.TH dpkg\-parsechangelog 1 "2008-08-18" "Debian Project" "dpkg utilities"
.SH NAME
dpkg\-parsechangelog \- parse Debian changelog files
.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B dpkg\-parsechangelog
.RI [ options ]
.
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B dpkg\-parsechangelog
reads and parses the changelog of an unpacked Debian source tree and
outputs the information in it to standard output in a machine-readable
form.
.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BI \-l changelogfile
Specifies the change log file to read information from. The
default is
.BR debian/changelog .
.TP
.BI \-F changelogformat
Specifies the format of the changelog. By default the format is read
from a special line near the bottom of the changelog or failing that
defaults to the debian standard format.
.TP
.BI \-L libdir
Specify an additional directory to search for parser scripts.
This directory is searched before the default directories
which are currently
.BR /usr/local/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog " and "
.BR /usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog .
.TP
.BR \-h ", " \-\-help
Show the usage message and exit.
.TP
.BR \-\-version
Show the version and exit.
.SS Parser Options
The following options can be used to influence the output of
the changelog parser, e.g. the range of entries or the format
of the output. They need to be supported by the parser script
in question. See also \fBCAVEATS\fP.
.TP
.BI \-\-format " outputformat"
Set the output format. Currently supported values are
.IR dpkg " and " rfc822 .
\fIdpkg\fP is the classic output format (from before this
option existed) and the default. It consists of one paragraph
in Debian control format (see \fBdeb-control\fP(5)). If more
than one entry is requested, then most fields are taken from the
latest entry, except otherwise stated:
.RS
.TP
.BR Source: " <pkg name>"
.TP
.BR Version: " <version>"
.TP
.BR Distribution: " <target distribution>"
.TP
.BR Urgency: " <urgency>"
The highest urgency of all included entries is used.
.TP
.BR Maintainer: " <author>"
.TP
.BR Date: " <date>"
.TP
.BR Closes: " <bug number>"
The Closes fields of all included entries are merged.
.TP
.BR Changes: " <changelog entries>"
The text of all changelog entries is concatenated. To make
this field a valid Debian control format multiline field
empty lines are replaced with a single full stop and all lines
is intended by one space character. The exact content depends
on the changelog format.
.RE
.IP
There might be additional user-defined fields present.
.IP
The \fBrfc822\fP format uses the same fields but outputs
a separate paragraph for each changelog entry so that all
metadata for each entry is preserved.
.TP
.BR \-\-since " \fIversion\fP, " \-s \fIversion\fP, " \-v" \fIversion\fP
include all changes later than \fIversion\fP.
.TP
.BR \-\-until " \fIversion\fP, " \-u \fIversion\fP
include all changes earlier than \fIversion\fP.
.TP
.BR \-\-from " \fIversion\fP, " \-f \fIversion\fP
include all changes equal or later than \fIversion\fP.
.TP
.BR \-\-to " \fIversion\fP, " \-t \fIversion\fP
include all changes up to or equal than \fIversion\fP.
.TP
.BR \-\-count " \fInumber\fP, " \-c "\fInumber\fP, " \-n \fInumber\fP
include \fInumber\fP entries from the top (or the tail
if \fInumber\fP is lower than 0).
.TP
.BR \-\-offset " \fInumber\fP, " \-o \fInumber\fP
change the starting point for \-\-count, counted from the top
(or the tail if \fInumber\fP is lower than 0).
.TP
.B \-\-all
include all changes.
.
.SH CAVEATS
All \fBParser Options\fP except for \-v are only supported in
\fBdpkg\fP, version 1.14.16 and later. Third party parsers for
changelog formats other than \fIdebian\fP might not support
all options.
.
.SH FILES
.TP
.B debian/changelog
The changelog file, used to obtain version-dependent information about
the source package, such as the urgency and distribution of an upload,
the changes made since a particular release, and the source version
number itself.
.
.SH AUTHORS
Copyright \(co 1995-1996 Ian Jackson
.br
Copyright \(co 2000 Wichert Akkerman
.br
Copyright \(co 2007, 2008 Frank Lichtenheld
.sp
This is free software; see the GNU General Public Licence version 2 or later
for copying conditions. There is NO WARRANTY.