deb-old(5)

NAME

   deb-old - old style Debian binary package format

SYNOPSIS

   filename.deb

DESCRIPTION

   The  .deb  format is the Debian binary package file format. This manual
   page describes the old format, used  before  Debian  0.93.  Please  see
   deb(5) for details of the new format.

FORMAT

   The  file is two lines of format information as ASCII text, followed by
   two concatenated gzipped ustar files.

   The first line is the format version number padded to 8 digits, and  is
   0.939000 for all old-format archives.

   The second line is a decimal string (without leading zeroes) giving the
   length of the first gzipped tarfile.

   Each of these lines is terminated with a single newline character.

   The first tarfile contains the control  information,  as  a  series  of
   ordinary  files.  The  file control must be present, as it contains the
   core control information.

   In some very old  archives,  the  files  in  the  control  tarfile  may
   optionally  be  in  a  DEBIAN  subdirectory.  In  that case, the DEBIAN
   subdirectory will be in  the  control  tarfile  too,  and  the  control
   tarfile  will have only files in that directory. Optionally the control
   tarfile may contain an entry for '.', that is, the current directory.

   The second  gzipped  tarfile  is  the  filesystem  archive,  containing
   pathnames  relative to the root directory of the system to be installed
   on. The pathnames do not have leading slashes.

SEE ALSO

   deb(5), dpkg-deb(1), deb-control(5).

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