-
- <sect1 id="pkg-dpkgchangelog">
- <heading><file>debian/changelog</file></heading>
-
- <p>
- See <ref id="dpkgchangelog">.
- </p>
-
- <sect2><heading>Defining alternative changelog formats
- </heading>
-
- <p>
- It is possible to use a different format to the standard
- one, by providing a parser for the format you wish to
- use.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- In order to have <tt>dpkg-parsechangelog</tt> run your
- parser, you must include a line within the last 40 lines
- of your file matching the Perl regular expression:
- <tt>\schangelog-format:\s+([0-9a-z]+)\W</tt> The part in
- parentheses should be the name of the format. For
- example, you might say:
- <example>
- @@@ changelog-format: joebloggs @@@
- </example>
- Changelog format names are non-empty strings of alphanumerics.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- If such a line exists then <tt>dpkg-parsechangelog</tt>
- will look for the parser as
- <file>/usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog/<var>format-name</var></file>
- or
- <file>/usr/local/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog/<var>format-name</var></file>;
- it is an error for it not to find it, or for it not to
- be an executable program. The default changelog format
- is <tt>dpkg</tt>, and a parser for it is provided with
- the <tt>dpkg</tt> package.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- The parser will be invoked with the changelog open on
- standard input at the start of the file. It should read
- the file (it may seek if it wishes) to determine the
- information required and return the parsed information
- to standard output in the form of a series of control
- fields in the standard format. By default it should
- return information about only the most recent version in
- the changelog; it should accept a
- <tt>-v<var>version</var></tt> option to return changes
- information from all versions present <em>strictly
- after</em> <var>version</var>, and it should then be an
- error for <var>version</var> not to be present in the
- changelog.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- The fields are:
- <list compact="compact">
- <item><qref id="f-Source"><tt>Source</tt></qref></item>
- <item><qref id="f-Version"><tt>Version</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
- <item><qref id="f-Distribution"><tt>Distribution</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
- <item><qref id="f-Urgency"><tt>Urgency</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
- <item><qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
- <item><qref id="f-Date"><tt>Date</tt></qref></item>
- <item><qref id="f-Changes"><tt>Changes</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
- </list>
- </p>
-
- <p>
- If several versions are being returned (due to the use
- of <tt>-v</tt>), the urgency value should be of the
- highest urgency code listed at the start of any of the
- versions requested followed by the concatenated
- (space-separated) comments from all the versions
- requested; the maintainer, version, distribution and
- date should always be from the most recent version.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- For the format of the <tt>Changes</tt> field see
- <ref id="f-Changes">.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- If the changelog format which is being parsed always or
- almost always leaves a blank line between individual
- change notes these blank lines should be stripped out,
- so as to make the resulting output compact.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- If the changelog format does not contain date or package
- name information this information should be omitted from
- the output. The parser should not attempt to synthesize
- it or find it from other sources.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- If the changelog does not have the expected format the
- parser should exit with a nonzero exit status, rather
- than trying to muddle through and possibly generating
- incorrect output.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- A changelog parser may not interact with the user at
- all.
- </p>
- </sect2>
- </sect1>
-