also has an automatic mode, invoked using the
43 option, where it maintains a queue of parts seen but not yet
44 reassembled and reassembles a package file when it has seen all of its
46 B<--listq> and B<--discard>
47 options allow the management of the queue.
49 All splitting, joining and queueing operations produce informative
50 messages on standard output; these may safely be ignored.
56 =item B<-s>, B<--split> I<complete-archive> [I<prefix>]
58 Splits a single Debian binary package into several parts.
61 I<prefix>B<.>I<N>B<of>I<M>B<.deb>
64 is the part number, starting at 1, and
66 is the total number of parts (both in decimal).
72 filename is taken, including directory, with any trailing
76 =item B<-j>, B<--join> I<part>...
78 Joins the parts of a package file together, reassembling the original
79 file as it was before it was split.
81 The part files given as arguments must be all the parts of exactly the
82 same original binary file. Each part must occur exactly once in the
83 argument list, though the parts to not need to be listed in order.
85 The parts must of course all have been generated with the same part
86 size specified at split time, which means that they must usually have
87 been generated by the same invocation of
88 B<dpkg-split --split>.
90 The parts' filenames are not significant for the reassembly process.
92 By default the output file is called
93 I<package>B<_>I<version>B<_>I<arch>B<.deb>.
95 =item B<-I>, B<--info> I<part>...
97 Prints information, in a human-readable format, about the part file(s)
98 specified. Arguments which are not binary package parts produce a
99 message saying so instead (but still on standard output).
101 =item B<-a>, B<--auto -o> I<complete-output> I<part>
103 Automatically queue parts and reassemble a package if possible.
107 specified is examined, and compared with other parts of the same
108 package (if any) in the queue of packages file parts.
110 If all parts of the package file of which
112 is a part are available then the package is reassembled and written to
114 (which should not usually already exist, though this is not an
119 is copied into the queue and
125 is not a split binary package part then
127 will exit with status B<1>; if some other trouble occurs then it will
128 exit with status B<2>.
132 option must be supplied when using
134 (If this were not mandatory the calling program would not know what
135 output file to expect.)
137 =item B<-l>, B<--listq>
139 Lists the contents of the queue of packages to be reassembled.
141 For each package file of which parts are in the queue the output gives
142 the name of the package, the parts in the queue, and the total number
143 of bytes stored in the queue.
145 =item B<-d>, B<--discard> [I<package>...]
147 This discards parts from the queue of those waiting for the remaining
148 parts of their packages.
152 is specified then the queue is cleared completely; if any are
153 specified then only parts of the relevant package(s) are deleted.
155 =item B<-?>, B<--help>
157 Show the usage message and exit.
161 Show the version and exit.
169 =item B<--depotdir> I<directory>
171 Specifies an alternative directory for the queue of parts awaiting
172 automatic reassembly. The default is
175 =item B<-S>, B<--partsize> I<kibibytes>
177 Specifies the maximum part size when splitting, in kibibytes (1024
178 bytes). The default is 450 KiB.
180 =item B<-o>, B<--output> I<complete-output>
182 Specifies the output file name for a reassembly.
184 This overrides the default for a manual reassembly
186 and is mandatory for an automatic queue-or-reassemble
189 =item B<-Q>, B<--npquiet>
191 When doing automatic queue-or-reassembly
193 usually prints a message if it is given a
195 that is not a binary package part. This option suppresses this
196 message, to allow programs such as
198 to cope with both split and unsplit packages without producing
203 Forces the output filenames generated by
205 to be MSDOS-compatible.
207 This mangles the prefix - either the default derived from the input
208 filename or the one supplied as an argument: alphanumerics are
209 lowercased, plus signs are replaced by
211 and all other characters are discarded.
213 The result is then truncated as much as is necessary, and filenames of
215 I<prefixN>B<of>I<M>B<.deb>
226 The requested split, merge, or other command succeeded.
228 commands count as successful even if the files are not binary package
235 and indicates that the
237 file was not a binary package part.
241 Fatal or unrecoverable error due to invalid command-line usage,
242 a file that looked like a package part file but was corrupted, or
243 interactions with the system, such as accesses to the database,
244 memory allocations, etc.
254 Sets the color mode (since dpkg 1.18.5).
255 The currently accepted values are: B<auto> (default), B<always> and
258 =item B<SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH>
260 If set, it will be used as the timestamp (as seconds since the epoch) in
261 the B<deb-split>(5)'s B<ar>(5) container.
269 =item I<%ADMINDIR%/parts>
271 The default queue directory for part files awaiting automatic
274 The filenames used in this directory are in a format internal to
276 and are unlikely to be useful to other programs, and in any case the
277 filename format should not be relied upon.
283 Full details of the packages in the queue are impossible to get
284 without digging into the queue directory yourself.
286 There is no easy way to test whether a file that may be a binary