doc/apt-ftparchive.1.xml

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   2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
   3   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd" [
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   5 <!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent">
   6 %aptent;
   7
   8 <!ENTITY % aptverbatiment SYSTEM "apt-verbatim.ent">
   9 %aptverbatiment;
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  12
  13 <refentry>
  14
  15  <refentryinfo>
  16    &apt-author.jgunthorpe;
  17    &apt-author.team;
  18    &apt-email;
  19    &apt-product;
  20    <!-- The last update date -->
  21    <date>17 August 2009</date>
  22  </refentryinfo>
  23
  24  <refmeta>
  25    <refentrytitle>apt-ftparchive</refentrytitle>
  26    <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
  27    <refmiscinfo class="manual">APT</refmiscinfo>
  28  </refmeta>
  29
  30  <!-- Man page title -->
  31  <refnamediv>
  32     <refname>apt-ftparchive</refname>
  33     <refpurpose>Utility to generate index files</refpurpose>
  34  </refnamediv>
  35
  36  <!-- Arguments -->
  37  <refsynopsisdiv>
  38    <cmdsynopsis>
  39       <command>apt-ftparchive</command>
  40       <arg><option>-hvdsq</option></arg>
  41       <arg><option>--md5</option></arg>
  42       <arg><option>--delink</option></arg>
  43       <arg><option>--readonly</option></arg>
  44       <arg><option>--contents</option></arg>
  45       <arg><option>--arch <replaceable>architecture</replaceable></option></arg>
  46       <arg><option>-o <replaceable>config</replaceable>=<replaceable>string</replaceable></option></arg>
  47       <arg><option>-c=<replaceable>file</replaceable></option></arg>
  48       <group choice="req">
  49          <arg>packages<arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>path</replaceable></arg><arg><replaceable>override</replaceable><arg><replaceable>pathprefix</replaceable></arg></arg></arg>
  50          <arg>sources<arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>path</replaceable></arg><arg><replaceable>override</replaceable><arg><replaceable>pathprefix</replaceable></arg></arg></arg>
  51          <arg>contents <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>path</replaceable></arg></arg>
  52          <arg>release <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>path</replaceable></arg></arg>
  53          <arg>generate <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>config-file</replaceable></arg> <arg choice="plain" rep="repeat"><replaceable>section</replaceable></arg></arg>
  54          <arg>clean <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>config-file</replaceable></arg></arg>
  55       </group>
  56    </cmdsynopsis>
  57  </refsynopsisdiv>
  58
  59  <refsect1><title>Description</title>
  60    <para><command>apt-ftparchive</command> is the command line tool that generates the index
  61    files that APT uses to access a distribution source. The index files should
  62    be generated on the origin site based on the content of that site.</para>
  63
  64    <para><command>apt-ftparchive</command> is a superset of the &dpkg-scanpackages; program,
  65    incorporating its entire functionality via the <literal>packages</literal> command.
  66    It also contains a contents file generator, <literal>contents</literal>, and an
  67    elaborate means to 'script' the generation process for a complete
  68    archive.</para>
  69
  70    <para>Internally <command>apt-ftparchive</command> can make use of binary databases to
  71    cache the contents of a .deb file and it does not rely on any external
  72    programs aside from &gzip;. When doing a full generate it automatically
  73    performs file-change checks and builds the desired compressed output files.</para>
  74
  75    <para>Unless the <option>-h</option>, or <option>--help</option> option is given one of the
  76    commands below must be present.</para>
  77
  78    <variablelist>
  79      <varlistentry><term>packages</term>
  80      <listitem><para>
  81      The packages command generates a package file from a directory tree. It
  82      takes the given directory and recursively searches it for .deb files,
  83      emitting a package record to stdout for each. This command is
  84      approximately equivalent to &dpkg-scanpackages;.</para>
  85
  86      <para>The option <option>--db</option> can be used to specify a binary caching DB.</para></listitem>
  87      </varlistentry>
  88
  89      <varlistentry><term>sources</term>
  90      <listitem><para>
  91      The <literal>sources</literal> command generates a source index file from a directory tree.
  92      It takes the given directory and recursively searches it for .dsc files,
  93      emitting a source record to stdout for each. This command is approximately
  94      equivalent to &dpkg-scansources;.</para>
  95      <para>
  96      If an override file is specified then a source override file will be
  97      looked for with an extension of .src. The --source-override option can be
  98      used to change the source override file that will be used.</para></listitem>
  99      </varlistentry>
 100
 101      <varlistentry><term>contents</term>
 102      <listitem><para>
 103      The <literal>contents</literal> command generates a contents file from a directory tree. It
 104      takes the given directory and recursively searches it for .deb files,
 105      and reads the file list from each file. It then sorts and writes to stdout
 106      the list of files matched to packages. Directories are not written to
 107      the output. If multiple packages own the same file then each package is
 108      separated by a comma in the output.</para>
 109      <para>
 110      The option <option>--db</option> can be used to specify a binary caching DB.</para></listitem>
 111      </varlistentry>
 112
 113      <varlistentry><term>release</term>
 114      <listitem><para>
 115      The <literal>release</literal> command generates a Release file from a
 116      directory tree. It recursively searches the given directory for
 117      Packages, Packages.gz, Packages.bz2, Sources, Sources.gz,
 118      Sources.bz2, Release and md5sum.txt files.  It then writes to
 119      stdout a Release file containing an MD5 digest and SHA1 digest
 120      for each file.</para>
 121      <para>
 122      Values for the additional metadata fields in the Release file are
 123      taken from the corresponding variables under
 124      <literal>APT::FTPArchive::Release</literal>,
 125      e.g. <literal>APT::FTPArchive::Release::Origin</literal>.  The supported fields
 126      are: <literal>Origin</literal>, <literal>Label</literal>, <literal>Suite</literal>,
 127      <literal>Version</literal>, <literal>Codename</literal>, <literal>Date</literal>,
 128      <literal>Valid-Until</literal>, <literal>Architectures</literal>,
 129      <literal>Components</literal>, <literal>Description</literal>.</para></listitem>
 130
 131      </varlistentry>
 132
 133      <varlistentry><term>generate</term>
 134      <listitem><para>
 135      The <literal>generate</literal> command is designed to be runnable from a cron script and
 136      builds indexes according to the given config file. The config language
 137      provides a flexible means of specifying which index files are built from
 138      which directories, as well as providing a simple means of maintaining the
 139      required settings.</para></listitem>
 140      </varlistentry>
 141
 142      <varlistentry><term>clean</term>
 143      <listitem><para>
 144      The <literal>clean</literal> command tidies the databases used by the given
 145      configuration file by removing any records that are no longer necessary.</para></listitem>
 146      </varlistentry>
 147    </variablelist>
 148  </refsect1>
 149
 150  <refsect1><title>The Generate Configuration</title>
 151    <para>
 152    The <literal>generate</literal> command uses a configuration file to describe the
 153    archives that are going to be generated. It follows the typical ISC
 154    configuration format as seen in ISC tools like bind 8 and dhcpd.
 155    &apt-conf; contains a description of the syntax. Note that the generate
 156    configuration is parsed in sectional manner, but &apt-conf; is parsed in a
 157    tree manner. This only effects how the scope tag is handled.</para>
 158
 159    <para>
 160    The generate configuration has 4 separate sections, each described below.</para>
 161
 162    <refsect2><title>Dir Section</title>
 163      <para>
 164      The <literal>Dir</literal> section defines the standard directories needed to
 165      locate the files required during the generation process. These
 166      directories are prepended certain relative paths defined in later
 167      sections to produce a complete an absolute path.</para>
 168      <variablelist>
 169       <varlistentry><term>ArchiveDir</term>
 170       <listitem><para>
 171       Specifies the root of the FTP archive, in a standard
 172       Debian configuration this is the directory that contains the
 173       <filename>ls-LR</filename> and dist nodes.</para></listitem>
 174       </varlistentry>
 175
 176       <varlistentry><term>OverrideDir</term>
 177       <listitem><para>
 178       Specifies the location of the override files.</para></listitem>
 179       </varlistentry>
 180
 181       <varlistentry><term>CacheDir</term>
 182       <listitem><para>
 183       Specifies the location of the cache files</para></listitem>
 184       </varlistentry>
 185
 186       <varlistentry><term>FileListDir</term>
 187       <listitem><para>
 188       Specifies the location of the file list files,
 189       if the <literal>FileList</literal> setting is used below.</para></listitem>
 190       </varlistentry>
 191      </variablelist>
 192    </refsect2>
 193
 194    <refsect2><title>Default Section</title>
 195      <para>
 196      The <literal>Default</literal> section specifies default values, and settings
 197      that control the operation of the generator. Other sections may override
 198      these defaults with a per-section setting.</para>
 199      <variablelist>
 200       <varlistentry><term>Packages::Compress</term>
 201       <listitem><para>
 202       Sets the default compression schemes to use
 203       for the Package index files. It is a string that contains a space
 204       separated list of at least one of: '.' (no compression), 'gzip' and
 205       'bzip2'. The default for all compression schemes is '. gzip'.</para></listitem>
 206       </varlistentry>
 207
 208       <varlistentry><term>Packages::Extensions</term>
 209       <listitem><para>
 210       Sets the default list of file extensions that are package files.
 211       This defaults to '.deb'.</para></listitem>
 212       </varlistentry>
 213
 214       <varlistentry><term>Sources::Compress</term>
 215       <listitem><para>
 216       This is similar to <literal>Packages::Compress</literal>
 217       except that it controls the compression for the Sources files.</para></listitem>
 218       </varlistentry>
 219
 220       <varlistentry><term>Sources::Extensions</term>
 221       <listitem><para>
 222       Sets the default list of file extensions that are source files.
 223       This defaults to '.dsc'.</para></listitem>
 224       </varlistentry>
 225
 226       <varlistentry><term>Contents::Compress</term>
 227       <listitem><para>
 228       This is similar to <literal>Packages::Compress</literal>
 229       except that it controls the compression for the Contents files.</para></listitem>
 230       </varlistentry>
 231
 232       <varlistentry><term>Translation::Compress</term>
 233       <listitem><para>
 234       This is similar to <literal>Packages::Compress</literal>
 235       except that it controls the compression for the Translation-en master file.</para></listitem>
 236       </varlistentry>
 237
 238       <varlistentry><term>DeLinkLimit</term>
 239       <listitem><para>
 240       Specifies the number of kilobytes to delink (and
 241       replace with hard links) per run. This is used in conjunction with the
 242       per-section <literal>External-Links</literal> setting.</para></listitem>
 243       </varlistentry>
 244
 245       <varlistentry><term>FileMode</term>
 246       <listitem><para>
 247       Specifies the mode of all created index files. It
 248       defaults to 0644. All index files are set to this mode with no regard
 249       to the umask.</para></listitem>
 250       </varlistentry>
 251
 252       <varlistentry><term>LongDescription</term>
 253       <listitem><para>
 254       Sets if long descriptions should be included in the Packages file or split
 255       out into a master Translation-en file.</para></listitem>
 256       </varlistentry>
 257      </variablelist>
 258    </refsect2>
 259
 260    <refsect2><title>TreeDefault Section</title>
 261      <para>
 262      Sets defaults specific to <literal>Tree</literal> sections. All of these
 263      variables are substitution variables and have the strings $(DIST),
 264      $(SECTION) and $(ARCH) replaced with their respective values.</para>
 265
 266      <variablelist>
 267       <varlistentry><term>MaxContentsChange</term>
 268       <listitem><para>
 269       Sets  the number of kilobytes of contents
 270       files that are generated each day. The contents files are round-robined
 271       so that over several days they will all be rebuilt.</para></listitem>
 272       </varlistentry>
 273
 274       <varlistentry><term>ContentsAge</term>
 275       <listitem><para>
 276       Controls the number of days a contents file is allowed
 277       to be checked without changing. If this limit is passed the mtime of the
 278       contents file is updated. This case can occur if the package file is
 279       changed in such a way that does not result in a new contents file
 280       [override edit for instance]. A hold off is allowed in hopes that new
 281       .debs will be installed, requiring a new file anyhow. The default is 10,
 282       the units are in days.</para></listitem>
 283       </varlistentry>
 284
 285       <varlistentry><term>Directory</term>
 286       <listitem><para>
 287       Sets the top of the .deb directory tree. Defaults to
 288       <filename>$(DIST)/$(SECTION)/binary-$(ARCH)/</filename></para></listitem>
 289       </varlistentry>
 290
 291       <varlistentry><term>SrcDirectory</term>
 292       <listitem><para>
 293       Sets the top of the source package directory tree. Defaults to
 294       <filename>$(DIST)/$(SECTION)/source/</filename></para></listitem>
 295       </varlistentry>
 296
 297       <varlistentry><term>Packages</term>
 298       <listitem><para>
 299       Sets the output Packages file. Defaults to
 300       <filename>$(DIST)/$(SECTION)/binary-$(ARCH)/Packages</filename></para></listitem>
 301       </varlistentry>
 302
 303       <varlistentry><term>Sources</term>
 304       <listitem><para>
 305       Sets the output Sources file. Defaults to
 306       <filename>$(DIST)/$(SECTION)/source/Sources</filename></para></listitem>
 307       </varlistentry>
 308
 309       <varlistentry><term>Translation</term>
 310       <listitem><para>
 311       Set the output Translation-en master file with the long descriptions if they
 312       should be not included in the Packages file. Defaults to
 313       <filename>$(DIST)/$(SECTION)/i18n/Translation-en</filename></para></listitem>
 314       </varlistentry>
 315
 316       <varlistentry><term>InternalPrefix</term>
 317       <listitem><para>
 318       Sets the path prefix that causes a symlink to be
 319       considered an internal link instead of an external link. Defaults to
 320       <filename>$(DIST)/$(SECTION)/</filename></para></listitem>
 321       </varlistentry>
 322
 323       <varlistentry><term>Contents</term>
 324       <listitem><para>
 325       Sets the output Contents file. Defaults to
 326       <filename>$(DIST)/Contents-$(ARCH)</filename>. If this setting causes multiple
 327       Packages files to map onto a single Contents file (such as the default)
 328       then <command>apt-ftparchive</command> will integrate those package files
 329       together automatically.</para></listitem>
 330       </varlistentry>
 331
 332       <varlistentry><term>Contents::Header</term>
 333       <listitem><para>
 334       Sets header file to prepend to the contents output.</para></listitem>
 335       </varlistentry>
 336
 337       <varlistentry><term>BinCacheDB</term>
 338       <listitem><para>
 339       Sets the binary cache database to use for this
 340       section. Multiple sections can share the same database.</para></listitem>
 341       </varlistentry>
 342
 343       <varlistentry><term>FileList</term>
 344       <listitem><para>
 345       Specifies that instead of walking the directory tree,
 346       <command>apt-ftparchive</command> should read the list of files from the given
 347       file. Relative files names are prefixed with the archive directory.</para></listitem>
 348       </varlistentry>
 349
 350       <varlistentry><term>SourceFileList</term>
 351       <listitem><para>
 352       Specifies that instead of walking the directory tree,
 353       <command>apt-ftparchive</command> should read the list of files from the given
 354       file. Relative files names are prefixed with the archive directory.
 355       This is used when processing source indexes.</para></listitem>
 356       </varlistentry>
 357      </variablelist>
 358    </refsect2>
 359
 360    <refsect2><title>Tree Section</title>
 361      <para>
 362      The <literal>Tree</literal> section defines a standard Debian file tree which
 363      consists of a base directory, then multiple sections in that base
 364      directory and finally multiple Architectures in each section. The exact
 365      pathing used is defined by the <literal>Directory</literal> substitution variable.</para>
 366      <para>
 367      The <literal>Tree</literal> section takes a scope tag which sets the
 368      <literal>$(DIST)</literal> variable and defines the root of the tree
 369      (the path is prefixed by <literal>ArchiveDir</literal>).
 370      Typically this is a setting such as <filename>dists/&stable-codename;</filename>.</para>
 371      <para>
 372      All of the settings defined in the <literal>TreeDefault</literal> section can be
 373      use in a <literal>Tree</literal> section as well as three new variables.</para>
 374      <para>
 375      When processing a <literal>Tree</literal> section <command>apt-ftparchive</command>
 376      performs an operation similar to:
 377      <programlisting>
 378 for i in Sections do
 379    for j in Architectures do
 380       Generate for DIST=scope SECTION=i ARCH=j
 381      </programlisting></para>
 382
 383      <variablelist>
 384       <varlistentry><term>Sections</term>
 385       <listitem><para>
 386       This is a space separated list of sections which appear
 387       under the distribution, typically this is something like
 388       <literal>main contrib non-free</literal></para></listitem>
 389       </varlistentry>
 390
 391       <varlistentry><term>Architectures</term>
 392       <listitem><para>
 393       This is a space separated list of all the
 394       architectures that appear under search section. The special architecture
 395       'source' is used to indicate that this tree has a source archive.</para></listitem>
 396       </varlistentry>
 397
 398       <varlistentry><term>LongDescription</term>
 399       <listitem><para>
 400       Sets if long descriptions should be included in the Packages file or split
 401       out into a master Translation-en file.</para></listitem>
 402       </varlistentry>
 403
 404       <varlistentry><term>BinOverride</term>
 405       <listitem><para>
 406       Sets the binary override file. The override file
 407       contains section, priority and maintainer address information.</para></listitem>
 408       </varlistentry>
 409
 410       <varlistentry><term>SrcOverride</term>
 411       <listitem><para>
 412       Sets the source override file. The override file
 413       contains section information.</para></listitem>
 414       </varlistentry>
 415
 416       <varlistentry><term>ExtraOverride</term>
 417       <listitem><para>
 418       Sets the binary extra override file.</para></listitem>
 419       </varlistentry>
 420
 421       <varlistentry><term>SrcExtraOverride</term>
 422       <listitem><para>
 423       Sets the source extra override file.</para></listitem>
 424       </varlistentry>
 425      </variablelist>
 426    </refsect2>
 427
 428    <refsect2><title>BinDirectory Section</title>
 429      <para>
 430      The <literal>bindirectory</literal> section defines a binary directory tree
 431      with no special structure. The scope tag specifies the location of
 432      the binary directory and the settings are similar to the <literal>Tree</literal>
 433      section with no substitution variables or
 434      <literal>Section</literal><literal>Architecture</literal> settings.</para>
 435      <variablelist>
 436       <varlistentry><term>Packages</term>
 437       <listitem><para>
 438       Sets the Packages file output.</para></listitem>
 439       </varlistentry>
 440
 441       <varlistentry><term>Sources</term>
 442       <listitem><para>
 443       Sets the Sources file output. At least one of
 444       <literal>Packages</literal> or <literal>Sources</literal> is required.</para></listitem>
 445       </varlistentry>
 446
 447       <varlistentry><term>Contents</term>
 448       <listitem><para>
 449       Sets the Contents file output. (optional)</para></listitem>
 450       </varlistentry>
 451
 452       <varlistentry><term>BinOverride</term>
 453       <listitem><para>
 454       Sets the binary override file.</para></listitem>
 455       </varlistentry>
 456
 457       <varlistentry><term>SrcOverride</term>
 458       <listitem><para>
 459       Sets the source override file.</para></listitem>
 460       </varlistentry>
 461
 462       <varlistentry><term>ExtraOverride</term>
 463       <listitem><para>
 464       Sets the binary extra override file.</para></listitem>
 465       </varlistentry>
 466
 467       <varlistentry><term>SrcExtraOverride</term>
 468       <listitem><para>
 469       Sets the source extra override file.</para></listitem>
 470       </varlistentry>
 471
 472       <varlistentry><term>BinCacheDB</term>
 473       <listitem><para>
 474       Sets the cache DB.</para></listitem>
 475       </varlistentry>
 476
 477       <varlistentry><term>PathPrefix</term>
 478       <listitem><para>
 479       Appends a path to all the output paths.</para></listitem>
 480       </varlistentry>
 481
 482       <varlistentry><term>FileList, SourceFileList</term>
 483       <listitem><para>
 484       Specifies the file list file.</para></listitem>
 485       </varlistentry>
 486      </variablelist>
 487    </refsect2>
 488  </refsect1>
 489
 490
 491  <refsect1><title>The Binary Override File</title>
 492    <para>The binary override file is fully compatible with &dpkg-scanpackages;. It
 493    contains 4 fields separated by spaces. The first field is the package name,
 494    the second is the priority to force that package to, the third is the
 495    the section to force that package to and the final field is the maintainer
 496    permutation field.</para>
 497    <para>The general form of the maintainer field is:
 498    <literallayout>old [// oldn]* => new</literallayout>
 499    or simply,
 500    <literallayout>new</literallayout>
 501    The first form allows a double-slash separated list of old email addresses
 502    to be specified. If any of those are found then new is substituted for the
 503    maintainer field. The second form unconditionally substitutes the
 504    maintainer field.</para>
 505  </refsect1>
 506
 507
 508  <refsect1><title>The Source Override File</title>
 509    <para>
 510    The source override file is fully compatible with &dpkg-scansources;. It
 511    contains 2 fields separated by spaces. The first fields is the source
 512    package name, the second is the section to assign it.</para>
 513  </refsect1>
 514
 515  <refsect1><title>The Extra Override File</title>
 516    <para>
 517    The extra override file allows any arbitrary tag to be added or replaced
 518    in the output. It has 3 columns, the first is the package, the second is
 519    the tag and the remainder of the line is the new value.</para>
 520  </refsect1>
 521
 522  <refsect1><title>options</title>
 523    &apt-cmdblurb;
 524
 525    <variablelist>
 526      <varlistentry><term><option>--md5</option></term>
 527      <listitem><para>
 528      Generate MD5 sums. This defaults to on, when turned off the generated
 529      index files will not have MD5Sum fields where possible.
 530      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::MD5</literal></para></listitem>
 531      </varlistentry>
 532
 533      <varlistentry><term><option>-d</option></term><term><option>--db</option></term>
 534      <listitem><para>
 535      Use a binary caching DB. This has no effect on the generate command.
 536      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::DB</literal>.</para></listitem>
 537      </varlistentry>
 538
 539      <varlistentry><term><option>-q</option></term><term><option>--quiet</option></term>
 540      <listitem><para>
 541      Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress indicators.
 542      More q's will produce more quiet up to a maximum of 2. You can also use
 543      <option>-q=#</option> to set the quiet level, overriding the configuration file.
 544      Configuration Item: <literal>quiet</literal>.</para></listitem>
 545      </varlistentry>
 546
 547      <varlistentry><term><option>--delink</option></term>
 548      <listitem><para>
 549      Perform Delinking. If the <literal>External-Links</literal> setting is used then
 550      this option actually enables delinking of the files. It defaults to on and
 551      can be turned off with <option>--no-delink</option>.
 552      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::DeLinkAct</literal>.</para></listitem>
 553      </varlistentry>
 554
 555      <varlistentry><term><option>--contents</option></term>
 556      <listitem><para>
 557      Perform contents generation. When this option is set and package indexes
 558      are being generated with a cache DB then the file listing will also be
 559      extracted and stored in the DB for later use. When using the generate
 560      command this option also allows the creation of any Contents files. The
 561      default is on.
 562      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::Contents</literal>.</para></listitem>
 563      </varlistentry>
 564
 565      <varlistentry><term><option>-s</option></term><term><option>--source-override</option></term>
 566      <listitem><para>
 567      Select the source override file to use with the <literal>sources</literal> command.
 568      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::SourceOverride</literal>.</para></listitem>
 569      </varlistentry>
 570
 571      <varlistentry><term><option>--readonly</option></term>
 572      <listitem><para>
 573      Make the caching databases read only.
 574      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::ReadOnlyDB</literal>.</para></listitem>
 575      </varlistentry>
 576
 577      <varlistentry><term><option>-a</option></term><term><option>--arch</option></term>
 578      <listitem><para>Accept in the <literal>packages</literal> and <literal>contents</literal>
 579      commands only package files matching <literal>*_arch.deb</literal> or
 580      <literal>*_all.deb</literal> instead of all package files in the given path.
 581      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::Architecture</literal>.</para></listitem>
 582      </varlistentry>
 583
 584      <varlistentry><term><option>APT::FTPArchive::AlwaysStat</option></term>
 585      <listitem><para>
 586      &apt-ftparchive; caches as much as possible of metadata in a cachedb. If packages
 587      are recompiled and/or republished with the same version again, this will lead to problems
 588      as the now outdated cached metadata like size and checksums will be used. With this option
 589      enabled this will no longer happen as it will be checked if the file was changed.
 590      Note that this option is set to "<literal>false</literal>" by default as it is not recommend
 591      to upload multiply versions/builds of a package with the same versionnumber, so in theory
 592      nobody will have these problems and therefore all these extra checks are useless.
 593      </para></listitem>
 594      </varlistentry>
 595
 596      <varlistentry><term><option>APT::FTPArchive::LongDescription</option></term>
 597      <listitem><para>
 598      This configuration option defaults to "<literal>true</literal>" and should only be set to
 599      <literal>"false"</literal> if the Archive generated with &apt-ftparchive; also provides
 600      <filename>Translation</filename> files. Note that the <filename>Translation-en</filename>
 601      master file can only be created in the generate command.
 602      </para></listitem>
 603      </varlistentry>
 604
 605      &apt-commonoptions;
 606
 607    </variablelist>
 608  </refsect1>
 609
 610 <refsect1><title>Examples</title>
 611
 612 <para>To create a compressed Packages file for a directory containing
 613 binary packages (.deb):
 614
 615 <programlisting>
 616 <command>apt-ftparchive</command> packages <replaceable>directory</replaceable> | <command>gzip</command> > <filename>Packages.gz</filename>
 617 </programlisting></para>
 618
 619 </refsect1>
 620
 621  <refsect1><title>See Also</title>
 622    <para>&apt-conf;</para>
 623  </refsect1>
 624
 625  <refsect1><title>Diagnostics</title>
 626    <para><command>apt-ftparchive</command> returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error.</para>
 627  </refsect1>
 628
 629  &manbugs;
 630
 631 </refentry>