NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | COMMANDS | OPTIONS | TERMS | VARIABLES | FILES | EXAMPLES | NOTES | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

dpkg-architecture(1)             dpkg suite             dpkg-architecture(1)

NAME         top

       dpkg-architecture  -  set  and determine the architecture for package
       building

SYNOPSIS         top

       dpkg-architecture [option...] [command]

DESCRIPTION         top

       dpkg-architecture provides a facility to determine and set the build
       and host architecture for package building.
       The build architecture is always determined by an external call to
       dpkg(1), and cannot be set at the command line.
       You can specify the host architecture by providing one or both of the
       options --host-arch and --host-type. The default is determined by an
       external call to gcc(1), or the same as the build architecture if CC
       or gcc are both not available. One out of --host-arch and --host-type
       is sufficient, the value of the other will be set to a usable
       default. Indeed, it is often better to only specify one, because
       dpkg-architecture will warn you if your choice does not match the
       default.

COMMANDS         top

       -l, --list
              Print the environment variables, one each line, in the format
              VARIABLE=value. This is the default action.
       -e, --equal architecture
              Check for equality of architecture (since dpkg 1.13.13).  It
              compares the current or specified Debian host architecture
              against architecture, to check if they are equal.  This action
              will not expand the architecture wildcards.  Command finishes
              with an exit status of 0 if matched, 1 if not matched.
       -i, --is architecture-wildcard
              Check for identity of architecture (since dpkg 1.13.13).  It
              compares the current or specified Debian host architecture
              against architecture-wildcard after having expanded it as an
              architecture wildcard, to check if they match.  Command
              finishes with an exit status of 0 if matched, 1 if not
              matched.
       -q, --query variable-name
              Print the value of a single variable.
       -s, --print-set
              Print an export command. This can be used to set the
              environment variables using eval.
       -u, --print-unset
              Print a similar command to --print-unset but to unset all
              variables.
       -c, --command command
              Execute a command in an environment which has all variables
              set to the determined value.
       -L, --list-known
              Print a list of valid architecture names.  Possibly restricted
              by one or more of the matching options --match-wildcard,
              --match-bits or --match-endian (since dpkg 1.17.14).
       -?, --help
              Show the usage message and exit.
       --version
              Show the version and exit.

OPTIONS         top

       -a, --host-arch architecture
              Set the host Debian architecture.
       -t, --host-type gnu-system-type
              Set the host GNU system type.
       -A, --target-arch architecture
              Set the target Debian architecture (since dpkg 1.17.14).
       -T, --target-type gnu-system-type
              Set the target GNU system type (since dpkg 1.17.14).
       -W, --match-wildcard architecture-wildcard
              Restrict the architectures listed by --list-known to ones
              matching the specified architecture wildcard (since dpkg
              1.17.14).
       -B, --match-bits architecture-bits
              Restrict the architectures listed by --list-known to ones with
              the specified CPU bits (since dpkg 1.17.14). Either 32 or 64.
       -E, --match-endian architecture-endianness
              Restrict the architectures listed by --list-known to ones with
              the specified endianness (since dpkg 1.17.14). Either little
              or big.
       -f, --force
              Values set by existing environment variables with the same
              name as used by the scripts are honored (i.e. used by
              dpkg-architecture), except if this force flag is present. This
              allows the user to override a value even when the call to
              dpkg-architecture is buried in some other script (for example
              dpkg-buildpackage(1)).

TERMS         top

       build machine
           The machine the package is built on.
       host machine
           The machine the package is built for.
       target machine
           The machine the compiler is building for.  This is only needed
           when building a cross-toolchain, one that will be built on the
           build architecture, to be run on the host architecture, and to
           build code for the target architecture.
       Debian architecture
           The Debian architecture string, which specifies the binary tree
           in the FTP archive. Examples: i386, sparc, hurd-i386.
       Debian architecture tuple
           A Debian architecture tuple is the fully qualified architecture
           with all its components spelled out.  This differs with Debian
           architectures in that at least the cpu component does not embed
           the abi.  The current tuple has the form abi-libc-os-cpu.
           Examples: base-gnu-linux-amd64, eabihf-musl-linux-arm.
       Debian architecture wildcard
           A Debian architecture wildcard is a special architecture string
           that will match any real architecture being part of it.  The
           general form is a Debian architecture tuple with four or less
           elements, and with at least one of them being any.  Missing
           elements of the tuple are prefixed implicitly as any, and thus
           the following pairs are equivalent:
               any-any-any-any = any
               any-any-os-any = os-any
               any-libc-any-any = libc-any-any
           Examples: linux-any, any-i386, hurd-any, eabi-any-any-arm,
           musl-any-any.
       GNU system type
           An architecture specification string consisting of two parts
           separated by a hyphen: cpu and system.  Examples: i586-linux-gnu,
           sparc-linux-gnu, i686-gnu, x86_64-netbsd.
       multiarch triplet
           The clarified GNU system type, used for filesystem paths.  This
           triplet does not change even when the baseline ISA gets bumped,
           so that the resulting paths are stable over time.  The only
           current difference with the GNU system type is that the CPU part
           for i386 based systems is always i386.  Examples: i386-linux-gnu,
           x86_64-linux-gnu.  Example paths: /lib/powerpc64le-linux-gnu/,
           /usr/lib/i386-kfreebsd-gnu/.

VARIABLES         top

       The following variables are set by dpkg-architecture:
       DEB_BUILD_ARCH
           The Debian architecture of the build machine.
       DEB_BUILD_ARCH_ABI
           The Debian abi name of the build machine (since dpkg 1.18.11).
       DEB_BUILD_ARCH_LIBC
           The Debian libc name of the build machine (since dpkg 1.18.11).
       DEB_BUILD_ARCH_OS
           The Debian system name of the build machine (since dpkg 1.13.2).
       DEB_BUILD_ARCH_CPU
           The Debian cpu name of the build machine (since dpkg 1.13.2).
       DEB_BUILD_ARCH_BITS
           The pointer size of the build machine (in bits; since dpkg
           1.15.4).
       DEB_BUILD_ARCH_ENDIAN
           The endianness of the build machine (little / big; since dpkg
           1.15.4).
       DEB_BUILD_GNU_CPU
           The CPU part of DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE.
       DEB_BUILD_GNU_SYSTEM
           The System part of DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE.
       DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE
           The GNU system type of the build machine.
       DEB_BUILD_MULTIARCH
           The clarified GNU system type of the build machine, used for
           filesystem paths (since dpkg 1.16.0).
       DEB_HOST_ARCH
           The Debian architecture of the host machine.
       DEB_HOST_ARCH_ABI
           The Debian abi name of the host machine (since dpkg 1.18.11).
       DEB_HOST_ARCH_LIBC
           The Debian libc name of the host machine (since dpkg 1.18.11).
       DEB_HOST_ARCH_OS
           The Debian system name of the host machine (since dpkg 1.13.2).
       DEB_HOST_ARCH_CPU
           The Debian cpu name of the host machine (since dpkg 1.13.2).
       DEB_HOST_ARCH_BITS
           The pointer size of the host machine (in bits; since dpkg
           1.15.4).
       DEB_HOST_ARCH_ENDIAN
           The endianness of the host machine (little / big; since dpkg
           1.15.4).
       DEB_HOST_GNU_CPU
           The CPU part of DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE.
       DEB_HOST_GNU_SYSTEM
           The System part of DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE.
       DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE
           The GNU system type of the host machine.
       DEB_HOST_MULTIARCH
           The clarified GNU system type of the host machine, used for
           filesystem paths (since dpkg 1.16.0).
       DEB_TARGET_ARCH
           The Debian architecture of the target machine (since dpkg
           1.17.14).
       DEB_TARGET_ARCH_ABI
           The Debian abi name of the target machine (since dpkg 1.18.11).
       DEB_TARGET_ARCH_LIBC
           The Debian libc name of the target machine (since dpkg 1.18.11).
       DEB_TARGET_ARCH_OS
           The Debian system name of the target machine (since dpkg
           1.17.14).
       DEB_TARGET_ARCH_CPU
           The Debian cpu name of the target machine (since dpkg 1.17.14).
       DEB_TARGET_ARCH_BITS
           The pointer size of the target machine (in bits; since dpkg
           1.17.14).
       DEB_TARGET_ARCH_ENDIAN
           The endianness of the target machine (little / big; since dpkg
           1.17.14).
       DEB_TARGET_GNU_CPU
           The CPU part of DEB_TARGET_GNU_TYPE (since dpkg 1.17.14).
       DEB_TARGET_GNU_SYSTEM
           The System part of DEB_TARGET_GNU_TYPE (since dpkg 1.17.14).
       DEB_TARGET_GNU_TYPE
           The GNU system type of the target machine (since dpkg 1.17.14).
       DEB_TARGET_MULTIARCH
           The clarified GNU system type of the target machine, used for
           filesystem paths (since dpkg 1.17.14).

FILES         top

   Architecture tables
       All these files have to be present for dpkg-architecture to work.
       Their location can be overridden at runtime with the environment
       variable DPKG_DATADIR.  These tables contain a format Version pseudo-
       field on their first line to mark their format, so that parsers can
       check if they understand it, such as "# Version=1.0".
       /usr/local/share/dpkg/cputable
              Table of known CPU names and mapping to their GNU name.
              Format version 1.0 (since dpkg 1.13.2).
       /usr/local/share/dpkg/ostable
              Table of known operating system names and mapping to their GNU
              name.  Format version 2.0 (since dpkg 1.18.11).
       /usr/local/share/dpkg/tupletable
              Mapping between Debian architecture tuples and Debian
              architecture names.  Format version 1.0 (since dpkg 1.18.11).
       /usr/local/share/dpkg/abitable
              Table of Debian architecture ABI attribute overrides.  Format
              version 2.0 (since dpkg 1.18.11).
   Packaging support
       /usr/local/share/dpkg/architecture.mk
              Makefile snippet that properly sets and exports all the
              variables that dpkg-architecture outputs (since dpkg 1.16.1).

EXAMPLES         top

       dpkg-buildpackage accepts the -a option and passes it to
       dpkg-architecture. Other examples:
              CC=i386-gnu-gcc dpkg-architecture -c debian/rules build
              eval `dpkg-architecture -u`
       Check if the current or specified host architecture is equal to an
       architecture:
              dpkg-architecture -elinux-alpha
              dpkg-architecture -amips -elinux-mips
       Check if the current or specified host architecture is a Linux
       system:
              dpkg-architecture -ilinux-any
              dpkg-architecture -ai386 -ilinux-any
   Usage in debian/rules
       The environment variables set by dpkg-architecture are passed to
       debian/rules as make variables (see make documentation). However, you
       should not rely on them, as this breaks manual invocation of the
       script. Instead, you should always initialize them using
       dpkg-architecture with the -q option. Here are some examples, which
       also show how you can improve the cross compilation support in your
       package:
       Retrieving the GNU system type and forwarding it to ./configure:
           DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE)
           DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE)
           [...]
           ifeq ($(DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE), $(DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE))
             confflags += --build=$(DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE)
           else
             confflags += --build=$(DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE) \
                          --host=$(DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE)
           endif
           [...]
           ./configure $(confflags)
       Doing something only for a specific architecture:
           DEB_HOST_ARCH ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_ARCH)
           ifeq ($(DEB_HOST_ARCH),alpha)
             [...]
           endif
       or if you only need to check the CPU or OS type, use the
       DEB_HOST_ARCH_CPU or DEB_HOST_ARCH_OS variables.
       Note that you can also rely on an external Makefile snippet to
       properly set all the variables that dpkg-architecture can provide:
           include /usr/local/share/dpkg/architecture.mk
           ifeq ($(DEB_HOST_ARCH),alpha)
             [...]
           endif
       In any case, you should never use dpkg --print-architecture to get
       architecture information during a package build.

NOTES         top

       All long command and option names available only since dpkg 1.17.17.

SEE ALSO         top

       dpkg-buildpackage(1), dpkg-cross(1).

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the dpkg (Debian Package Manager) project.
       Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg/⟩.  If you have a bug report for
       this manual page, see 
       ⟨http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?src=dpkg⟩.  This page
       was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository 
       ⟨git://git.debian.org/git/dpkg/dpkg.git⟩ on 2017-07-05.  If you dis‐
       cover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you
       believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or
       you have corrections or improvements to the information in this
       COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail
       to man-pages@man7.org
1.18.15-3-ga2ef                  1970-01-01             dpkg-architecture(1)

Pages that refer to this page: dpkg-buildpackage(1)deb-src-control(5)