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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | COMMANDS | OPTIONS | EXIT STATUS | ENVIRONMENT | FILES | SECURITY | BUGS | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
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dpkg-split(1) dpkg suite dpkg-split(1)
dpkg-split - Debian package archive split/join tool
dpkg-split [option...] command
dpkg-split splits Debian binary package files into smaller parts
and reassembles them again, to support the storage of large
package files on small media such as floppy disks.
It can be operated manually using the --split, --join and --info
options.
It also has an automatic mode, invoked using the --auto option,
where it maintains a queue of parts seen but not yet reassembled
and reassembles a package file when it has seen all of its parts.
The --listq and --discard options allow the management of the
queue.
All splitting, joining and queueing operations produce informative
messages on standard output; these may safely be ignored.
-s, --split complete-archive [prefix]
Splits a single Debian binary package into several parts.
The parts are named prefix.NofM.deb where N is the part
number, starting at 1, and M is the total number of parts
(both in decimal).
If no prefix is supplied then the complete-archive filename is
taken, including directory, with any trailing .deb removed.
-j, --join part...
Joins the parts of a package file together, reassembling the
original file as it was before it was split.
The part files given as arguments must be all the parts of
exactly the same original binary file. Each part must occur
exactly once in the argument list, though the parts to not
need to be listed in order.
The parts must of course all have been generated with the same
part size specified at split time, which means that they must
usually have been generated by the same invocation of dpkg-
split --split.
The parts' filenames are not significant for the reassembly
process.
By default the output file is called package_version_arch.deb.
-I, --info part...
Prints information, in a human-readable format, about the part
file(s) specified. Arguments which are not binary package
parts produce a message saying so instead (but still on
standard output).
-a, --auto -o complete-output part
Automatically queue parts and reassemble a package if
possible.
The part specified is examined, and compared with other parts
of the same package (if any) in the queue of packages file
parts.
If all parts of the package file of which part is a part are
available then the package is reassembled and written to
complete-output (which should not usually already exist,
though this is not an error).
If not then the part is copied into the queue and complete-
output is not created.
If part is not a split binary package part then dpkg-split
will exit with status 1; if some other trouble occurs then it
will exit with status 2.
The --output or -o option must be supplied when using --auto.
(If this were not mandatory the calling program would not know
what output file to expect.)
-l, --listq
Lists the contents of the queue of packages to be reassembled.
For each package file of which parts are in the queue the
output gives the name of the package, the parts in the queue,
and the total number of bytes stored in the queue.
-d, --discard [package...]
This discards parts from the queue of those waiting for the
remaining parts of their packages.
If no package is specified then the queue is cleared
completely; if any are specified then only parts of the
relevant package(s) are deleted.
-?, --help
Show the usage message and exit.
--version
Show the version and exit.
--depotdir directory
Specifies an alternative directory for the queue of parts
awaiting automatic reassembly. The default is
/usr/local/var/lib/dpkg/parts.
--admindir directory
Set the administrative directory to directory (since dpkg
1.21.10). This is where the statoverride file is stored.
Defaults to «/usr/local/var/lib/dpkg» if DPKG_ADMINDIR has not
been set.
--root directory
Set the root directory to directory (since dpkg 1.21.10),
which sets the installation directory to «directory» and the
administrative directory to «directory/usr/local/var/lib/dpkg»
if DPKG_ROOT has not been set.
-S, --partsize kibibytes
Specifies the maximum part size when splitting, in kibibytes
(1024 bytes). The default is 450 KiB.
-o, --output complete-output
Specifies the output file name for a reassembly.
This overrides the default for a manual reassembly (--join)
and is mandatory for an automatic queue-or-reassemble
(--auto).
-Q, --npquiet
When doing automatic queue-or-reassembly dpkg-split usually
prints a message if it is given a part that is not a binary
package part. This option suppresses this message, to allow
programs such as dpkg to cope with both split and unsplit
packages without producing spurious messages.
--msdos
Forces the output filenames generated by --split to be MSDOS-
compatible.
This mangles the prefix - either the default derived from the
input filename or the one supplied as an argument:
alphanumerics are lowercased, plus signs are replaced by x's
and all other characters are discarded.
The result is then truncated as much as is necessary, and
filenames of the form prefixNofM.deb are generated.
0 The requested split, merge, or other command succeeded.
--info commands count as successful even if the files are not
binary package parts.
1 Only occurs with --auto and indicates that the part file was
not a binary package part.
2 Fatal or unrecoverable error due to invalid command-line
usage, a file that looked like a package part file but was
corrupted, or interactions with the system, such as accesses
to the database, memory allocations, etc.
DPKG_ROOT
If set and --root option has not been specified, it will be
used as the filesystem root directory (since dpkg 1.21.10).
DPKG_ADMINDIR
If set and the --admindir or --root options have not been
specified, it will be used as the dpkg data directory (since
dpkg 1.21.10).
DPKG_DEBUG
Sets the debug mask (since dpkg 1.21.10) from an octal value.
The currently accepted flags are described in the dpkg --debug
option, but not all these flags might have an effect on this
program.
DPKG_COLORS
Sets the color mode (since dpkg 1.18.5). The currently
accepted values are: auto (default), always and never.
DPKG_NLS
If set, it will be used to decide whether to activate Native
Language Support, also known as internationalization (or i18n)
support (since dpkg 1.22.7). The accepted values are: 0 and 1
(default).
SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
If set, it will be used as the timestamp (as seconds since the
epoch) in the deb-split(5)'s ar(5) container.
Since dpkg 1.18.11.
/usr/local/var/lib/dpkg/parts
The default queue directory for part files awaiting automatic
reassembly.
The filenames used in this directory are in a format internal
to dpkg-split and are unlikely to be useful to other programs,
and in any case the filename format should not be relied upon.
Examining or joining untrusted split package archives should be
considered a security boundary, and any breakage of that boundary
stemming from these operations should be considered a security
vulnerability. Performing these operations over untrusted data as
root is strongly discouraged.
Auto-accumulating and discarding split package parts are
considered privileged operations that might allow root escalation.
These operations must never be delegated to an untrusted user or
be done on untrusted packages, as that might allow root access to
the system.
Splitting package archives should only be performed over trusted
data.
Full details of the packages in the queue are impossible to get
without digging into the queue directory yourself.
There is no easy way to test whether a file that may be a binary
package part is one.
deb(5), deb-control(5), dpkg-deb(1), dpkg(1).
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
clone https://git.dpkg.org/git/dpkg/dpkg.git⟩ on 2025-08-11. (At
that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
the repository was 2025-08-06.) If you discover 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
[email protected]
1.22.6-77-g86fe7 2024-03-10 dpkg-split(1)
Pages that refer to this page: dpkg(1), deb-split(5)
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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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