.\" Copyright (C) 1998 Richard Braakman and Christian Schwarz
.\"
.\" This manual page is free software.  It is distributed under the
.\" terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
.\" Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
.\" option) any later version.
.\"
.\" This manual page is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
.\" but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
.\" MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
.\" GNU General Public License for more details.
.\"
.\" You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
.\" along with this manual page; if not, write to the Free Software
.\" Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301
.\" USA
.\"
.TH LINTIAN 1 "June 21, 2008" "Debian GNU/Linux"
.if n .ad l
.nh

.SH NAME
lintian \- Debian package checker

.SH SYNOPSIS
.B lintian
.RI [ action ]
.RI [ options ] 
.RI [ packages ]
\&...

.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
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.
.sp
It uses an archive directory, called \fIlaboratory\fR, 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.
.sp
There are three ways to specify binary, udeb or source packages for Lintian
to process: by file name (the .deb file for a binary package or the .dsc
file for a source package), by package name, or by naming a
.I .changes
file.  
If you list packages by package name, you'll have to
define the 
.B 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
.BR \-b " (" \-\-binary "), " \-\-udeb
and
.BR \-s " (" \-\-source )
options if you only want to process binary, udeb or source packages.)

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

.SH OPTIONS

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

.TP
.BR \-S ", " \-\-setup\-lab
Set up or update the laboratory.

.TP
.BR \-R ", " \-\-remove\-lab
Remove the laboratory directory.

.TP
.BR \-c ", " \-\-check
Run all checks over the specified packages.
This is the default action.

.TP
.BR \-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.

.TP
.BR \-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.

.TP
.BR \-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.

.TP
.BR \-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.

.PP
General options:

.TP
.BR \-h ", " \-\-help
Display usage information and exit.

.TP
.BR \-V ", " \-\-version
Display lintian version number and exit.

.TP
.BR \-\-print\-version
Print unadorned version number and exit.

.TP
.BR \-v ", " \-\-verbose
Display verbose messages.

.TP
.BR \-d ", " \-\-debug
Display debugging messages. (Implies
.BR \-v ).

.TP
.BR \-q ", " \-\-quiet
Suppress all informational messages.  Currently, the only message this
suppresses is the message at the end of the run giving the total count of
overrides.

.PP

Behaviour options for
.BR lintian .

.TP
.BR \-i ", " \-\-info
Print explanatory information about discovered policy violations in
addition to the lintian error tags. To print a long tag description
without running lintian, see
.BR lintian\-info (1).

.TP
.BR \-I ", " \-\-display\-info
Display informational ("I:") tags as well.  They are normally suppressed.

.TP
.BR \-E ", " \-\-display\-experimental
Display experimental ("X:") tags as well.  They are normally suppressed.

.TP
.BR \-l " n, " \-\-unpack\-level " n"
Set unpack level to
.IR n .
See the UNPACK LEVELS section, below.

.TP
.BR \-o ", " \-\-no\-override
Don't use the overrides file.

.TP
.BR \-\-show\-overrides
Output tags that have been overriden.

.TP
.BR \-\-color " (never|always|auto|html)"
Whether to colorize tags in lintian output based on their severity.  The
default is "never", which never uses color.  "always" will always use
color, "auto" will use color only if the output is going to a terminal,
and "html" will use HTML <span> tags with a color style attribute (instead
of ANSI color escape sequences).

.TP
.BR \-U " info1,info2,..., " \-\-unpack\-info " info1,info2,..."
Collect information info1, info2, etc. even if these are not
required by the checks.

.TP
.BR \-m ", " \-\-md5sums ", " \-\-checksums
Check checksums when processing a .changes file.  Normally, Lintian only
checks the checksums for .dsc files when processing a .changes file.

.TP
.BR \-\-allow\-root
Override
.BR lintian 's
warning when it is run with superuser privileges.

.TP
.BR \-\-fail\-on\-warnings
By default,
.B lintian
exits with 0 status if only warnings were found.  If this flag is given,
exit with a status of 1 if either warnings or errors are found.

.TP
.BR \-\-keep\-lab
By default, temporary labs will be removed after lintian is finished.
Specifying this options will leave the lab behind, which might be
useful for debugging purposes.  You can find out where the temporary
lab is located by running lintian with the
.B \-\-verbose
option.  Implies
.B \-\-unpack\-level=2
unless another unpack level is specified directly.

.PP

Configuration options:

.TP
.BR \-\-cfg " configfile"
Read the configuration from
.IR configfile
rather than the default locations.  This option overrides the
.B LINTIAN_CFG
environment variable.

.TP
.BR \-\-lab " labdir"
Use
.IR labdir
as the permanent laboratory.  This is where Lintian keeps information about
the packages it checks.  This option overrides the
.B LINTIAN_LAB
environment variable and the configuration file entry of the same
name.

.TP
.BR \-\-archivedir " archivedir"
Location of Debian archive to scan for packages.  (See the FILES section
for complete information on how the path is constructed.)  Use this if you
want Lintian to check the whole Debian archive instead of just single
packages. This option overrides the
.B LINTIAN_ARCHIVEDIR
environment variable and the configuration file entry of the same
name.

.TP
.BR \-\-dist " distdir"
Scan for packages in the
.IR distdir
directory.  (See the FILES section for complete information on how the
path is constructed.)  Use this if you want Lintian to check the whole
Debian archive instead of just single packages.  This option overrides the
.B LINTIAN_DIST
environment variable and the configuration file entry of the same
name.

.TP
.BR \-\-section " release"
When scanning for packages in the distdir, select only packages from
section
.IR section
(e.g. main). This option overrides the
.B LINTIAN_SECTION
environment variable and the configuration file entry of the same name.

.TP
.BR \-\-arch " arch"
When scanning for packages in the distdir, select only packages for
architecture
.IR arch .
This option overrides the
.B LINTIAN_ARCH
environment variable and the configuration file entry of the same name.

.TP
.BR \-\-root " rootdir"
Look for
.BR lintian 's
support files (such as check scripts and collection scripts) in
.IR rootdir .
This overrides the
.B LINTIAN_ROOT
environment variable.  The default location is
.IR /usr/share/lintian .

.PP

Package selection options:

.TP
.BR \-a ", " \-\-all
Check all packages in the distribution. (This requires that the
LINTIAN_DIST variable is defined in the configuration file.)

.TP
.BR \-b ", " \-\-binary
The following packages listed on the command line are binary packages.

.TP
.BR \-s ", " \-\-source
The following packages listed on the command line are source packages.

.TP
.BR \-\-udeb
The following packages listed on the command line are udeb packages.

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

.SH "UNPACK LEVELS"
.TP
.B "0 (none)"
The package does not exist in the \fIlaboratory\fR at all.

.TP
.B "1 (basic)"
A directory for this package exists in the \fIlaboratory\fR
and basic information is extracted.  This does not take
much space.

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

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

.TP
.B "2 (contents)"
The actual package contents are unpacked as well.

.PP
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
.B LINTIAN_UNPACK_LEVEL
variable in the configuration file.

.SH CHECKS
.TP
.B binaries (bin)
Search for bugs in binaries and object files.

.TP
.B changelog\-file (chg)
Check changelog files in a binary package.

.TP
.B conffiles (cnf)
Check if the
.I conffiles
control file of a binary package is correct.

.TP
.B control\-file (dctl)
This script checks debian/control files in source packages.

.TP
.B control\-files (ctl)
Check for unknown control files in the binary package.

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

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

.TP
.B deb\-format (dfmt)
Checks if a binary package was build with a broken version of tar so
that dpkg can't handle it correctly.

.TP
.B debconf (dc)
Looks for common mistakes in packages using debconf, like missing
dependencies or errors in the template file.

.TP
.B debian\-readme (drm)
Check if the README.Debian file is merely the debmake template.

.TP
.B debhelper (dh)
Looks for common mistakes in source packages using debhelper.

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

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

.TP
.B fields (fld)
Check control fields of a binary or source package.

.TP
.B files (fil)
Check if a binary package conforms to policy with respect to
types, permissions and ownerships of files and directories.

.TP
.B huge\-usr\-share (hus)
Checks whether an architecture-dependent package does
have a significantly big \fB/usr/share\fR. Big amounts of
architecture independent data in architecture dependent
packages waste space on the mirrors.

.TP
.B infofiles (info)
Check if a binary package conforms to policy with respect
to info documents.

.TP
.B init.d (ini)
Check if a binary package conforms to policy with respect
to scripts in \fB/etc/init.d\fR.

.TP
.B manpages (man)
Check if a binary package conforms to policy with respect
to manual pages.

.TP
.B md5sums (md5)
If the
.B md5sum
control file of a binary package exists, check if it is valid.

.TP
.B menus (men)
Check if a binary package conforms to policy with respect
to 
.B menu
and 
.B doc\-base
files.

.TP
.B menu\-format (mnf)
Check the syntax of menu files installed by the package.

.TP
.B patch\-systems (pat)
Check source package use of patch systems.

.TP
.B perl (prl)
Check perl scripts installed by the package for the usage of perl
modules, and check that the package declares the appropriate
dependencies.

.TP
.B po\-debconf (pd)
Looks for common mistakes in packages using po\-debconf.

.TP
.B rules (rul)
Looks for common problems in the debian/rules file in source packages.

.TP
.B scripts (scr)
Check the the \fB#!\fR lines of scripts in a binary package.

.TP
.B shared\-libs (shl)
Check if a binary package conforms to policy with respect to
shared libraries and the
.B shlibs
control file.

.TP
.B spelling (spl)
Check a binary package's "Description:" field and copyright file
for common spelling errors.

.TP
.B standards\-version (std)
Check if a source package contains a valid
.B Standards\-Version
field in its
.I debian/control
file.

.TP
.B version\-substvars (v\-s)
Check use of version substvars in a source package, particularly whether
the relationships between packages allow safe binary NMUs.

.TP
.B watch\-file (watch)
Check \fIdebian/watch\fP files in source packages.

.SH COLLECTION

.TP
.B changelog\-file
Copy the changelog file of a package into the lintian directory.

.TP
.B copyright\-file
Copy the copyright file of a package into the lintian directory.

.TP
.B debfiles
Collects files shipped in the source of the package.

.TP
.B debian\-readme
Copy the README.Debian file of a package into the lintian directory.

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

.TP
.B doc\-base\-files
Copy the contents of 
.B /usr/share/doc\-base
into the lintian directory (below \fBdoc\-base\fR).

.TP
.B file\-info
Collect the output of the
.BR file (1)
utility for each file in a binary package.

.TP
.B init.d
Copy 
.B /etc/init.d
scripts into the lintian directory (below \fBinit.d\fR).

.TP
.B md5sums
Collect the md5sums of all files in a binary package.

.TP
.B menu\-files
Copy the contents of a binary package's
.I usr/share/doc/menu
directory into the
.I menu
directory in the lab.

.TP
.B objdump\-info
Collect the output of the
.BR objdump (1)
utility for each file in a binary package.

.TP
.B override\-file
Copy the override file of a package into the lintian directory

.TP
.B scripts
Collect information about scripts in binary package.

.TP
.B source-control-file
Collects information about binary packages from debian/control
in source packages

.SH FILES
Lintian looks for its configuration file in the following locations:
.TP
The directory given with the \-\-cfg option
.TP
.I $LINTIAN_CFG
.TP 
.I $LINTIAN_ROOT/lintianrc
.TP
.I $HOME/.lintianrc
.TP
.I /etc/lintianrc
.PP
Lintian uses the following directories:
.TP
.I /tmp
If no lab location is specified via the LINTIAN_LAB environment variable,
configuration, or the
.B \-\-lab
command-line option, lintian defaults to creating a temporary lab
directory in
.IR /tmp .
To change the directory used, set the TMPDIR environment variable to a
suitable directory.
.TP
.I /usr/share/lintian/checks
Scripts that check aspects of a package.
.TP
.I /usr/share/lintian/collection
Scripts that collect information about a package and store it for
use by the check scripts.
.TP
.I /usr/share/lintian/lib
Utility scripts used by the other lintian scripts.
.TP
.I /usr/share/lintian/unpack
Scripts that manage the \fIlaboratory\fR.

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

.PP
When looking for packages in a Debian archive, lintian constructs the path
to the archive from the
.IR archivedir ,
.IR distdir ,
.IR release ,
.RI and arch
as follows:
.sp
.IR archivedir /dists/ distdir / release / arch
.sp
Lintian always expects the "/dists/" path component in paths to Debian
archives.

.SH EXIT STATUS
.TP
.B 0
No policy violations (errors) detected. (There might have been warnings, though.)
.TP
.B 1
Policy violations detected.
.TP
.B 2
Lintian run-time error. An error message is sent to stderr.

.SH USAGE
Examples:
.TP
.B "$ lintian foo.deb"
Check binary package foo given by foo.deb.
.TP
.B "$ lintian foo.dsc"
Check source package foo given by foo.dsc.
.TP
.B "$ 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.)
.TP
.B "$ lintian --archivedir /var/packages --dist custom --section main"
Check all packages found in the Debian archive at
.IR /var/packages/dists/custom/main .
.TP
.B "$ 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.
.TP
.B "$ lintian \-c \-\-binary foo"
Search for binary package foo in the Debian archive and check it. 
.TP
.B "$ lintian \-C cpy \-\-source foo"
Run the copyright checks on source package foo.
.TP
.B "$ 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.)
.TP
.B "$ 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.
.TP
.B "$ lintian \-r foo"
Remove package foo from the Lintian laboratory.

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

.SH SEE ALSO
.BR lintian\-info (1),
.B Lintian User's Manual
(file:/usr/share/doc/lintian/lintian.html/index.html)

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

.SH AUTHORS
Richard Braakman <dark@xs4all.nl>
.br
Christian Schwarz <schwarz@monet.m.isar.de>
.br
Please use the email address <lintian\-maint@debian.org> for Lintian related
comments.