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+<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.1//EN">
+
+<refentry id="deb-old.5">
+ <refmeta>
+ <refentrytitle>deb-old</refentrytitle>
+ <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
+ <refmiscinfo class="source">Debian Project</refmiscinfo>
+ <refmiscinfo class="manua"'>dpkg suite</refmiscinfo>
+ </refmeta>
+
+ <refnamediv>
+ <refname>deb-old</refname>
+ <refpurpose>old style Debian binary package format</refpurpose>
+ </refnamediv>
+
+ <refsynopsisdiv>
+ <synopsis><filename>filename.deb</filename></synopsis>
+ </refsynopsisdiv>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Description</title>
+
+ <para>
+ The <filename>.deb</filename> format is the Debian binary package file
+ format. This manual page describes the <emphasis>old</emphasis> format,
+ used before Debian 0.93. Please see
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>deb</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ for details of the new format.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Format</title>
+
+ <para>
+ The file is two lines of format information as ASCII text, followed by
+ two concatenated gzipped ustar files.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The first line is the format version number padded to 8 digits, and is
+ <emphasis'>0.939000</emphasis> for all old-format archives.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The second line is a decimal string (without leading zeroes) giving the
+ length of the first gzipped tarfile.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Each of these lines is terminated with a single newline character.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The first tarfile contains the control information, as a series of
+ ordinary files, described in the Debian Packaging Manual. The file
+ <filename>control</emphasis> must be present, as it contains the core
+ control information.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ In some very old archives, the files in the control tarfile may
+ optionally be in a <filename>DEBIAN</filename> subdirectory. In that
+ case, the <filename>DEBIAN</emphasis> subdirectory will be in the control
+ tarfile too, and the control tarfile will have only files in that
+ directory. Optionally the control tarfile may contain an entry for
+ `<filename>.</filename>', that is, the current directory.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The second gzipped tarfile is the filesystem archive, containing
+ pathnames relative to the root directory of the system to be installed
+ on. The pathnames do not have leading slashes.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>See Also</title>
+
+ <para>
+ <citerefentry>
+ <refentrytitle>deb</refentrytitle>
+ <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
+ </citerefentry>,
+
+ <citerefentry>
+ <refentrytitle>dpkg-deb</refentrytitle>
+ <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+ </citerefentry>,
+
+ <citerefentry>
+ <refentrytitle>deb-control</refentrytitle>
+ <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
+ </citerefentry>,
+
+ Debian Packaging Manual
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+</refentry>
+