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Lintian - Static Debian package analysis tool
=============================================
Lintian is a static analysis tool for finding many bugs, policy
violations and other issues in Debian based packages. It can process
binary Debian packages (.deb), micro/installer packages (.udeb),
Debian source packages (.dsc) and (to a limited degree) the "buildinfo"
and "changes" files.
Running Lintian
===============
Running Lintian is as simple as invoking
$ lintian path/to/pkg_version_arch.changes
Alternatively, you can pass Lintian binary/udeb or dsc files directly
instead of the .changes file. Lintian is designed to work directly
from the source tree (simply use "frontend/lintian" itself).
For information about command options, please run lintian (or
lintian-info) with "--help". Alternatively, you can also read the
manpages lintian(1) and lintian-info(1).
Advice / Tips and Tricks
------------------------
If there is a tag you are not familiar with, you can use "--info" or
lintian-info to get more information:
$ lintian-info -t no-version-field
If you want to enable all tags, simply use the "Evil and pedantic"
mnemonic:
$ lintian -EvIL +pedantic path/to/pkg_version_arch.changes
You may want to drop the "-v", which may make Lintian more verbose
than you would like. Also, keep in mind that "-E" enables
"experimental" tags and "-L +pedantic" enables some very pedantic
tags.
Lintian is not always right! Static analysis involves a trade-off
between "accuracy" and CPU/memory usage. Furthermore, in some cases,
certain packages trigger a corner case where the Debian Policy gives
more leeway than Lintian does.
If you have installed Lintian via the "lintian" Debian package, you
can find the Lintian User's Manual in:
$ sensible-browser /usr/share/doc/lintian/lintian.html
# or in txt format
$ zless /usr/share/doc/lintian/lintian.txt.gz
Compiling Lintian
=================
Lintian is written in pure Perl and therefore does not require any
"building" at all. Consequently, Lintian currently does not have a
build system. Instead it relies on its Debian build system
(implemented in debian/rules) and debhelper. Thus, on Debian-based
systems, installing the build dependencies (see debian/control) and
running:
$ dpkg-buildpackage
will provide you with a "lintian" Debian package.
So far there has been little work in providing a stand-alone build
system as Lintian requires a fair share of "Debian specific" tools and
libraries, including the "Dpkg" and "AptPkg" Perl modules.
We are willing to accept and maintain a stand-alone build system for
Lintian. Where not intrusive, we may also be willing to accept
alternative dependencies for "Debian specific" libraries/tools.
Developing/Patching Lintian
===========================
If you are interested in developing patches for Lintian or just
writing your own Lintian checks, please review
[CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md).
Feedback
========
Please file bugs against the "lintian" package in the Debian Bug
Tracker. We recommend using reportbug(1) for filing bugs, but
in its absence you send a [mail to the BTS][bts-report-bug].
Any comments, critics, or suggestions about Lintian or related topics
are highly appreciated by the authors! Please contact
<lintian-maint@debian.org>. Thanks!
Please note that all data submitted to the Debian Bug Tracker and the
address <lintian-maint@debian.org> will be available to the general
public. Should you be aware of a severe non-disclosed security issue
in Lintian, then please contact the
[Debian Security Team][report-security-issue] instead.
[bts-report-bug]: https://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting
[report-security-issue]: https://www.debian.org/security/faq#contact
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