lintian - Debian package checker

lintian [action] [options] [packages] ...

Lintian dissects Debian packages and reports bugs and policy violations. It contains automated checks for many aspects of Debian policy as well as some checks for common errors. It uses an archive directory, called laboratory, in which it stores information about the packages it examines. It can keep this information between multiple invocations in order to avoid repeating expensive data-collection operations. There are three ways to specify binary, udeb or source packages for Lintian to process: by file name, by package name, or by naming a .changes file. If you list packages by package name, you'll have to define the LINTIAN_DIST variable in the configuration file (see below). Lintian will then search for any binary or source packages in this directory for packages with the given name. (You can use the -b (--binary), --udeb and -s (--source) options if you only want to process binary, udeb or source packages.)

If you specify a .changes file, Lintian will process all packages listed in that file. This is convenient when checking a new package before uploading it.

Actions of the lintian command: (Only one action can be specified per invocation)

-S, --setup-lab

Set up or update the laboratory.

-R, --remove-lab

Remove the laboratory directory.

-c, --check

Run all checks over the specified packages. This is the default action.

-C chk1,chk2,..., --check-part chk1,chk2,...

Run only the specified checks. You can either specify the name of the check script or the abbreviation. For details, see the CHECKS section below.

-X chk1,chk2,..., --dont-check-part chk1,chk2,...

Run all but the the specified checks. You can either specify the name of the check script or the abbreviation. For details, see the CHECKS section below.

-u, --unpack

Unpack the specified packages up to the current unpack level. The default unpack level is 1 for this option. See the UNPACK LEVELS section below.

-r, --remove

Clean up the lintian directory of the specified packages up to the current unpack level. The default unpack level is 0 for this option.

General options:

-h, --help

Display usage information and exit.

-v, --verbose

Display verbose messages.

-V, --version

Display lintian version number and exit.

-d, --debug

Display debugging messages. (Implies -v).

--print-version

Print unadorned version number and exit.

Behaviour options for lintian.

-i, --info

Print explanatory information about discovered policy violations in addition to the lintian error tags.

-I, --display-info

Display informational ("I:") tags as well. They are normally suppressed.

-l n, --unpack-level n

Set unpack level to n. See the UNPACK LEVELS section, below.

-o, --no-override

Don't use the overrides file.

--show-overrides

Output tags that have been overriden

-U info1,info2,..., --unpack-info info1,info2,...

Collect information info1, info2, etc. even if these are not required by the checks.

-m, --md5sums

Check md5sums when processing a .changes file. Normally, Lintian only checks the md5sums for .dsc files when processing a .changes file.

--allow-root

Override lintian's warning when it is run with superuser privileges.

Configuration options:

--cfg configfile

Read the configuration from configfile rather than the default locations. This option overrides the LINTIAN_CFG environment variable.

--lab labdir

Use labdir as the permanent laboratory. This is where Lintian keeps information about the packages it checks. This option overrides the LINTIAN_LAB environment variable and the configuration file entry of the same name.

--archivedir archivedir

Location of Debian archive to scan for packages. Use this if you want Lintian to check the whole Debian archive instead of just single packages. This option overrides the LINTIAN_ARCHIVEDIR environment variable and the configuration file entry of the same name.

--dist distdir

Scan for packages in the distdir directory. Use this if you want Lintian to check the whole Debian archive instead of just single packages. This option overrides the LINTIAN_DIST environment variable and the configuration file entry of the same name.

--section release

When scanning for packages in the distdir, select only packages from section section (e.g. main). This option overrides the LINTIAN_SECTION environment variable and the configuration file entry of the same name.

--arch arch

When scanning for packages in the distdir, select only packages for architecture arch. This option overrides the LINTIAN_ARCH environment variable and the configuration file entry of the same name.

--root rootdir

Look for lintian's support files (such as check scripts and collection scripts) in rootdir. This overrides the LINTIAN_ROOT environment variable. The default location is /usr/share/lintian.

Package selection options:

-a, --all

Check all packages in the distribution. (This requires that the LINTIAN_DIST variable is defined in the configuration file.)

-b, --binary

The following packages listed on the command line are binary packages.

-s, --source

The following packages listed on the command line are source packages.

--udeb

The following packages listed on the command line are udeb packages.

-p, --packages-file X

Process all packages which are listed in file X. Each package has to be listed in a single line using the following format: type package version file where type is either `b' or `s' (binary or source package), package is the package name, version is the package's version, and file is the package file name (absolute path specification).

0 (none)

The package does not exist in the laboratory at all.

1 (basic)

A directory for this package exists in the laboratory and basic information is extracted. This does not take much space.

For binary and udeb packages, the control and fields directories and the index file are unpacked, and symbolic links are made to the .deb file and to the lintian directory for the source package.

For source packages, the binary and fields directories are unpacked, and symbolic links are made to the source package files.

2 (contents)

The actual package contents are unpacked as well.

Lintian will unpack packages as far as is necessary to do its checks, but it will leave the package in whatever unpack level was specified when it is done.

The default unpack level can be overwritten by setting the LINTIAN_UNPACK_LEVEL variable in the configuration file.

binaries (bin)

Search for bugs in binaries and object files.

changelog-file (chg)

Check changelog files in a binary package.

conffiles (cnf)

Check if the conffiles control file of a binary package is correct.

control-file (dctl)

This script checks debian/control files in source packages.

control-files (ctl)

Check for unknown control files in the binary package.

copyright-file (cpy)

Check if a binary package conforms to policy with respect to the copyright file. Each binary package must either have a /usr/share/doc/package/copyright file or must have a symlink /usr/share/doc/package->foo, where foo comes from the same source package, and this package declares a "Depends" relation on foo.

cruft (deb)

Looks for cruft in source packages, like files of version control systems and temporary files from the build process.

deb-format (dfmt)

Checks if a binary package was build with a broken version of tar so that dpkg can't handle it correctly.

debconf (dc)

Looks for common mistakes in packages using debconf, like missing dependencies or errors in the template file.

debdiff (dif)

Look for .orig and .rej files in the Debian diffs.

debian-readme (drm)

Check if the README.Debian file is merely the debmake template.

debhelper (dh)

Looks for common mistakes in source packages using debhelper.

description (des)

Check if the Description control field of a binary package conforms to the rules in the Policy Manual (section 3.4).

etcfiles (etc)

Checks if all files in /etc that are shipped with the package are marked as conffiles as required by policy.

fields (fld)

Check control fields of a binary or source package.

files (fil)

Check if a binary package conforms to policy with respect to types, permissions and ownerships of files and directories.

huge-usr-share (hus)

Checks whether an architecture-dependent package does have a significantly big /usr/share. Big amounts of architecture independent data in architecture dependent packages waste space on the mirrors.

infofiles (info)

Check if a binary package conforms to policy with respect to info documents.

init.d (ini)

Check if a binary package conforms to policy with respect to scripts in /etc/init.d.

manpages (man)

Check if a binary package conforms to policy with respect to manual pages.

md5sums (md5)

If the md5sum control file of a binary package exists, check if it is valid.

menus (men)

Check if a binary package conforms to policy with respect to menu and doc-base files.

menu-format (mnf)

Check the syntax of menu files installed by the package.

perl (prl)

Check perl scripts installed by the package for the usage of perl modules, and check that the package declares the appropriate dependencies.

po-debconf (pd)

Looks for common mistakes in packages using po-debconf.

scripts (scr)

Check the the #! lines of scripts in a binary package.

shared-libs (shl)

Check if a binary package conforms to policy with respect to shared libraries and the shlibs control file.

spelling (spl)

Check a binary package's "Description:" field and copyright file for common spelling errors.

standards-version (std)

Check if a source package contains a valid Standards-Version field in its debian/control file.

changelog-file

Copy the changelog file of a package into the lintian directory.

copyright-file

Copy the copyright file of a package into the lintian directory.

debfiles

Collects files shipped in the source of the package.

debian-readme

Copy the README.Debian file of a package into the lintian directory.

diffstat

Collect the output of the diffstat(1) utility for the Debian diff in a source package.

doc-base-files

Copy the contents of /usr/share/doc-base into the lintian directory (below doc-base).

file-info

Collect the output of the file(1) utility for each file in a binary package.

init.d

Copy /etc/init.d scripts into the lintian directory (below init.d).

md5sums

Collect the md5sums of all files in a binary package.

menu-files

Copy the contents of a binary package's usr/share/doc/menu directory into the menu directory in the lab.

objdump-info

Collect the output of the objdump(1) utility for each file in a binary package.

override-file

Copy the override file of a package into the lintian directory

scripts

Collect information about scripts in binary package.

source-control-file

Collects information about binary packages from debian/control in source packages

Lintian looks for its configuration file in the following locations:

The directory given with the --cfg option

$LINTIAN_CFG

$LINTIAN_ROOT/lintianrc

$HOME/.lintianrc

/etc/lintianrc

Lintian uses the following directories:

/usr/share/lintian/checks

Scripts that check aspects of a package.

/usr/share/lintian/collection

Scripts that collect information about a package and store it for use by the check scripts.

/usr/share/lintian/info

Information used by lintian collected from external sources.

/usr/share/lintian/lib

Utility scripts used by the other lintian scripts.

/usr/share/lintian/unpack

Scripts that manage the laboratory.

The /usr/share/lintian directory can be overridden with the LINTIAN_ROOT environment variable or the --root option.

0

No policy violations (errors) detected. (There might have been warnings, though.)

1

Policy violations detected.

2

Lintian run-time error. An error message is sent to stderr.

Examples:

$ lintian foo.deb

Check binary package foo given by foo.deb.

$ lintian foo.dsc

Check source package foo given by foo.dsc.

$ lintian foo

Search for package foo in the Debian archive and check it. (Depending on what is found, this command will check either the source or binary package foo, or both.)

$ lintian -i foo.changes

Check the changes file and, if listed, the source and binary package of the upload. The output will contain detailed information about the reported tags.

$ lintian -c --binary foo

Search for binary package foo in the Debian archive and check it.

$ lintian -C cpy --source foo

Run the copyright checks on source package foo.

$ lintian -u foo

Unpack package foo in the Lintian laboratory up to level 1. (If it's already unpacked at level 1 or 2, nothing is done.)

$ lintian -l1 -r foo

Search for package foo in the Debian archive and, if found, reduce the package disk usage in the laboratory to level 1.

$ lintian -r foo

Remove package foo from the Lintian laboratory.

Lintian does not handle packages with different binary and source version numbers correctly. Lintian does not have any locking mechanisms yet. (Running several checks simultaneously is likely to fail.) If you discover any other bugs in Lintian, please contact the authors.

lintian-info(1), Lintian User's Manual (file:/usr/share/doc/lintian/lintian.html/index.html)

Packaging tools: debhelper(7), dh_make(8), dpkg-buildpackage(1)

Package checkers: linda(1)

Richard Braakman <dark@xs4all.nl>

Christian Schwarz <schwarz@monet.m.isar.de>

Please use the email address <lintian-maint@debian.org> for Lintian related comments.