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+# dpkg manual page - deb-src-symbols(5)
+#
+# Copyright © 2007-2011 Raphaël Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
+# Copyright © 2009-2010 Modestas Vainius <modestas@vainius.eu>
+# Copyright © 2012-2015 Guillem Jover <guillem@debian.org>
+#
+# This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it 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 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 program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+=encoding utf8
+
+=head1 NAME
+
+deb-src-symbols - Debian's extended shared library template file
+
+=head1 SYNOPSIS
+
+B<debian/>I<package>B<.symbols.>I<arch>,
+B<debian/symbols.>I<arch>,
+B<debian/>I<package>B<.symbols>,
+B<debian/symbols>
+
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
+
+The symbol file templates are shipped in Debian source packages, and its
+format is a superset of the symbols files shipped in binary packages,
+see L<deb-symbols(5)>.
+
+=head2 Comments
+
+Comments are supported in template symbol files.
+Any line with ‘#’ as
+the first character is a comment except if it starts with ‘#include’
+(see section L</Using includes>).
+Lines starting with ‘#MISSING:’ are special comments documenting
+symbols that have disappeared.
+
+=head2 Using #PACKAGE# substitution
+
+In some rare cases, the name of the library varies between architectures.
+To avoid hardcoding the name of the package in the symbols file, you can
+use the marker I<#PACKAGE#>.
+It will be replaced by the real package name during installation of the
+symbols files.
+Contrary to the
+I<#MINVER#> marker, I<#PACKAGE#> will never appear in a symbols file
+inside a binary package.
+
+=head2 Using symbol tags
+
+Symbol tagging is useful for marking symbols that are special in some way.
+Any symbol can have an arbitrary number of tags associated with it.
+While all tags are
+parsed and stored, only some of them are understood by
+B<dpkg-gensymbols> and trigger special handling of the symbols.
+See
+subsection L</Standard symbol tags> for reference of these tags.
+
+Tag specification comes right before the symbol name (no whitespace is allowed
+in between).
+It always starts with an opening bracket B<(>,
+ends with a closing bracket B<)> and must contain at least one tag.
+Multiple tags are separated by the B<|> character.
+Each tag can optionally have a value which is separated form the tag name
+by the B<=> character.
+Tag names and values
+can be arbitrary strings except they cannot contain any of the special B<)>
+B<|> B<=> characters.
+Symbol names following a tag specification can
+optionally be quoted with either B<'> or B<"> characters to allow
+whitespaces in them.
+However, if there are no tags specified for the symbol,
+quotes are treated as part of the symbol name which continues up until the
+first space.
+
+ (tag1=i am marked|tag name with space)"tagged quoted symbol"@Base 1.0
+ (optional)tagged_unquoted_symbol@Base 1.0 1
+ untagged_symbol@Base 1.0
+
+The first symbol in the example is named I<tagged quoted symbol> and has two
+tags: I<tag1> with value I<i am marked> and I<tag name with space>
+that has no value.
+The second symbol named I<tagged_unquoted_symbol> is only tagged with the
+tag named I<optional>.
+The last symbol is an
+example of the normal untagged symbol.
+
+Since symbol tags are an extension of the L<deb-symbols(5)> format, they
+can only be part of the symbols files used in source packages (those files
+should then be seen as templates used to build the symbols files that are
+embedded in binary packages).
+When
+B<dpkg-gensymbols> is called without the B<-t> option, it will
+output symbols files compatible to the L<deb-symbols(5)> format:
+it fully processes symbols according to the requirements of their standard tags
+and strips all tags from the output.
+On the contrary, in template mode
+(B<-t>) all symbols and their tags (both standard and unknown ones)
+are kept in the output and are written in their original form as they were
+loaded.
+
+=head2 Standard symbol tags
+
+=over
+
+=item B<optional>
+
+A symbol marked as optional can disappear from the library at any time and that
+will never cause B<dpkg-gensymbols> to fail.
+However, disappeared optional
+symbols will continuously appear as MISSING in the diff in each new package
+revision.
+This behavior serves as a reminder for the maintainer that such a
+symbol needs to be removed from the symbol file or readded to the library.
+When
+the optional symbol, which was previously declared as MISSING, suddenly
+reappears in the next revision, it will be upgraded back to the “existing”
+status with its minimum version unchanged.
+
+This tag is useful for symbols which are private where their disappearance do
+not cause ABI breakage.
+For example, most of C++ template instantiations fall into this category.
+Like any other tag, this one may also have an arbitrary
+value: it could be used to indicate why the symbol is considered optional.
+
+=item B<arch=>I<architecture-list>
+
+=item B<arch-bits=>I<architecture-bits>
+
+=item B<arch-endian=>I<architecture-endianness>
+
+These tags allow one to restrict the set of architectures where the symbol
+is supposed to exist.
+The B<arch-bits> and B<arch-endian> tags are supported since dpkg 1.18.0.
+When the symbols list is updated with
+the symbols
+discovered in the library, all arch-specific symbols which do not concern
+the current host architecture are treated as if they did not exist.
+If an
+arch-specific symbol matching the current host architecture does not exist
+in the library, normal procedures for missing symbols apply and it may
+cause B<dpkg-gensymbols> to fail.
+On the other hand, if the
+arch-specific symbol is found when it was not supposed to exist (because
+the current host architecture is not listed in the tag or does not match
+the endianness and bits), it is made arch neutral (i.e. the arch, arch-bits
+and arch-endian tags are dropped and the symbol will appear in the diff due
+to this change), but it is not considered as new.
+
+When operating in the default non-template mode, among arch-specific symbols
+only those that match the current host architecture are written to the
+symbols file.
+On the contrary, all arch-specific symbols (including those
+from foreign arches) are always written to the symbol file when operating
+in template mode.
+
+The format of I<architecture-list> is the same as the one used in the
+B<Build-Depends> field of I<debian/control> (except the enclosing
+square brackets []).
+For example, the first symbol from the list below
+will be considered only on alpha, any-amd64 and ia64 architectures,
+the second only on linux architectures, while the third one anywhere
+except on armel.
+
+ (arch=alpha any-amd64 ia64)64bit_specific_symbol@Base 1.0
+ (arch=linux-any)linux_specific_symbol@Base 1.0
+ (arch=!armel)symbol_armel_does_not_have@Base 1.0
+
+The I<architecture-bits> is either B<32> or B<64>.
+
+ (arch-bits=32)32bit_specific_symbol@Base 1.0
+ (arch-bits=64)64bit_specific_symbol@Base 1.0
+
+The I<architecture-endianness> is either B<little> or B<big>.
+
+ (arch-endian=little)little_endian_specific_symbol@Base 1.0
+ (arch-endian=big)big_endian_specific_symbol@Base 1.0
+
+Multiple restrictions can be chained.
+
+ (arch-bits=32|arch-endian=little)32bit_le_symbol@Base 1.0
+
+=item B<allow-internal>
+
+dpkg-gensymbols has a list of internal symbols that should not
+appear in symbols files as they are usually only side-effects of
+implementation details of the toolchain (since dpkg 1.20.1).
+If for some reason, you really want one of those symbols to be included in
+the symbols file, you should tag the symbol with B<allow-internal>.
+It can be necessary for some low level toolchain libraries like “libgcc”.
+
+=item B<ignore-blacklist>
+
+A deprecated alias for B<allow-internal> (since dpkg 1.20.1,
+supported since dpkg 1.15.3).
+
+=item B<c++>
+
+Denotes I<c++> symbol pattern.
+See L</Using symbol patterns> subsection
+below.
+
+=item B<symver>
+
+Denotes I<symver> (symbol version) symbol pattern.
+See L</Using symbol
+patterns> subsection below.
+
+=item B<regex>
+
+Denotes I<regex> symbol pattern.
+See L</Using symbol patterns> subsection
+below.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 Using symbol patterns
+
+Unlike a standard symbol specification, a pattern may cover multiple real
+symbols from the library.
+B<dpkg-gensymbols> will attempt to match each
+pattern against each real symbol that does I<not> have a specific symbol
+counterpart defined in the symbol file.
+Whenever the first matching pattern is
+found, all its tags and properties will be used as a basis specification of the
+symbol.
+If none of the patterns matches, the symbol will be considered as new.
+
+A pattern is considered lost if it does not match any symbol in the library.
+By
+default this will trigger a B<dpkg-gensymbols> failure under B<-c1> or
+higher level.
+However, if the failure is undesired, the pattern may be marked with the
+I<optional> tag.
+Then if the pattern does not match anything,
+it will only appear in the diff as MISSING.
+Moreover, like any symbol,
+the pattern may be limited to the specific architectures with the I<arch> tag.
+Please
+refer to L</Standard symbol tags> subsection above for more information.
+
+Patterns are an extension of the L<deb-symbols(5)> format hence they are
+only valid in symbol file templates.
+Pattern specification syntax is not any different from the one of a
+specific symbol.
+However, symbol name part of the
+specification serves as an expression to be matched against I<name@version>
+of the real symbol.
+In order to distinguish among different pattern types, a
+pattern will typically be tagged with a special tag.
+
+At the moment, B<dpkg-gensymbols> supports three basic pattern types:
+
+=over
+
+=item B<c++>
+
+This pattern is denoted by the I<c++> tag.
+It matches only C++ symbols by their demangled symbol name
+(as emitted by L<c++filt(1)> utility).
+This
+pattern is very handy for matching symbols which mangled names might vary
+across different architectures while their demangled names remain the same.
+One
+group of such symbols is I<non-virtual thunks> which have architecture
+specific offsets embedded in their mangled names.
+A common instance of this
+case is a virtual destructor which under diamond inheritance needs a
+non-virtual thunk symbol.
+For example, even if _ZThn8_N3NSB6ClassDD1Ev@Base on
+32-bit architectures will probably be _ZThn16_N3NSB6ClassDD1Ev@Base on 64-bit
+ones, it can be matched with a single I<c++> pattern:
+
+ libdummy.so.1 libdummy1 #MINVER#
+ [...]
+ (c++)"non-virtual thunk to NSB::ClassD::~ClassD()@Base" 1.0
+ [...]
+
+The demangled name above can be obtained by executing the following command:
+
+ $ echo '_ZThn8_N3NSB6ClassDD1Ev@Base' | c++filt
+
+Please note that while mangled name is unique in the library by definition,
+this is not necessarily true for demangled names.
+A couple of distinct real symbols may have the same demangled name.
+For example, that's the case with
+non-virtual thunk symbols in complex inheritance configurations or with most
+constructors and destructors (since g++ typically generates two real symbols
+for them).
+However, as these collisions happen on the ABI level, they should
+not degrade quality of the symbol file.
+
+=item B<symver>
+
+This pattern is denoted by the I<symver> tag.
+Well maintained libraries have
+versioned symbols where each version corresponds to the upstream version where
+the symbol got added.
+If that's the case, you can use a I<symver> pattern to
+match any symbol associated to the specific version.
+For example:
+
+ libc.so.6 libc6 #MINVER#
+ (symver)GLIBC_2.0 2.0
+ [...]
+ (symver)GLIBC_2.7 2.7
+ access@GLIBC_2.0 2.2
+
+All symbols associated with versions GLIBC_2.0 and GLIBC_2.7 will lead to
+minimal version of 2.0 and 2.7 respectively with the exception of the symbol
+access@GLIBC_2.0.
+The latter will lead to a minimal dependency on libc6 version
+2.2 despite being in the scope of the "(symver)GLIBC_2.0" pattern because
+specific symbols take precedence over patterns.
+
+Please note that while old style wildcard patterns (denoted by "*@version" in
+the symbol name field) are still supported, they have been deprecated by new
+style syntax "(symver|optional)version".
+For example, "*@GLIBC_2.0 2.0" should
+be written as "(symver|optional)GLIBC_2.0 2.0" if the same behavior is needed.
+
+=item B<regex>
+
+Regular expression patterns are denoted by the I<regex> tag.
+They match by the perl regular expression specified in the symbol name field.
+A regular
+expression is matched as it is, therefore do not forget to start it with the
+I<^> character or it may match any part of the real symbol
+I<name@version> string.
+For example:
+
+ libdummy.so.1 libdummy1 #MINVER#
+ (regex)"^mystack_.*@Base$" 1.0
+ (regex|optional)"private" 1.0
+
+Symbols like "mystack_new@Base", "mystack_push@Base", "mystack_pop@Base", etc.,
+will be matched by the first pattern while "ng_mystack_new@Base" would not.
+The second pattern will match all symbols having the string "private" in their
+names and matches will inherit I<optional> tag from the pattern.
+
+=back
+
+Basic patterns listed above can be combined where it makes sense.
+In that case, they are processed in the order in which the tags are specified.
+For example,
+both:
+
+ (c++|regex)"^NSA::ClassA::Private::privmethod\d\(int\)@Base" 1.0
+ (regex|c++)N3NSA6ClassA7Private11privmethod\dEi@Base 1.0
+
+will match symbols "_ZN3NSA6ClassA7Private11privmethod1Ei@Base" and
+"_ZN3NSA6ClassA7Private11privmethod2Ei@Base".
+When matching the first pattern,
+the raw symbol is first demangled as C++ symbol, then the demangled name is
+matched against the regular expression.
+On the other hand, when matching the
+second pattern, regular expression is matched against the raw symbol name, then
+the symbol is tested if it is C++ one by attempting to demangle it.
+A failure
+of any basic pattern will result in the failure of the whole pattern.
+Therefore, for example, "__N3NSA6ClassA7Private11privmethod\dEi@Base" will not
+match either of the patterns because it is not a valid C++ symbol.
+
+In general, all patterns are divided into two groups: aliases (basic I<c++>
+and I<symver>) and generic patterns (I<regex>, all combinations of
+multiple basic patterns).
+Matching of basic alias-based patterns is fast (O(1))
+while generic patterns are O(N) (N - generic pattern count) for each symbol.
+Therefore, it is recommended not to overuse generic patterns.
+
+When multiple patterns match the same real symbol, aliases (first I<c++>,
+then I<symver>) are preferred over generic patterns.
+Generic patterns are
+matched in the order they are found in the symbol file template until the first
+success.
+Please note, however, that manual reordering of template file entries
+is not recommended because B<dpkg-gensymbols> generates diffs based on the
+alphanumerical order of their names.
+
+=head2 Using includes
+
+When the set of exported symbols differ between architectures, it may become
+inefficient to use a single symbol file.
+In those cases, an include directive
+may prove to be useful in a couple of ways:
+
+=over
+
+=item *
+
+You can factorize the common part in some external file
+and include that file in your I<package>.symbols.I<arch> file by
+using an include directive like this:
+
+ #include "I<packages>.symbols.common"
+
+=item *
+
+The include directive may also be tagged like any symbol:
+
+ (tag|...|tagN)#include "file-to-include"
+
+As a result, all symbols included from I<file-to-include> will be considered
+to be tagged with I<tag> ... I<tagN> by default.
+You can use this feature
+to create a common I<package>.symbols file which includes architecture
+specific symbol files:
+
+ common_symbol1@Base 1.0
+ (arch=amd64 ia64 alpha)#include "package.symbols.64-bit"
+ (arch=!amd64 !ia64 !alpha)#include "package.symbols.32-bit"
+ common_symbol2@Base 1.0
+
+=back
+
+The symbols files are read line by line, and include directives are processed
+as soon as they are encountered.
+This means that the content of the included
+file can override any content that appeared before the include directive and
+that any content after the directive can override anything contained in the
+included file.
+Any symbol (or even another #include directive) in the included
+file can specify additional tags or override values of the inherited tags in
+its tag specification.
+However, there is no way for the symbol to remove
+any of the inherited tags.
+
+An included file can repeat the header line containing the SONAME of the
+library.
+In that case, it overrides any header line previously read.
+However, in general it's best to avoid duplicating header lines.
+One way
+to do it is the following:
+
+ #include "libsomething1.symbols.common"
+ arch_specific_symbol@Base 1.0
+
+=head1 SEE ALSO
+
+L<deb-symbols(5)>,
+L<dpkg-shlibdeps(1)>,
+L<dpkg-gensymbols(1)>.