doc/apt-ftparchive.1.xml

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   2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
   3   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/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>2009-08-17T00:00:00Z</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  &synopsis-command-apt-ftparchive;
  37
  38  <refsect1><title>Description</title>
  39    <para><command>apt-ftparchive</command> is the command line tool that generates the index
  40    files that APT uses to access a distribution source. The index files should
  41    be generated on the origin site based on the content of that site.</para>
  42
  43    <para><command>apt-ftparchive</command> is a superset of the &dpkg-scanpackages; program,
  44    incorporating its entire functionality via the <literal>packages</literal> command.
  45    It also contains a contents file generator, <literal>contents</literal>, and an
  46    elaborate means to 'script' the generation process for a complete
  47    archive.</para>
  48
  49    <para>Internally <command>apt-ftparchive</command> can make use of binary databases to
  50    cache the contents of a .deb file and it does not rely on any external
  51    programs aside from &gzip;. When doing a full generate it automatically
  52    performs file-change checks and builds the desired compressed output files.</para>
  53
  54    <para>Unless the <option>-h</option>, or <option>--help</option> option is given,
  55    one of the commands below must be present.</para>
  56
  57    <variablelist>
  58      <varlistentry><term><option>packages</option></term>
  59      <listitem><para>
  60      The packages command generates a package file from a directory tree. It
  61      takes the given directory and recursively searches it for .deb files,
  62      emitting a package record to stdout for each. This command is
  63      approximately equivalent to &dpkg-scanpackages;.</para>
  64
  65      <para>The option <option>--db</option> can be used to specify a binary caching DB.</para></listitem>
  66      </varlistentry>
  67
  68      <varlistentry><term><option>sources</option></term>
  69      <listitem><para>
  70      The <literal>sources</literal> command generates a source index file from a directory tree.
  71      It takes the given directory and recursively searches it for .dsc files,
  72      emitting a source record to stdout for each. This command is approximately
  73      equivalent to &dpkg-scansources;.</para>
  74      <para>
  75      If an override file is specified then a source override file will be
  76      looked for with an extension of .src. The --source-override option can be
  77      used to change the source override file that will be used.</para></listitem>
  78      </varlistentry>
  79
  80      <varlistentry><term><option>contents</option></term>
  81      <listitem><para>
  82      The <literal>contents</literal> command generates a contents file from a directory tree. It
  83      takes the given directory and recursively searches it for .deb files,
  84      and reads the file list from each file. It then sorts and writes to stdout
  85      the list of files matched to packages. Directories are not written to
  86      the output. If multiple packages own the same file then each package is
  87      separated by a comma in the output.</para>
  88      <para>
  89      The option <option>--db</option> can be used to specify a binary caching DB.</para></listitem>
  90      </varlistentry>
  91
  92      <varlistentry><term><option>release</option></term>
  93      <listitem><para>
  94      The <literal>release</literal> command generates a Release file from a
  95      directory tree. It recursively searches the given directory for uncompressed
  96      <filename>Packages</filename> and <filename>Sources</filename> files and ones
  97      compressed with <command>gzip</command>, <command>bzip2</command> or <command>lzma</command>
  98      as well as <filename>Release</filename> and <filename>md5sum.txt</filename> files by default
  99      (<literal>APT::FTPArchive::Release::Default-Patterns</literal>). Additional filename patterns
 100      can be added by listing them in <literal>APT::FTPArchive::Release::Patterns</literal>.
 101      It then writes to stdout a <filename>Release</filename> file containing an MD5, SHA1 and SHA256 digest
 102      for each file.</para>
 103      <para>
 104      Values for the additional metadata fields in the Release file are
 105      taken from the corresponding variables under
 106      <literal>APT::FTPArchive::Release</literal>,
 107      e.g. <literal>APT::FTPArchive::Release::Origin</literal>.  The supported fields
 108      are: <literal>Origin</literal>, <literal>Label</literal>, <literal>Suite</literal>,
 109      <literal>Version</literal>, <literal>Codename</literal>, <literal>Date</literal>,
 110      <literal>Valid-Until</literal>, <literal>Architectures</literal>,
 111      <literal>Components</literal>, <literal>Description</literal>.</para></listitem>
 112
 113      </varlistentry>
 114
 115      <varlistentry><term><option>generate</option></term>
 116      <listitem><para>
 117      The <literal>generate</literal> command is designed to be runnable from a cron script and
 118      builds indexes according to the given config file. The config language
 119      provides a flexible means of specifying which index files are built from
 120      which directories, as well as providing a simple means of maintaining the
 121      required settings.</para></listitem>
 122      </varlistentry>
 123
 124      <varlistentry><term><option>clean</option></term>
 125      <listitem><para>
 126      The <literal>clean</literal> command tidies the databases used by the given
 127      configuration file by removing any records that are no longer necessary.</para></listitem>
 128      </varlistentry>
 129    </variablelist>
 130  </refsect1>
 131
 132  <refsect1><title>The Generate Configuration</title>
 133    <para>
 134    The <literal>generate</literal> command uses a configuration file to describe the
 135    archives that are going to be generated. It follows the typical ISC
 136    configuration format as seen in ISC tools like bind 8 and dhcpd.
 137    &apt-conf; contains a description of the syntax. Note that the generate
 138    configuration is parsed in sectional manner, but &apt-conf; is parsed in a
 139    tree manner. This only effects how the scope tag is handled.</para>
 140
 141    <para>
 142    The generate configuration has four separate sections, each described below.</para>
 143
 144      <refsect2><title><literal>Dir</literal> Section</title>
 145      <para>
 146      The <literal>Dir</literal> section defines the standard directories needed to
 147      locate the files required during the generation process. These
 148      directories are prepended certain relative paths defined in later
 149      sections to produce a complete an absolute path.</para>
 150      <variablelist>
 151       <varlistentry><term><option>ArchiveDir</option></term>
 152       <listitem><para>
 153       Specifies the root of the FTP archive, in a standard
 154       Debian configuration this is the directory that contains the
 155       <filename>ls-LR</filename> and dist nodes.</para></listitem>
 156       </varlistentry>
 157
 158       <varlistentry><term><option>OverrideDir</option></term>
 159       <listitem><para>
 160       Specifies the location of the override files.</para></listitem>
 161       </varlistentry>
 162
 163       <varlistentry><term><option>CacheDir</option></term>
 164       <listitem><para>
 165       Specifies the location of the cache files.</para></listitem>
 166       </varlistentry>
 167
 168       <varlistentry><term><option>FileListDir</option></term>
 169       <listitem><para>
 170       Specifies the location of the file list files,
 171       if the <literal>FileList</literal> setting is used below.</para></listitem>
 172       </varlistentry>
 173      </variablelist>
 174    </refsect2>
 175
 176    <refsect2><title><literal>Default</literal> Section</title>
 177      <para>
 178      The <literal>Default</literal> section specifies default values, and settings
 179      that control the operation of the generator. Other sections may override
 180      these defaults with a per-section setting.</para>
 181      <variablelist>
 182       <varlistentry><term><option>Packages::Compress</option></term>
 183       <listitem><para>
 184       Sets the default compression schemes to use
 185       for the Package index files. It is a string that contains a space
 186       separated list of at least one of: '.' (no compression), 'gzip' and
 187       'bzip2'. The default for all compression schemes is '. gzip'.</para></listitem>
 188       </varlistentry>
 189
 190       <varlistentry><term><option>Packages::Extensions</option></term>
 191       <listitem><para>
 192       Sets the default list of file extensions that are package files.
 193       This defaults to '.deb'.</para></listitem>
 194       </varlistentry>
 195
 196       <varlistentry><term><option>Sources::Compress</option></term>
 197       <listitem><para>
 198       This is similar to <literal>Packages::Compress</literal>
 199       except that it controls the compression for the Sources files.</para></listitem>
 200       </varlistentry>
 201
 202       <varlistentry><term><option>Sources::Extensions</option></term>
 203       <listitem><para>
 204       Sets the default list of file extensions that are source files.
 205       This defaults to '.dsc'.</para></listitem>
 206       </varlistentry>
 207
 208       <varlistentry><term><option>Contents::Compress</option></term>
 209       <listitem><para>
 210       This is similar to <literal>Packages::Compress</literal>
 211       except that it controls the compression for the Contents files.</para></listitem>
 212       </varlistentry>
 213
 214       <varlistentry><term><option>Translation::Compress</option></term>
 215       <listitem><para>
 216       This is similar to <literal>Packages::Compress</literal>
 217       except that it controls the compression for the Translation-en master file.</para></listitem>
 218       </varlistentry>
 219
 220       <varlistentry><term><option>DeLinkLimit</option></term>
 221       <listitem><para>
 222       Specifies the number of kilobytes to delink (and
 223       replace with hard links) per run. This is used in conjunction with the
 224       per-section <literal>External-Links</literal> setting.</para></listitem>
 225       </varlistentry>
 226
 227       <varlistentry><term><option>FileMode</option></term>
 228       <listitem><para>
 229       Specifies the mode of all created index files. It
 230       defaults to 0644. All index files are set to this mode with no regard
 231       to the umask.</para></listitem>
 232       </varlistentry>
 233
 234       <varlistentry><term><option>LongDescription</option></term>
 235       <listitem><para>
 236       Specifies whether long descriptions should be included in the <filename>Packages</filename> file or split
 237       out into a master <filename>Translation-en</filename> file.</para></listitem>
 238       </varlistentry>
 239      </variablelist>
 240    </refsect2>
 241
 242    <refsect2><title><literal>TreeDefault</literal> Section</title>
 243      <para>
 244      Sets defaults specific to <literal>Tree</literal> sections. All of these
 245      variables are substitution variables and have the strings $(DIST),
 246      $(SECTION) and $(ARCH) replaced with their respective values.</para>
 247
 248      <variablelist>
 249       <varlistentry><term><option>MaxContentsChange</option></term>
 250       <listitem><para>
 251       Sets  the number of kilobytes of contents
 252       files that are generated each day. The contents files are round-robined
 253       so that over several days they will all be rebuilt.</para></listitem>
 254       </varlistentry>
 255
 256       <varlistentry><term><option>ContentsAge</option></term>
 257       <listitem><para>
 258       Controls the number of days a contents file is allowed
 259       to be checked without changing. If this limit is passed the mtime of the
 260       contents file is updated. This case can occur if the package file is
 261       changed in such a way that does not result in a new contents file
 262       [override edit for instance]. A hold off is allowed in hopes that new
 263       .debs will be installed, requiring a new file anyhow. The default is 10,
 264       the units are in days.</para></listitem>
 265       </varlistentry>
 266
 267       <varlistentry><term><option>Directory</option></term>
 268       <listitem><para>
 269       Sets the top of the .deb directory tree. Defaults to
 270       <filename>$(DIST)/$(SECTION)/binary-$(ARCH)/</filename></para></listitem>
 271       </varlistentry>
 272
 273       <varlistentry><term><option>SrcDirectory</option></term>
 274       <listitem><para>
 275       Sets the top of the source package directory tree. Defaults to
 276       <filename>$(DIST)/$(SECTION)/source/</filename></para></listitem>
 277       </varlistentry>
 278
 279       <varlistentry><term><option>Packages</option></term>
 280       <listitem><para>
 281       Sets the output Packages file. Defaults to
 282       <filename>$(DIST)/$(SECTION)/binary-$(ARCH)/Packages</filename></para></listitem>
 283       </varlistentry>
 284
 285       <varlistentry><term><option>Sources</option></term>
 286       <listitem><para>
 287       Sets the output Sources file. Defaults to
 288       <filename>$(DIST)/$(SECTION)/source/Sources</filename></para></listitem>
 289       </varlistentry>
 290
 291       <varlistentry><term><option>Translation</option></term>
 292       <listitem><para>
 293       Sets the output Translation-en master file with the long descriptions if they
 294       should be not included in the Packages file. Defaults to
 295       <filename>$(DIST)/$(SECTION)/i18n/Translation-en</filename></para></listitem>
 296       </varlistentry>
 297
 298       <varlistentry><term><option>InternalPrefix</option></term>
 299       <listitem><para>
 300       Sets the path prefix that causes a symlink to be
 301       considered an internal link instead of an external link. Defaults to
 302       <filename>$(DIST)/$(SECTION)/</filename></para></listitem>
 303       </varlistentry>
 304
 305       <varlistentry><term><option>Contents</option></term>
 306       <listitem><para>
 307       Sets the output Contents file. Defaults to
 308       <filename>$(DIST)/Contents-$(ARCH)</filename>. If this setting causes multiple
 309       Packages files to map onto a single Contents file (as is the default)
 310       then <command>apt-ftparchive</command> will integrate those package files
 311       together automatically.</para></listitem>
 312       </varlistentry>
 313
 314       <varlistentry><term><option>Contents::Header</option></term>
 315       <listitem><para>
 316       Sets header file to prepend to the contents output.</para></listitem>
 317       </varlistentry>
 318
 319       <varlistentry><term><option>BinCacheDB</option></term>
 320       <listitem><para>
 321       Sets the binary cache database to use for this
 322       section. Multiple sections can share the same database.</para></listitem>
 323       </varlistentry>
 324
 325       <varlistentry><term><option>FileList</option></term>
 326       <listitem><para>
 327       Specifies that instead of walking the directory tree,
 328       <command>apt-ftparchive</command> should read the list of files from the given
 329       file. Relative files names are prefixed with the archive directory.</para></listitem>
 330       </varlistentry>
 331
 332       <varlistentry><term><option>SourceFileList</option></term>
 333       <listitem><para>
 334       Specifies that instead of walking the directory tree,
 335       <command>apt-ftparchive</command> should read the list of files from the given
 336       file. Relative files names are prefixed with the archive directory.
 337       This is used when processing source indexes.</para></listitem>
 338       </varlistentry>
 339      </variablelist>
 340    </refsect2>
 341
 342    <refsect2><title><literal>Tree</literal> Section</title>
 343      <para>
 344      The <literal>Tree</literal> section defines a standard Debian file tree which
 345      consists of a base directory, then multiple sections in that base
 346      directory and finally multiple Architectures in each section. The exact
 347      pathing used is defined by the <literal>Directory</literal> substitution variable.</para>
 348      <para>
 349      The <literal>Tree</literal> section takes a scope tag which sets the
 350      <literal>$(DIST)</literal> variable and defines the root of the tree
 351      (the path is prefixed by <literal>ArchiveDir</literal>).
 352      Typically this is a setting such as <filename>dists/&stable-codename;</filename>.</para>
 353      <para>
 354      All of the settings defined in the <literal>TreeDefault</literal> section can be
 355      used in a <literal>Tree</literal> section as well as three new variables.</para>
 356      <para>
 357      When processing a <literal>Tree</literal> section <command>apt-ftparchive</command>
 358      performs an operation similar to:
 359      <programlisting>
 360 for i in Sections do
 361    for j in Architectures do
 362       Generate for DIST=scope SECTION=i ARCH=j
 363      </programlisting></para>
 364
 365      <variablelist>
 366       <varlistentry><term><option>Sections</option></term>
 367       <listitem><para>
 368       This is a space separated list of sections which appear
 369       under the distribution; typically this is something like
 370       <literal>main contrib non-free</literal></para></listitem>
 371       </varlistentry>
 372
 373       <varlistentry><term><option>Architectures</option></term>
 374       <listitem><para>
 375       This is a space separated list of all the
 376       architectures that appear under search section. The special architecture
 377       'source' is used to indicate that this tree has a source archive.</para></listitem>
 378       </varlistentry>
 379
 380       <varlistentry><term><option>LongDescription</option></term>
 381       <listitem><para>
 382       Specifies whether long descriptions should be included in the <filename>Packages</filename> file or split
 383       out into a master <filename>Translation-en</filename> file.</para></listitem>
 384       </varlistentry>
 385
 386       <varlistentry><term><option>BinOverride</option></term>
 387       <listitem><para>
 388       Sets the binary override file. The override file
 389       contains section, priority and maintainer address information.</para></listitem>
 390       </varlistentry>
 391
 392       <varlistentry><term><option>SrcOverride</option></term>
 393       <listitem><para>
 394       Sets the source override file. The override file
 395       contains section information.</para></listitem>
 396       </varlistentry>
 397
 398       <varlistentry><term><option>ExtraOverride</option></term>
 399       <listitem><para>
 400       Sets the binary extra override file.</para></listitem>
 401       </varlistentry>
 402
 403       <varlistentry><term><option>SrcExtraOverride</option></term>
 404       <listitem><para>
 405       Sets the source extra override file.</para></listitem>
 406       </varlistentry>
 407      </variablelist>
 408    </refsect2>
 409
 410    <refsect2><title><literal>BinDirectory</literal> Section</title>
 411      <para>
 412      The <literal>bindirectory</literal> section defines a binary directory tree
 413      with no special structure. The scope tag specifies the location of
 414      the binary directory and the settings are similar to the <literal>Tree</literal>
 415      section with no substitution variables or
 416      <literal>Section</literal><literal>Architecture</literal> settings.</para>
 417      <variablelist>
 418       <varlistentry><term><option>Packages</option></term>
 419       <listitem><para>
 420       Sets the Packages file output.</para></listitem>
 421       </varlistentry>
 422
 423       <varlistentry><term><option>Sources</option></term>
 424       <listitem><para>
 425       Sets the Sources file output. At least one of
 426       <literal>Packages</literal> or <literal>Sources</literal> is required.</para></listitem>
 427       </varlistentry>
 428
 429       <varlistentry><term><option>Contents</option></term>
 430       <listitem><para>
 431       Sets the Contents file output (optional).</para></listitem>
 432       </varlistentry>
 433
 434       <varlistentry><term><option>BinOverride</option></term>
 435       <listitem><para>
 436       Sets the binary override file.</para></listitem>
 437       </varlistentry>
 438
 439       <varlistentry><term><option>SrcOverride</option></term>
 440       <listitem><para>
 441       Sets the source override file.</para></listitem>
 442       </varlistentry>
 443
 444       <varlistentry><term><option>ExtraOverride</option></term>
 445       <listitem><para>
 446       Sets the binary extra override file.</para></listitem>
 447       </varlistentry>
 448
 449       <varlistentry><term><option>SrcExtraOverride</option></term>
 450       <listitem><para>
 451       Sets the source extra override file.</para></listitem>
 452       </varlistentry>
 453
 454       <varlistentry><term><option>BinCacheDB</option></term>
 455       <listitem><para>
 456       Sets the cache DB.</para></listitem>
 457       </varlistentry>
 458
 459       <varlistentry><term><option>PathPrefix</option></term>
 460       <listitem><para>
 461       Appends a path to all the output paths.</para></listitem>
 462       </varlistentry>
 463
 464       <varlistentry><term><option>FileList</option></term><term><option>SourceFileList</option></term>
 465       <listitem><para>
 466       Specifies the file list file.</para></listitem>
 467       </varlistentry>
 468      </variablelist>
 469    </refsect2>
 470  </refsect1>
 471
 472
 473  <refsect1><title>The Binary Override File</title>
 474    <para>The binary override file is fully compatible with &dpkg-scanpackages;. It
 475    contains four fields separated by spaces. The first field is the package name,
 476    the second is the priority to force that package to, the third is
 477    the section to force that package to and the final field is the maintainer
 478    permutation field.</para>
 479    <para>The general form of the maintainer field is:
 480    <literallayout>old [// oldn]* => new</literallayout>
 481    or simply,
 482    <literallayout>new</literallayout>
 483    The first form allows a double-slash separated list of old email addresses
 484    to be specified. If any of those are found then new is substituted for the
 485    maintainer field. The second form unconditionally substitutes the
 486    maintainer field.</para>
 487  </refsect1>
 488
 489
 490  <refsect1><title>The Source Override File</title>
 491    <para>
 492    The source override file is fully compatible with &dpkg-scansources;. It
 493    contains two fields separated by spaces. The first field is the source
 494    package name, the second is the section to assign it.</para>
 495  </refsect1>
 496
 497  <refsect1><title>The Extra Override File</title>
 498    <para>
 499    The extra override file allows any arbitrary tag to be added or replaced
 500    in the output. It has three columns, the first is the package, the second is
 501    the tag and the remainder of the line is the new value.</para>
 502  </refsect1>
 503
 504  <refsect1><title>options</title>
 505    &apt-cmdblurb;
 506
 507    <variablelist>
 508      <varlistentry><term><option>--md5</option></term><term><option>--sha1</option></term><term><option>--sha256</option></term>
 509      <listitem><para>
 510      Generate the given checksum. These options default to on, when turned off the generated
 511      index files will not have the checksum fields where possible.
 512      Configuration Items: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::<replaceable>Checksum</replaceable></literal> and
 513      <literal>APT::FTPArchive::<replaceable>Index</replaceable>::<replaceable>Checksum</replaceable></literal> where
 514      <literal><replaceable>Index</replaceable></literal> can be <literal>Packages</literal>, <literal>Sources</literal> or
 515      <literal>Release</literal> and <literal><replaceable>Checksum</replaceable></literal> can be <literal>MD5</literal>,
 516      <literal>SHA1</literal> or <literal>SHA256</literal>.</para></listitem>
 517      </varlistentry>
 518
 519      <varlistentry><term><option>-d</option></term><term><option>--db</option></term>
 520      <listitem><para>
 521      Use a binary caching DB. This has no effect on the generate command.
 522      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::DB</literal>.</para></listitem>
 523      </varlistentry>
 524
 525      <varlistentry><term><option>-q</option></term><term><option>--quiet</option></term>
 526      <listitem><para>
 527      Quiet; produces output suitable for logging, omitting progress indicators.
 528      More q's will produce more quiet up to a maximum of 2. You can also use
 529      <option>-q=#</option> to set the quiet level, overriding the configuration file.
 530      Configuration Item: <literal>quiet</literal>.</para></listitem>
 531      </varlistentry>
 532
 533      <varlistentry><term><option>--delink</option></term>
 534      <listitem><para>
 535      Perform Delinking. If the <literal>External-Links</literal> setting is used then
 536      this option actually enables delinking of the files. It defaults to on and
 537      can be turned off with <option>--no-delink</option>.
 538      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::DeLinkAct</literal>.</para></listitem>
 539      </varlistentry>
 540
 541      <varlistentry><term><option>--contents</option></term>
 542      <listitem><para>
 543      Perform contents generation. When this option is set and package indexes
 544      are being generated with a cache DB then the file listing will also be
 545      extracted and stored in the DB for later use. When using the generate
 546      command this option also allows the creation of any Contents files. The
 547      default is on.
 548      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::Contents</literal>.</para></listitem>
 549      </varlistentry>
 550
 551      <varlistentry><term><option>-s</option></term><term><option>--source-override</option></term>
 552      <listitem><para>
 553      Select the source override file to use with the <literal>sources</literal> command.
 554      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::SourceOverride</literal>.</para></listitem>
 555      </varlistentry>
 556
 557      <varlistentry><term><option>--readonly</option></term>
 558      <listitem><para>
 559      Make the caching databases read only.
 560      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::ReadOnlyDB</literal>.</para></listitem>
 561      </varlistentry>
 562
 563      <varlistentry><term><option>-a</option></term><term><option>--arch</option></term>
 564      <listitem><para>Accept in the <literal>packages</literal> and <literal>contents</literal>
 565      commands only package files matching <literal>*_arch.deb</literal> or
 566      <literal>*_all.deb</literal> instead of all package files in the given path.
 567      Configuration Item: <literal>APT::FTPArchive::Architecture</literal>.</para></listitem>
 568      </varlistentry>
 569
 570      <varlistentry><term><option>APT::FTPArchive::AlwaysStat</option></term>
 571      <listitem><para>
 572      &apt-ftparchive; caches as much as possible of metadata in a cachedb. If packages
 573      are recompiled and/or republished with the same version again, this will lead to problems
 574      as the now outdated cached metadata like size and checksums will be used. With this option
 575      enabled this will no longer happen as it will be checked if the file was changed.
 576      Note that this option is set to "<literal>false</literal>" by default as it is not recommend
 577      to upload multiply versions/builds of a package with the same versionnumber, so in theory
 578      nobody will have these problems and therefore all these extra checks are useless.
 579      </para></listitem>
 580      </varlistentry>
 581
 582      <varlistentry><term><option>APT::FTPArchive::LongDescription</option></term>
 583      <listitem><para>
 584      This configuration option defaults to "<literal>true</literal>" and should only be set to
 585      <literal>"false"</literal> if the Archive generated with &apt-ftparchive; also provides
 586      <filename>Translation</filename> files. Note that the <filename>Translation-en</filename>
 587      master file can only be created in the generate command.
 588      </para></listitem>
 589      </varlistentry>
 590
 591      &apt-commonoptions;
 592
 593    </variablelist>
 594  </refsect1>
 595
 596 <refsect1><title>Examples</title>
 597
 598 <para>To create a compressed Packages file for a directory containing
 599 binary packages (.deb):
 600
 601 <programlisting>
 602 <command>apt-ftparchive</command> packages <replaceable>directory</replaceable> | <command>gzip</command> > <filename>Packages.gz</filename>
 603 </programlisting></para>
 604
 605 </refsect1>
 606
 607  <refsect1><title>See Also</title>
 608    <para>&apt-conf;</para>
 609  </refsect1>
 610
 611  <refsect1><title>Diagnostics</title>
 612    <para><command>apt-ftparchive</command> returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error.</para>
 613  </refsect1>
 614
 615  &manbugs;
 616
 617 </refentry>