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    Home - man page - dpkg-name

    dpkg-name

    WillieBy WillieMarch 4, 2026Updated:March 27, 2026No Comments3 Mins Read
     

    NAME

    dpkg-name – rename Debian packages to full package names  

    SYNOPSIS

    dpkg-name [option…] [—] file…  

    DESCRIPTION

    This manual page documents the dpkg-name program which provides an easy way to rename Debian packages into their full package names. A full package name consists of package_version_architecture.package-type as specified in the control file of the package. The version part of the filename consists of the upstream version information optionally followed by a hyphen and the revision information. The package-type part comes from that field if present or fallbacks to deb.  

    OPTIONS

    -a, –no-architecture
    The destination filename will not have the architecture information.
    -k, –symlink
    Create a symlink, instead of moving.
    -o, –overwrite
    Existing files will be overwritten if they have the same name as the destination filename.
    -s, –subdir [dir]
    Files will be moved into a subdirectory. If the directory given as argument exists the files will be moved into that directory otherwise the name of the target directory is extracted from the section field in the control part of the package. The target directory will be `unstable/binary-architecture/section‘. If the section is not found in the control, then `no-section’ is assumed, and in this case, as well as for sections `non-free’ and `contrib’ the target directory is `section/binary-architecture‘. The section field isn’t required so a lot of packages will find their way to the `no-section’ area. Use this option with care, it’s messy.
    -c, –create-dir
    This option can used together with the -s option. If a target directory isn’t found it will be created automatically. Use this option with care.
    -?, –help
    Show the usage message and exit.
    -v, –version
    Show the version and exit.
     

    BUGS

    Some packages don’t follow the name structure package_version_architecture.deb. Packages renamed by dpkg-name will follow this structure. Generally this will have no impact on how packages are installed by dselect(1)/dpkg(1), but other installation tools might depend on this naming structure.  

    EXAMPLES

    dpkg-name bar-foo.deb
    The file `bar-foo.deb’ will be renamed to bar-foo_1.0-2_i386.deb or something similar (depending on whatever information is in the control part of `bar-foo.deb’).
    find /root/debian/ -name ‘*.deb’ | xargs -n 1 dpkg-name -a
    All files with the extension `deb’ in the directory /root/debian and its subdirectory’s will be renamed by dpkg-name if required into names with no architecture information.
    find -name ‘*.deb’ | xargs -n 1 dpkg-name -a -o -s -c
    Don’t do this. Your archive will be messed up completely because a lot of packages don’t come with section information. Don’t do this.
    dpkg-deb –build debian-tmp && dpkg-name -o -s .. debian-tmp.deb
    This can be used when building new packages.
     

    Willie
    • Website

    Willie has over 15 years of experience in Linux system administration and DevOps. After managing infrastructure for startups and enterprises alike, he founded Command Linux to share the practical knowledge he wished he had when starting out. He oversees content strategy and contributes guides on server management, automation, and security.

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