implement suggestion by donkult (thanks!)

[apt.git] / doc / sources.list.5.xml

diff --git a/doc/sources.list.5.xml b/doc/sources.list.5.xml
index 09a5cbb6d196f6ed72a3b0bc34b5597efc22b9f4..7a82bd4ce7840a8e38501ed8a80d94554983fd1e 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/sources.list.5.xml
+++ b/doc/sources.list.5.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>

-<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
-  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd" [
+<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
+  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [

 
 <!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent">
 %aptent;
 
 <!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent">
 %aptent;


@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 <!ENTITY % aptverbatiment SYSTEM "apt-verbatim.ent">
 %aptverbatiment;
 
 <!ENTITY % aptverbatiment SYSTEM "apt-verbatim.ent">
 %aptverbatiment;
 

+<!ENTITY % aptvendor SYSTEM "apt-vendor.ent">
+%aptvendor;

 ]>
 
 <refentry>
 ]>
 
 <refentry>


@@ -18,7 +20,7 @@
    &apt-email;
    &apt-product;
    <!-- The last update date -->
    &apt-email;
    &apt-product;
    <!-- The last update date -->

-   <date>29 February 2004</date>
+   <date>2012-06-09T00:00:00Z</date>

  </refentryinfo>
  
  <refmeta>
  </refentryinfo>
  
  <refmeta>


@@ -30,24 +32,24 @@
  <!-- Man page title -->
  <refnamediv>
     <refname>sources.list</refname>
  <!-- Man page title -->
  <refnamediv>
     <refname>sources.list</refname>

-    <refpurpose>Package resource list for APT</refpurpose>
+    <refpurpose>List of configured APT data sources</refpurpose>

  </refnamediv>
  
  <refsect1><title>Description</title>
  </refnamediv>
  
  <refsect1><title>Description</title>

-   <para>The package resource list is used to locate archives of the package
-   distribution system in use on the system. At this time, this manual page
-   documents only the packaging system used by the Debian GNU/Linux system.
-   This control file is <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename>.</para>
-
-   <para>The source list is designed to support any number of active sources and a
-   variety of source media. The file lists one source per line, with the
-   most preferred source listed first. The format of each line is:
-   <literal>type uri args</literal> The first item, <literal>type</literal>
-   determines the format for <literal>args</literal>. <literal>uri</literal> is
-   a Universal Resource Identifier 
-   (URI), which is a superset of the more specific and well-known Universal
-   Resource Locator, or URL. The rest of the line can be marked as a comment 
-   by using a #.</para>
+   <para>
+   The source list <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename> is designed to support
+   any number of active sources and a variety of source media. The file lists one
+   source per line, with the most preferred source listed first. The information available
+   from the configured sources is acquired by <command>apt-get update</command>
+   (or by an equivalent command from another APT front-end).
+   </para>
+   <para>
+   Each line specifying a source starts with type (e.g. <literal>deb-src</literal>)
+   followed by options and arguments for this type.
+   Individual entries cannot be continued onto a following line. Empty lines
+   are ignored, and a <literal>#</literal> character anywhere on a line marks
+   the remainder of that line as a comment.
+   </para>

  </refsect1>
  
  <refsect1><title>sources.list.d</title>
  </refsect1>
  
  <refsect1><title>sources.list.d</title>


@@ -57,68 +59,94 @@
    File names need to end with
    <filename>.list</filename> and may only contain letters (a-z and A-Z),
    digits (0-9), underscore (_), hyphen (-) and period (.) characters.
    File names need to end with
    <filename>.list</filename> and may only contain letters (a-z and A-Z),
    digits (0-9), underscore (_), hyphen (-) and period (.) characters.

-   Otherwise APT will print a notice that it has ignored a file if the file
-   doesn't match a pattern in the <literal>Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently</literal>
-   configuration list - in this case it will be silently ignored.</para>
+   Otherwise APT will print a notice that it has ignored a file, unless that
+   file matches a pattern in the <literal>Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently</literal>
+   configuration list - in which case it will be silently ignored.</para>

  </refsect1>
 
  <refsect1><title>The deb and deb-src types</title>
  </refsect1>
 
  <refsect1><title>The deb and deb-src types</title>

-   <para>The <literal>deb</literal> type describes a typical two-level Debian
-   archive, <filename>distribution/component</filename>. Typically,
-   <literal>distribution</literal> is generally an archivename like
+   <para>The <literal>deb</literal> type references a typical two-level Debian
+   archive, <filename>distribution/component</filename>. The
+   <literal>distribution</literal> is generally an archive name like

    <literal>stable</literal> or <literal>testing</literal> or a codename like
    <literal>&stable-codename;</literal> or <literal>&testing-codename;</literal>
    <literal>stable</literal> or <literal>testing</literal> or a codename like
    <literal>&stable-codename;</literal> or <literal>&testing-codename;</literal>

-   while component is one of <literal>main</literal> <literal>contrib</literal> or
+   while component is one of <literal>main</literal>, <literal>contrib</literal> or

    <literal>non-free</literal>. The
    <literal>non-free</literal>. The

-   <literal>deb-src</literal> type describes a debian distribution's source
+   <literal>deb-src</literal> type references a Debian distribution's source

    code in the same form as the <literal>deb</literal> type.
    A <literal>deb-src</literal> line is required to fetch source indexes.</para>
 
    code in the same form as the <literal>deb</literal> type.
    A <literal>deb-src</literal> line is required to fetch source indexes.</para>
 

-

    <para>The format for a <filename>sources.list</filename> entry using the
    <literal>deb</literal> and <literal>deb-src</literal> types is:</para>
 
    <para>The format for a <filename>sources.list</filename> entry using the
    <literal>deb</literal> and <literal>deb-src</literal> types is:</para>
 

-   <literallayout>deb [ options ] uri distribution [component1] [component2] [...]</literallayout>
+   <literallayout>deb [ options ] uri suite [component1] [component2] [...]</literallayout>
+
+   <para>Alternatively a rfc822 style format is also supported:
+   <literallayout>
+     Type: deb
+     URI: http://example.com
+     Suite: stable
+     Section: component1 component2
+     [option1]: [option1-value]
+
+     Type: deb-src
+     URI: http://example.com
+     Suite: stable
+     Section: component1 component2
+     [option1]: [option1-value]
+   </literallayout>
+   </para>

 
    <para>The URI for the <literal>deb</literal> type must specify the base of the
    Debian distribution, from which APT will find the information it needs. 
 
    <para>The URI for the <literal>deb</literal> type must specify the base of the
    Debian distribution, from which APT will find the information it needs. 

-   <literal>distribution</literal> can specify an exact path, in which case the 
-   components must be omitted and <literal>distribution</literal> must end with
-   a slash (/). This is useful for when the case only a particular sub-section of the 
-   archive denoted by the URI is of interest.
-   If <literal>distribution</literal> does not specify an exact path, at least
+   <literal>suite</literal> can specify an exact path, in which case the 
+   components must be omitted and <literal>suite</literal> must end with
+   a slash (<literal>/</literal>). This is useful for the case when only a
+   particular sub-section of the archive denoted by the URI is of interest.
+   If <literal>suite</literal> does not specify an exact path, at least

    one <literal>component</literal> must be present.</para>
 
    one <literal>component</literal> must be present.</para>
 

-   <para><literal>distribution</literal> may also contain a variable, 
+   <para><literal>suite</literal> may also contain a variable, 

    <literal>$(ARCH)</literal>
    <literal>$(ARCH)</literal>

-   which expands to the Debian architecture (i386, m68k, powerpc, ...)
-   used on the system. This permits architecture-independent
+   which expands to the Debian architecture (such as <literal>amd64</literal> or
+   <literal>armel</literal>) used on the system. This permits architecture-independent

    <filename>sources.list</filename> files to be used. In general this is only
    of interest when specifying an exact path, <literal>APT</literal> will
    automatically generate a URI with the current architecture otherwise.</para>
 
    <filename>sources.list</filename> files to be used. In general this is only
    of interest when specifying an exact path, <literal>APT</literal> will
    automatically generate a URI with the current architecture otherwise.</para>
 

-   <para>Since only one distribution can be specified per line it may be necessary
-   to have multiple lines for the same URI, if a subset of all available
-   distributions or components at that location is desired.
-   APT will sort the URI list after it has generated a complete set 
-   internally, and will collapse multiple references to the same Internet 
-   host, for instance, into a single connection, so that it does not 
-   inefficiently establish an FTP connection, close it, do something else, 
-   and then re-establish a connection to that same host. This feature is 
-   useful for accessing busy FTP sites with limits on the number of 
-   simultaneous anonymous users. APT also parallelizes connections to 
-   different hosts to more effectively deal with sites with low bandwidth.</para>
-
-   <para><literal>options</literal> is always optional and needs to be surounded by
+   <para>In the traditional style sources.list format since only one
+   distribution can be specified per line it may be necessary to have
+   multiple lines for the same URI, if a subset of all available
+   distributions or components at that location is desired.  APT will
+   sort the URI list after it has generated a complete set internally,
+   and will collapse multiple references to the same Internet host,
+   for instance, into a single connection, so that it does not
+   inefficiently establish an FTP connection, close it, do something
+   else, and then re-establish a connection to that same host. This
+   feature is useful for accessing busy FTP sites with limits on the
+   number of simultaneous anonymous users. APT also parallelizes
+   connections to different hosts to more effectively deal with sites
+   with low bandwidth.</para>
+
+   <para><literal>options</literal> is always optional and needs to be surrounded by

    square brackets. It can consist of multiple settings in the form
    <literal><replaceable>setting</replaceable>=<replaceable>value</replaceable></literal>.
    square brackets. It can consist of multiple settings in the form
    <literal><replaceable>setting</replaceable>=<replaceable>value</replaceable></literal>.

-   Multiple settings are separated by spaces. The following settings are supported by APT,
-   note though that unsupported settings will be ignored silently:
-   <itemizedlist><listitem><para><literal>arch=<replaceable>arch1</replaceable>,<replaceable>arch2</replaceable>,…</literal>
-   can be used to specify for which architectures packages information should
+   Multiple settings are separated by spaces. The following settings are supported by APT
+   (note however that unsupported settings will be ignored silently):
+   <itemizedlist>
+   <listitem><para><literal>arch=<replaceable>arch1</replaceable>,<replaceable>arch2</replaceable>,…</literal>
+   can be used to specify for which architectures information should

    be downloaded. If this option is not set all architectures defined by the
    be downloaded. If this option is not set all architectures defined by the

-   <literal>APT::Architectures</literal> option will be downloaded.</para>
-   </listitem></itemizedlist></para>
+   <literal>APT::Architectures</literal> option will be downloaded.</para></listitem>
+   <listitem><para><literal>arch+=<replaceable>arch1</replaceable>,<replaceable>arch2</replaceable>,…</literal>
+   and <literal>arch-=<replaceable>arch1</replaceable>,<replaceable>arch2</replaceable>,…</literal>
+   which can be used to add/remove architectures from the set which will be downloaded.</para></listitem>
+   <listitem><para><literal>trusted=yes</literal> can be set to indicate that packages
+   from this source are always authenticated even if the <filename>Release</filename> file
+   is not signed or the signature can't be checked. This disables parts of &apt-secure;
+   and should therefore only be used in a local and trusted context. <literal>trusted=no</literal>
+   is the opposite which handles even correctly authenticated sources as not authenticated.</para></listitem>
+   </itemizedlist></para>

 
    <para>It is important to list sources in order of preference, with the most
    preferred source listed first. Typically this will result in sorting
 
    <para>It is important to list sources in order of preference, with the most
    preferred source listed first. Typically this will result in sorting


@@ -135,24 +163,23 @@ deb http://security.debian.org/ &stable-codename;/updates main contrib non-free
 
  <refsect1><title>URI specification</title>
 
 
  <refsect1><title>URI specification</title>
 

-   <para>The currently recognized URI types are cdrom, file, http, ftp, copy,
-   ssh, rsh.
+    <para>The currently recognized URI types are:

    <variablelist>
    <variablelist>

-    <varlistentry><term>file</term>
+    <varlistentry><term><command>file</command></term>

     <listitem><para>
     The file scheme allows an arbitrary directory in the file system to be
     considered an archive. This is useful for NFS mounts and local mirrors or
     archives.</para></listitem>
     </varlistentry>
     
     <listitem><para>
     The file scheme allows an arbitrary directory in the file system to be
     considered an archive. This is useful for NFS mounts and local mirrors or
     archives.</para></listitem>
     </varlistentry>
     

-    <varlistentry><term>cdrom</term>
+    <varlistentry><term><command>cdrom</command></term>

     <listitem><para>
     <listitem><para>

-    The cdrom scheme allows APT to use a local CDROM drive with media
+    The cdrom scheme allows APT to use a local CD-ROM drive with media

     swapping. Use the &apt-cdrom; program to create cdrom entries in the
     source list.</para></listitem>
     </varlistentry>
 
     swapping. Use the &apt-cdrom; program to create cdrom entries in the
     source list.</para></listitem>
     </varlistentry>
 

-    <varlistentry><term>http</term>
+    <varlistentry><term><command>http</command></term>

     <listitem><para>
     The http scheme specifies an HTTP server for the archive. If an environment
     variable <envar>http_proxy</envar> is set with the format 
     <listitem><para>
     The http scheme specifies an HTTP server for the archive. If an environment
     variable <envar>http_proxy</envar> is set with the format 


@@ -163,43 +190,41 @@ deb http://security.debian.org/ &stable-codename;/updates main contrib non-free
     Note that this is an insecure method of authentication.</para></listitem>
     </varlistentry>
 
     Note that this is an insecure method of authentication.</para></listitem>
     </varlistentry>
 

-    <varlistentry><term>ftp</term>
+    <varlistentry><term><command>ftp</command></term>

     <listitem><para>
     The ftp scheme specifies an FTP server for the archive. APT's FTP behavior
     is highly configurable; for more information see the
     <listitem><para>
     The ftp scheme specifies an FTP server for the archive. APT's FTP behavior
     is highly configurable; for more information see the

-    &apt-conf; manual page. Please note that a ftp proxy can be specified
+    &apt-conf; manual page. Please note that an FTP proxy can be specified

     by using the <envar>ftp_proxy</envar> environment variable. It is possible
     by using the <envar>ftp_proxy</envar> environment variable. It is possible

-    to specify a http proxy (http proxy servers often understand ftp urls)
-    using this method and ONLY this method. ftp proxies using http specified in
+    to specify an HTTP proxy (HTTP proxy servers often understand FTP URLs)
+    using this environment variable and <emphasis>only</emphasis> this
+    environment variable. Proxies using HTTP specified in

     the configuration file will be ignored.</para></listitem>
     </varlistentry>
 
     the configuration file will be ignored.</para></listitem>
     </varlistentry>
 

-    <varlistentry><term>copy</term>
+    <varlistentry><term><command>copy</command></term>

     <listitem><para>
     The copy scheme is identical to the file scheme except that packages are
     copied into the cache directory instead of used directly at their location.
     <listitem><para>
     The copy scheme is identical to the file scheme except that packages are
     copied into the cache directory instead of used directly at their location.

-    This is useful for people using a zip disk to copy files around with APT.</para></listitem>
+    This is useful for people using removable media to copy files around with APT.</para></listitem>

     </varlistentry>
     
     </varlistentry>
     

-    <varlistentry><term>rsh</term><term>ssh</term>
+    <varlistentry><term><command>rsh</command></term><term><command>ssh</command></term>

     <listitem><para>
     <listitem><para>

-    The rsh/ssh method invokes rsh/ssh to connect to a remote host
-       as a given user and access the files. It is a good idea to do prior
-       arrangements with RSA keys or rhosts.
-    Access to files on the remote uses standard <command>find</command> and
-    <command>dd</command> 
-    commands to perform the file transfers from the remote.</para></listitem>
+    The rsh/ssh method invokes RSH/SSH to connect to a remote host and
+    access the files as a given user. Prior configuration of rhosts or RSA keys
+    is recommended. The standard <command>find</command> and <command>dd</command>
+    commands are used to perform the file transfers from the remote host.
+    </para></listitem>

     </varlistentry>
 
     </varlistentry>
 

-    <varlistentry><term>more recognizable URI types</term>
+    <varlistentry><term>adding more recognizable URI types</term>

     <listitem><para>
     <listitem><para>

-    APT can be extended with more methods shipped in other optional packages which should
-    follow the nameing scheme <literal>apt-transport-<replaceable>method</replaceable></literal>.
-    The APT team e.g. maintains also the <literal>apt-transport-https</literal> package which
-    provides access methods for https-URIs with features similar to the http method, but other
-    methods for using e.g. debtorrent are also available, see <citerefentry>
-    <refentrytitle><filename>apt-transport-debtorrent</filename></refentrytitle>
-    <manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
+    APT can be extended with more methods shipped in other optional packages, which should
+    follow the naming scheme <package>apt-transport-<replaceable>method</replaceable></package>.
+    For instance, the APT team also maintains the package <package>apt-transport-https</package>,
+    which provides access methods for HTTPS URIs with features similar to the http method.
+    Methods for using e.g. debtorrent are also available - see &apt-transport-debtorrent;.

     </para></listitem>
     </varlistentry>
   </variablelist>
     </para></listitem>
     </varlistentry>
   </variablelist>