dpkg - Debian's package maintenance system

The primary interface for the dpkg suite is the ‘dselect’ program;
a more low-level and less user-friendly interface is available in
the form of the ‘dpkg’ command.


Releases
--------

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

  <http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/dpkg/>

For older releases check:

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


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

The subscription interface and web archives can be found at:

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

The mailing list address is:

  debian-dpkg@lists.debian.org


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

  <http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=dpkg/dpkg.git>
  <git://anonscm.debian.org/dpkg/dpkg.git>


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

To prepare the source tree before starting the build process, some software
needs to be installed, additional software might provide optional features.

The minimum software required to build dpkg is:

  C89 compiler with few C99 extensions (see doc/coding-style.txt)
  GNU make
  GNU autoconf >= 2.60
  GNU automake >= 1.8
  GNU gettext  >= 0.18
  pkg-config
  flex
  perl

To run the test suite («make check»):

  TimeDate perl module
  IO-String perl module

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

  zlib (used instead of the command-line tool)
  liblzma (from the xz project; used instead of the command-line tool)
  libbzip2 (from the bzip2 project; used instead of the command-line tool)
  libselinux (needed for SELinux support)
  curses compatible library (needed for dselect)

To enable translated or additional («make doc») documentation this
software will be needed:

  po4a >= 0.36.4
  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


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

  $ autoreconf -f -i

the source should be equivalent to the distributed tar source.


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

The instructions to build the distributed source are included in the
INSTALL file.

The following configure options might be of interest to disable specific
programs:

  --without-dselect
  --without-start-stop-daemon
  --without-update-alternatives
  --without-install-info

And the following to disable modifications to the build flags:

  --disable-compiler-warnings
  --disable-compiler-optimisations
  --disable-linker-optimisations

To see all available configuration options please run «./configure --help».