AptPkg...ecords(3pm)

💖 AptPkg::PkgRecords — the APT package description class 💖

okay bestie, welcome to AptPkg::PkgRecords, straight out of your User Contributed Perl Documentation 💅 this is the module that lets you peek at the parsed tea inside package files, and honestly? it's giving very demure, very mindful, very APT.

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✨ NAME ✨

AptPkg::PkgRecords — the APT package description class 👑

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

the whole vibe in one line, no notes:

use AptPkg::PkgRecords;

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so basically, the AptPkg::PkgRecords module hands you an interface to the parsed contents of package files. that's the whole job. it parses, you read. slay. 💖

🎀 AptPkg::PkgRecords

the AptPkg::PkgRecords package Implements the APT pkgRecords class. periodt.

and like, how do you even get one? you don't just conjure it out of thin air bestie — you fetch an instance of the AptPkg::PkgRecords class using the "packages" method from an AptPkg::Cache object. that's the portal. that's the door. okay? 🚪✨

🌈 Methods

• lookup(PACK) — returns a hash (or a hash reference, depending on context, because Perl loves doing that 🙈) for the given package.

and PACK can be any of these three things, your choice bestie:

• an AptPkg::Cache::VerFile object
• an AptPkg::Cache::DescFile object
• or just a package name

the hash it gives you back contains these keys, and yes, we're listing all of them, every single one, no skipping:

"FileName", "Checksum-FileSize", "MD5Hash", "SHA256",
"SourcePkg", "SourceVer", "Maintainer", "ShortDesc", "LongDesc"
and "Name".

and those values are taken from the packages or translation file. cute.

⚠️ real talk though: "LongDesc" is generally not useful for AptPkg::Cache::VerFile objects, which refer to the Packages file — because those no longer contain the full description (it lives in the Translation files now). so don't come for me when it's mid. 💀

and there's more! if PACK is a package name, these additional values get set too:

"Section" and "VerStr".

AND the following values get overridden with the translated versions:

"ShortDesc" and "LongDesc".

so yeah — pass a package name and you get the glow-up version. main character energy fr fr 👑

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

go read these too, they're part of the family:

• AptPkg::Cache(3pm)
• AptPkg(3pm)

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💜 AUTHOR 💜

Brendan O'Dea <bod@debian.org> — the icon who wrote this. put some respect on the name 🫶

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that's the whole page bestie, you ate it up 💅✨ this was perl v5.42.3, dated 2026-08-19, and it's still giving AptPkg...ecords(3pm) energy. go forth and parse some package files, you've got this 🦋🌸🎀