LINTIAN-EXPLAIN-TAGS(1)

📦
version 2.139.0ubuntu2 · 11 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💅 LINTIAN-EXPLAIN-TAGS 💅

okay so bestie, you know how lintian is out here yelling about your Debian package and throwing tag names at you like confetti you didn't ask for? yeah. this is the little bestie that translates. this page is from the Debian Package Checker manual, section 1, and it's literally just the tag explainer. periodt.

✨ NAME ✨

lintian-explain-tags — offer more information about Lintian's tags 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

lintian-explain-tags tag ...

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

The lintian-explain-tags command explains the named tags you hand it on the command line. you give it tag names, it gives you the lore. that's the whole gig. no cap. 💖

👑 OPTIONS 👑

  • -l, --list-tags — list all the tags Lintian knows about, in sorted order. the full menu. the whole roster. ✨
  • -h, --help — shows you the usage info and then dips out. exit stage left. 🫶
  • --include-dir dir — use dir as an additional "Lintian root", like a bonus level. the directory is expected to have a layout similar to the LINTIAN_BASE (if it exists), but honestly it does not need to be a full self-contained root, so no pressure ok.

unlike lintian, lintian-explain-tags will not load any code from these additional directories. it's giving "look, don't touch". 🙈

this option may appear more than once, and each time it just adds another directory. stack 'em like scrunchies. 💜

  • --profile prof — use the severities from the vendor profile prof when displaying tags. if the profile name doesn't contain a slash, then the default profile for that vendor gets picked instead. (iykyk)

if you don't specify one, lintian-explain-tags loads the best profile for the current vendor. it just knows. main character energy. 💅

please refer to the Lintian User Manual for the full documentation of profiles — that's the deep lore, not this page. 📖✨

  • -t, --tag, --tags — bestie. this option has no effect. it exists purely for historical reasons. it's the decorative pillow of options. it's here, it's cute, it does nothing. 😭
  • --user-dirs, --no-user-dirs — by default, lintian will check $HOME and /etc for files supplied by the user or the local sysadmin (e.g. profiles). that default can be disabled (and re-enabled) by using --no-user-dirs (and --user-dirs, respectively). 🍓

these options can appear multiple times, in which case the last one of them to appear determines the result. last one wins, like a group chat poll. 🗳️

💀 EXIT STATUS 💀

if any of the tags you specified were not found in the specified profile (or in the default profile), this command returns with exit code 1. rip. 😭

when all requested tags were found, it returns with exit code 0. slay. 🔥

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

  • lintian(1) — the mothership. go there next. 🚀

💖 AUTHORS 💖

  • Niels Thykier <niels@thykier.net>
  • Richard Braakman <dark@xs4all.nl>
  • Christian Schwarz <schwarz@monet.m.isar.de>

the icons who built this. we stan. 👑

and that's the whole page babe!! this was Lintian v2.139.0ubuntu2, dated 2026-10-08, and yes you're still reading LINTIAN-EXPLAIN-TAGS(1) 💅✨ go explain those tags, bestie, you got this 🦋🌸

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