Dpkg::Control(3perl)

📦
version 1.23.11 · 19 versions
, in arch rolling

💅 Dpkg::Control — the libdpkg-perl glow-up

okay so bestie, welcome to Dpkg::Control(3perl) from libdpkg-perl — this is the module you want when you need to actually understand control-like info instead of just staring at it. ✨

🌸 NAME

Dpkg::Control — parse and manipulate official control-like information 🎀

💖 DESCRIPTION

The Dpkg::Control object is a smart version of Dpkg::Control::Hash. It literally associates a type with the control information — main character energy, fr fr. That type is what tells you which fields are allowed and in what order they have to be output. No cap, it's the vibe check for your fields. 🦋

The types are constants that are exported by default. Here's the full list, bestie, all of them, not skipping a single one:

  • CTRL_UNKNOWN — this is the default type, and it means the type of control information is not yet known. the "idk her yet" of types 🙈
  • CTRL_TMPL_SRC — corresponds to the first source package stanza in a debian/control file in a Debian source package.
  • CTRL_TMPL_PKG — corresponds to subsequent binary package stanza in a debian/control file in a Debian source package.
  • CTRL_REPO_RELEASE — corresponds to a Release file in a repository.
  • CTRL_REPO_SRC — corresponds to a stanza in a Sources file of a source package repository.
  • CTRL_REPO_PKG — corresponds to a stanza in a Packages file of a binary package repository.
  • CTRL_DSC — corresponds to a .dsc file of a Debian source package.
  • CTRL_DEB — corresponds to the control file generated by dpkg-gencontrol (DEBIAN/control) and to the same file inside .deb packages.
  • CTRL_FILE_BUILDINFO — corresponds to a .buildinfo file.
  • CTRL_FILE_CHANGES — corresponds to a .changes file.
  • CTRL_FILE_VENDOR — corresponds to a vendor file in $Dpkg::CONFDIR/origins/.
  • CTRL_FILE_STATUS — corresponds to a stanza in dpkg's status file ($Dpkg::ADMINDIR/status).
  • CTRL_CHANGELOG — corresponds to the output of dpkg-parsechangelog.
  • CTRL_COPYRIGHT_HEADER — corresponds to the header stanza in a debian/copyright file in machine readable format.
  • CTRL_COPYRIGHT_FILES — corresponds to a files stanza in a debian/copyright file in machine readable format.
  • CTRL_COPYRIGHT_LICENSE — corresponds to a license stanza in a debian/copyright file in machine readable format.
  • CTRL_TESTS — corresponds to a source package tests control file in debian/tests/control.
  • CTRL_INFO_SRC — deprecated alias for CTRL_TMPL_SRC. 👑 (she's retired, respect her legacy)
  • CTRL_INFO_PKG — deprecated alias for CTRL_TMPL_PKG.
  • CTRL_PKG_SRC — deprecated alias for CTRL_DSC.
  • CTRL_PKG_DEB — deprecated alias for CTRL_DEB.
  • CTRL_INDEX_SRC — deprecated alias for CTRL_REPO_SRC.
  • CTRL_INDEX_PKG — deprecated alias for CTRL_REPO_PKG.

✨ METHODS ✨

Every single method of Dpkg::Control::Hash is available to you — yes, all of them, go off. The ones listed below are either new or overridden with a different behavior. 👇

💜 $ctrl = Dpkg::Control->new(%opts)

Create a new deb822 control object. fresh out of the box, literally. 🎁

Options:

  • type — set the deb822 control type, used to setup default values for other options.

See set_options() for more details. (yes, she's right below, keep reading 💅)

💜 $ctrl->set_options(%opts)

Changes the value of one or more options. glow-up time. 🌈

Options:

  • type — sets the deb822 control object type, used to define default values for others options.

The output order is also set to match the ordered list returned by Dpkg::Control::Fields::field_ordered_list($type). so the fields come out in the right order, periodt.

  • name — sets a textual description of the type of control information.
  • allow_pgp — sets whether the parser accepts OpenPGP signatures around the deb822 control information.

By default it is set to 1 for CTRL_DSC, CTRL_FILE_CHANGES and CTRL_REPO_RELEASE and to 0 otherwise.

  • allow_duplicate — sets whether the parser allows duplicate fields in deb822 control information.
  • keep_duplicate — sets whether the parser will keep values for duplicate fields found in deb822 control information (when allow_duplicate is enabled), as array references.
  • drop_empty — sets whether empty fields are dropped during output.

By default it is set to 0 for CTRL_TMPL_SRC and CTRL_TMPL_PKG and to 1 otherwise.

💜 $type = $ctrl->get_type()

Returns the type of control information stored. See the type parameter set during new(). that's it, that's the method 🫶

🦋 CHANGES

🌟 Version 1.05 (dpkg 1.22.12)

Deprecate types: CTRL_INFO_SRC, CTRL_INFO_PKG, CTRL_PKG_SRC, CTRL_PKG_DEB, CTRL_INDEX_SRC, CTRL_INDEX_PKG. 😭 they had a good run.

🌟 Version 1.04 (dpkg 1.22.2)

New types: CTRL_TMPL_SRC, CTRL_TMPL_PKG, CTRL_REPO_SRC, CTRL_REPO_PKG, CTRL_DSC, CTRL_DEB. 🔥

🌟 Version 1.03 (dpkg 1.18.11)

New type: CTRL_FILE_BUILDINFO. ⭐

🌟 Version 1.02 (dpkg 1.18.8)

New type: CTRL_TESTS. 🧚

🌟 Version 1.01 (dpkg 1.18.5)

New types: CTRL_REPO_RELEASE, CTRL_COPYRIGHT_HEADER, CTRL_COPYRIGHT_FILES, CTRL_COPYRIGHT_LICENSE. 🍓

🌟 Version 1.00 (dpkg 1.15.6)

Mark the module as public. she's officially out, iconic behavior 👑

ngl bestie, if you're touching deprecated aliases in new code, that's a yikes — the module literally tells you they're deprecated. use the new ones. 💀

and that's the whole page, pookie — written against 1.23.11-dirty, dated 2026-09-09, shipped with Dpkg::Control(3perl) from libdpkg-perl. go slay your deb822 parsing 💅💖

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