dpkg-architecture(1)

💖 dpkg-architecture(1) — the dpkg suite's architecture bestie 👑

🌸 NAME 🌸

dpkg-architecture — set and determine the architecture for package building.

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

dpkg-architecture [option...] [command]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

Okay so bestie, dpkg-architecture is the tool that helps you figure out and set the build and host architecture for package building. It's giving architecture detective energy 🔍✨.

The build architecture is always determined by either the DEB_BUILD_ARCH variable if it's set (and --force is not being specified), or by an external call to dpkg(1). It literally cannot be set at the command line — no cap.

You can specify the host architecture by providing one or both of the options --host-arch and --host-type; otherwise the DEB_HOST_ARCH variable is used if it's set (and --force is not being specified). The default is determined by an external call to gcc(1), or it's the same as the build architecture if CC or gcc are both not available. One out of --host-arch and --host-type is sufficient — the value of the other will be set to a usable default. And honestly? It's often better to only specify one, because dpkg-architecture will warn you if your choice does not match the default 👀💅.

💅 COMMANDS 💅

-l, --list — Print the environment variables, one on each line, in the format VARIABLE=value. This is the default action. Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
-e, --equal architecture — Check for equality of architecture. It compares the current or specified Debian host architecture against architecture to check if they are equal. This action will not expand the architecture wildcards. The command finishes with an exit status of 0 if matched, 1 if not matched. Supported since dpkg 1.13.13. Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
-i, --is architecture-wildcard — Check for identity of architecture. It compares the current or specified Debian host architecture against architecture-wildcard after having expanded it as an architecture wildcard, to check if they match. The command finishes with an exit status of 0 if matched, 1 if not matched. Supported since dpkg 1.13.13. Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
-q, --query variable-name — Print the value of a single variable. Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
-s, --print-set — Print an export command. This can be used to set the environment variables using the POSIX shell or make eval, depending on the output format. Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
-u, --print-unset — Print a similar command to --print-set but to unset all variables. Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
-c, --command command-string — Execute a command-string in an environment which has all variables set to the determined value. If the command-string contains shell metacharacters, then it will be invoked through the system bourne shell. Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
-L, --list-known — Print a list of valid architecture names. Possibly restricted by one or more of the matching options --match-wildcard, --match-bits or --match-endian. Supported since dpkg 1.17.14. Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
-?, --help — Show the usage message and exit. Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
--version — Show the version and exit. Supported since dpkg 1.17.17.

🔥 OPTIONS 🔥

-a, --host-arch architecture — Set the host Debian architecture. Support for long option since dpkg 1.17.17.
-t, --host-type gnu-system-type — Set the host GNU system type. Support for long option since dpkg 1.17.17.
-A, --target-arch architecture — Set the target Debian architecture. Supported since dpkg 1.17.14. Support for long option since dpkg 1.17.17.
-T, --target-type gnu-system-type — Set the target GNU system type. Supported since dpkg 1.17.14. Support for long option since dpkg 1.17.17.
-W, --match-wildcard architecture-wildcard — Restrict the architectures listed by --list-known to ones matching the specified architecture wildcard. Supported since dpkg 1.17.14. Support for long option since dpkg 1.17.17.
-B, --match-bits architecture-bits — Restrict the architectures listed by --list-known to ones with the specified CPU bits. Either 32 or 64. Supported since dpkg 1.17.14. Support for long option since dpkg 1.17.17.
-E, --match-endian architecture-endianness — Restrict the architectures listed by --list-known to ones with the specified endianness. Either little or big. Supported since dpkg 1.17.14. Support for long option since dpkg 1.17.17.
--print-format format — Sets the output format for --print-set and --print-unset, to either shell (default) or make. Supported since dpkg 1.20.6.
-f, --force — Values set by existing environment variables with the same name as used by the scripts are honored (i.e. used by dpkg-architecture), except if this force flag is present. This allows the user to override a value even when the call to dpkg-architecture is buried in some other script (for example dpkg-buildpackage(1)). Support for long option since dpkg 1.17.17.

🧚 TERMS 🧚

🛠️ build machine

The machine the package is built on.

🎯 host machine

The machine the package is built for.

🌈 target machine

The machine the compiler is building for, or the emulator will run code for. This is only needed when building a cross-toolchain (or emulator), one that will be built on the build architecture, to be run on the host architecture, and that itself will build (or run emulated) code for the target architecture.

🧬 Debian architecture

A Debian architecture describes a “machine” (considering it as an abstraction not necessarily tied to an actual physical device) representing a specific execution environment, including its CPU and attributes (such as endianness and bits), an operating system (usually a kernel, but other paradigms using userland services are possible) and its interfaces towards userland including the executable format and their ABI, and a libc library and its ABI. Literally all the architecture lore 💜.

The special architecture all denotes an architecture independent execution environment, used for things such as shell and Perl scripts or documentation.

A Debian architecture is used in binary package metadata and filenames (which specifies the binary tree in a package repository), and can appear in package relationships.

An architecture must start with an alphanumeric character (0-9a-zA-Z), and then gets followed by alphanumeric or dash (-) characters.

Examples: amd64, i386, sparc64, hurd-amd64, musl-linux-riscv64.

🧩 Debian architecture tuple

A Debian architecture tuple is the fully qualified architecture with all its components spelled out. This differs with Debian architectures in that at least the cpu component does not embed the abi. The current tuple has the form abi-libc-os-cpu.

Examples: base-gnu-linux-amd64, eabihf-musl-linux-arm.

🦋 Debian architecture wildcard

A Debian architecture wildcard is a special architecture that acts as a pattern and will match any “machine” architecture being part of it (except for all).

The general form is a Debian architecture tuple with four or less elements, and with at least one of them being any. Missing elements of the tuple are prefixed implicitly as any, and thus the following pairs are equivalent:

any-any-any-any = any
any-any-os-any = os-any
any-libc-any-any = libc-any-any

Examples: linux-any, any-i386, hurd-any, eabi-any-any-arm, musl-any-any.

⚙️ GNU system type

A GNU architecture specification string consisting of two parts separated by a hyphen: CPU and system.

The CPU part never contains a hyphen, while the system part might itself contain a hyphen to separate a kernel from its general ABI, where the general ABI might contain both runtime (such as libc) and executable ABI specifiers joined without a hyphen.

Examples: i586-linux-gnu, sparc64-linux-gnu, i686-gnu, x86_64-netbsd.

🧸 multiarch triplet

The clarified GNU system type, used for filesystem paths. This triplet does not change even when the baseline ISA gets bumped, so that the resulting paths are stable over time. The only current difference with the GNU system type is that the CPU part for i386 based systems is always i386.

Examples: i386-linux-gnu, x86_64-linux-gnu. Example paths: /lib/powerpc64le-linux-gnu/, /usr/lib/i386-gnu/.

🌸 VARIABLES 🌸

Okay so these are the env vars this thing reads and sets — it reads them from the environment (unless you passed --force, bestie, then it does its own thing) and then it sets them too. The naming scheme is explained back in TERMS, so if you're confused about build vs host vs target, go peek there. 👀

Heads up: the build ones are for the machine doing the building. If you're not building tools that need to run during the build, these are probably not the variables you're looking for, fr fr. See "TERMS".

DEB_BUILD_ARCH — the Debian architecture of the build machine.
DEB_BUILD_ARCH_ABI — the Debian ABI name of the build machine. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
DEB_BUILD_ARCH_LIBC — the Debian libc name of the build machine. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
DEB_BUILD_ARCH_OS — the Debian system name of the build machine. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.13.2.
DEB_BUILD_ARCH_CPU — the Debian CPU name of the build machine. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.13.2.
DEB_BUILD_ARCH_BITS — the pointer size of the build machine (in bits). ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.15.4.
DEB_BUILD_ARCH_ENDIAN — the endianness of the build machine (little / big). ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.15.4.
DEB_BUILD_GNU_CPU — the GNU CPU part of DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE.
DEB_BUILD_GNU_SYSTEM — the GNU system part of DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE.
DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE — the GNU system type of the build machine.
DEB_BUILD_MULTIARCH — the clarified GNU system type of the build machine, the one used for filesystem paths. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.16.0.

DEB_HOST_ARCH — the Debian architecture of the host machine. 💅
DEB_HOST_ARCH_ABI — the Debian ABI name of the host machine. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
DEB_HOST_ARCH_LIBC — the Debian libc name of the host machine. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
DEB_HOST_ARCH_OS — the Debian system name of the host machine. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.13.2.
DEB_HOST_ARCH_CPU — the Debian CPU name of the host machine. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.13.2.
DEB_HOST_ARCH_BITS — the pointer size of the host machine (in bits). ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.15.4.
DEB_HOST_ARCH_ENDIAN — the endianness of the host machine (little / big). ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.15.4.
DEB_HOST_GNU_CPU — the GNU CPU part of DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE.
DEB_HOST_GNU_SYSTEM — the GNU system part of DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE.
DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE — the GNU system type of the host machine.
DEB_HOST_MULTIARCH — the clarified GNU system type of the host machine, used for filesystem paths. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.16.0.

DEB_TARGET_ARCH — the Debian architecture of the target machine.

Note: if you're not building cross-toolchains (or emulators), these are probably not the variables you're looking for. See "TERMS". Also ✨ supported since dpkg 1.17.14.

DEB_TARGET_ARCH_ABI — the Debian ABI name of the target machine. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
DEB_TARGET_ARCH_LIBC — the Debian libc name of the target machine. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
DEB_TARGET_ARCH_OS — the Debian system name of the target machine. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_ARCH_CPU — the Debian CPU name of the target machine. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_ARCH_BITS — the pointer size of the target machine (in bits). ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_ARCH_ENDIAN — the endianness of the target machine (little / big). ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_GNU_CPU — the GNU CPU part of DEB_TARGET_GNU_TYPE. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_GNU_SYSTEM — the GNU system part of DEB_TARGET_GNU_TYPE. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_GNU_TYPE — the GNU system type of the target machine. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_MULTIARCH — the clarified GNU system type of the target machine, used for filesystem paths. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.

🗂️ FILES 🗂️

🧚 Architecture tables

Real talk: all of these files have to be present for dpkg-architecture to work. No files, no vibes. 😭 Where they live can be overridden at runtime with the DPKG_DATADIR environment variable. These tables carry a format Version pseudo-field on their first line to mark their format, so parsers can check whether they actually understand it — like "# Version=1.0", bestie. 🎀

/usr/share/dpkg/cputable — table of known CPU names and their mapping to their GNU name. Format version 1.0, supported since dpkg 1.13.2.
/usr/share/dpkg/ostable — table of known operating system names and their mapping to their GNU name. Format version 2.0, supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
/usr/share/dpkg/tupletable — the mapping between Debian architecture tuples and Debian architecture names. Format version 1.0, supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
/usr/share/dpkg/abitable — table of Debian architecture ABI attribute overrides. Format version 2.0, supported since dpkg 1.18.11.

🎁 Packaging support

/usr/share/dpkg/architecture.mk — a Makefile snippet that properly sets and exports all the variables that dpkg-architecture outputs. Genuinely such a slay. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.16.1.

💖 EXAMPLES 💖

dpkg-buildpackage accepts the -a option and passes it straight to dpkg-architecture. Other examples, since you asked so nicely:

CC=i386-gnu-gcc dpkg-architecture -c debian/rules build

eval $(dpkg-architecture -u)

Wanna check if the current or specified host architecture is equal to an architecture? Iconic, easy:

dpkg-architecture -elinux-arm64

dpkg-architecture -ariscv64 -elinux-riscv64

Wanna check if the current or specified host architecture is a Linux system? Also easy:

dpkg-architecture -ilinux-any

dpkg-architecture -aamd64 -ilinux-any

🌈 Usage in debian/rules

The environment variables set by dpkg-architecture get passed to debian/rules as make variables (see the make documentation, iykyk). But — and this is the important part — you should not rely on them, because that breaks manual invocation of the script. 😭 Instead, always initialize them yourself using dpkg-architecture with the -q option. Here are some examples that also show how you can improve the cross compilation support in your package. 🫶

Retrieving the GNU system type and forwarding it to ./configure:

DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE)
DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE)
[...]
ifeq ($(DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE), $(DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE))
  confflags += --build=$(DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE)
else
  confflags += --build=$(DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE) \
               --host=$(DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE)
endif
[...]
./configure $(confflags)

Doing something only for a specific architecture:

DEB_HOST_ARCH ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_ARCH)

ifeq ($(DEB_HOST_ARCH),arm64)
  [...]
endif

Or, if you only need to check the CPU or OS type, use the DEB_HOST_ARCH_CPU or DEB_HOST_ARCH_OS variables instead. 💅

Note that you can also rely on an external Makefile snippet to properly set all the variables that dpkg-architecture can provide:

include /usr/share/dpkg/architecture.mk

ifeq ($(DEB_HOST_ARCH),arm64)
  [...]
endif

In any case — and I cannot stress this enough, bestie — you should never use dpkg --print-architecture to get architecture information during a package build. Not the vibe. 💀

🌸 ENVIRONMENT 🌸

DPKG_DATADIR — if set, it's used as the dpkg data directory, which is where the architecture tables live. Defaults to «/usr/share/dpkg». ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.14.17.
DPKG_COLORS — sets the color mode. The currently accepted values are: auto (the default), always and never. ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.18.5.
DPKG_NLS — if set, it's used to decide whether to activate Native Language Support, also known as internationalization (or i18n) support. The accepted values are: 0 and 1 (the default). ✨ Supported since dpkg 1.19.0.

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

dpkg-buildpackage(1).

And that's the whole page, bestie — go forth and cross-compile responsibly. 👑

This page is from dpkg version 1.23.11-dirty, dated 2026-09-09, and it's the dpkg-architecture(1) manual page — mwah, thanks for reading. 💋✨

📦 where this page comes from

arch rolling: dpkg 1.23.11-1 · GPL-2.0-or-later
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on 2026-11-04: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms