dpkg-gensymbols(1)
NAME
dpkg-gensymbols - generate symbols files (shared library dependency information)
SYNOPSIS
dpkg-gensymbols [option...]
DESCRIPTION
dpkg-gensymbols scans a temporary build tree (debian/tmp by default) looking for libraries and generates a symbols file describing them. This file, if non-empty, is then installed in the DEBIAN subdirectory of the build tree so that it ends up included in the control information of the package. When generating those files, it uses as input some symbols files provided by the maintainer. It looks for the following files (and uses the first that is found): * debian/package.symbols.arch * debian/symbols.arch * debian/package.symbols * debian/symbols The main interest of those files is to provide the minimal version associated to each symbol provided by the libraries. Usually it corresponds to the first version of that package that provided the symbol, but it can be manually incremented by the maintainer if the ABI of the symbol is extended without breaking backwards compatibility. It's the responsibility of the maintainer to keep those files up-to- date and accurate, but dpkg-gensymbols helps with that. When the generated symbols files differ from the maintainer supplied one, dpkg-gensymbols will print a diff between the two versions. Furthermore if the difference is too significant, it will even fail (you can customize how much difference you can tolerate, see the -c option).
MAINTAINING SYMBOLS FILES
The symbols files are really useful only if they reflect the evolution
of the package through several releases. Thus the maintainer has to
update them every time that a new symbol is added so that its
associated minimal version matches reality. The diffs contained in the
build logs can be used as a starting point, but the maintainer,
additionally, has to make sure that the behaviour of those symbols has
not changed in a way that would make anything using those symbols and
linking against the new version, stop working with the old version. In
most cases, the diff applies directly to the debian/package.symbols
file. That said, further tweaks are usually needed: it's recommended
for example to drop the Debian revision from the minimal version so
that backports with a lower version number but the same upstream
version still satisfy the generated dependencies. If the Debian
revision can't be dropped because the symbol really got added by the
Debian specific change, then one should suffix the version with '~'.
Before applying any patch to the symbols file, the maintainer should
double-check that it's sane. Public symbols are not supposed to
disappear, so the patch should ideally only add new lines.
Note that you can put comments in symbols files: any line with '#' as
the first character is a comment except if it starts with '#include'
(see section Using includes). Lines starting with '#MISSING:' are
special comments documenting symbols that have disappeared.
Do not forget to check if old symbol versions need to be increased.
There is no way dpkg-gensymbols can warn about this. Blindly applying
the diff or assuming there is nothing to change if there is no diff,
without checking for such changes, can lead to packages with loose
dependencies that claim they can work with older packages they cannot
work with. This will introduce hard to find bugs with (partial)
upgrades.
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 #PACKAGE#. It will be replaced by
the real package name during installation of the symbols files.
Contrary to the #MINVER# marker, #PACKAGE# will never appear in a
symbols file inside a binary package.
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 dpkg-gensymbols and trigger special handling of the
symbols. See subsection 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 (, ends
with a closing bracket ) and must contain at least one tag. Multiple
tags are separated by the | character. Each tag can optionally have a
value which is separated form the tag name by the = character. Tag
names and values can be arbitrary strings except they cannot contain
any of the special ) | = characters. Symbol names following a tag
specification can optionally be quoted with either ' or " 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 tagged quoted symbol and has
two tags: tag1 with value i am marked and tag name with space that has
no value. The second symbol named tagged_unquoted_symbol is only tagged
with the tag named optional. The last symbol is an example of the
normal untagged symbol.
Since symbol tags are an extension of the 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 dpkg-gensymbols is called
without the -t option, it will output symbols files compatible to the
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 (-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.
Standard symbol tags
optional
A symbol marked as optional can disappear from the library at
any time and that will never cause dpkg-gensymbols to fail.
However, disappeared optional symbols will continuously appear
as MISSING in the diff in each new package revision. This
behaviour 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.
arch=architecture-list
arch-bits=architecture-bits
arch-endian=architecture-endianness
These tags allow one to restrict the set of architectures where
the symbol is supposed to exist. The arch-bits and 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 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 architecture-list is the same as the one used in
the Build-Depends field of 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 architecture-bits is either 32 or 64.
(arch-bits=32)32bit_specific_symbol@Base 1.0
(arch-bits=64)64bit_specific_symbol@Base 1.0
The architecture-endianness is either little or 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
ignore-blacklist
dpkg-gensymbols has an internal blacklist of symbols that should
not appear in symbols files as they are usually only side-
effects of implementation details of the toolchain. If for some
reason, you really want one of those symbols to be included in
the symbols file, you should tag the symbol with
ignore-blacklist. It can be necessary for some low level
toolchain libraries like libgcc.
c++ Denotes c++ symbol pattern. See Using symbol patterns subsection
below.
symver Denotes symver (symbol version) symbol pattern. See Using symbol
patterns subsection below.
regex Denotes regex symbol pattern. See Using symbol patterns
subsection below.
Using symbol patterns
Unlike a standard symbol specification, a pattern may cover multiple
real symbols from the library. dpkg-gensymbols will attempt to match
each pattern against each real symbol that does 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 dpkg-gensymbols failure under
-c1 or higher level. However, if the failure is undesired, the pattern
may be marked with the 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 arch tag. Please refer to Standard symbol tags subsection
above for more information.
Patterns are an extension of the 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 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, dpkg-gensymbols supports three basic pattern types:
c++
This pattern is denoted by the c++ tag. It matches only C++ symbols
by their demangled symbol name (as emitted by 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 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 32bit
architectures will probably be _ZThn16_N3NSB6ClassDD1Ev@Base on
64bit ones, it can be matched with a single 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.
symver
This pattern is denoted by the 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 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 behaviour is needed.
regex
Regular expression patterns are denoted by the 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 ^ character or it may match any part of the real
symbol 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
e.g. "ng_mystack_new@Base" won't. The second pattern will match all
symbols having the string "private" in their names and matches will
inherit optional tag from the pattern.
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
c++ and symver) and generic patterns (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 c++,
then 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 dpkg-gensymbols
generates diffs based on the alphanumerical order of their names.
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:
* You can factorize the common part in some external file and include
that file in your package.symbols.arch file by using an include
directive like this:
#include "packages.symbols.common"
* The include directive may also be tagged like any symbol:
(tag|...|tagN)#include "file-to-include"
As a result, all symbols included from file-to-include will be
considered to be tagged with tag ... tagN by default. You can use
this feature to create a common package.symbols file which includes
architecture specific symbol files:
common_symbol1@Base 1.0
(arch=amd64 ia64 alpha)#include "package.symbols.64bit"
(arch=!amd64 !ia64 !alpha)#include "package.symbols.32bit"
common_symbol2@Base 1.0
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
Good library management
A well-maintained library has the following features:
* its API is stable (public symbols are never dropped, only new
public symbols are added) and changes in incompatible ways only
when the SONAME changes;
* ideally, it uses symbol versioning to achieve ABI stability despite
internal changes and API extension;
* it doesn't export private symbols (such symbols can be tagged
optional as workaround).
While maintaining the symbols file, it's easy to notice appearance and
disappearance of symbols. But it's more difficult to catch incompatible
API and ABI change. Thus the maintainer should read thoroughly the
upstream changelog looking for cases where the rules of good library
management have been broken. If potential problems are discovered, the
upstream author should be notified as an upstream fix is always better
than a Debian specific work-around.
OPTIONS
-Ppackage-build-dir
Scan package-build-dir instead of debian/tmp.
-ppackage
Define the package name. Required if more than one binary
package is listed in debian/control (or if there's no
debian/control file).
-vversion
Define the package version. Defaults to the version extracted
from debian/changelog. Required if called outside of a source
package tree.
-elibrary-file
Only analyze libraries explicitly listed instead of finding all
public libraries. You can use shell patterns used for pathname
expansions (see the File::Glob(3perl) manual page for details)
in library-file to match multiple libraries with a single
argument (otherwise you need multiple -e).
-Ifilename
Use filename as reference file to generate the symbols file that
is integrated in the package itself.
-O[filename]
Print the generated symbols file to standard output or to
filename if specified, rather than to debian/tmp/DEBIAN/symbols
(or package-build-dir/DEBIAN/symbols if -P was used). If
filename is pre-existing, its contents are used as basis for the
generated symbols file. You can use this feature to update a
symbols file so that it matches a newer upstream version of your
library.
-t Write the symbol file in template mode rather than the format
compatible with deb-symbols(5). The main difference is that in
the template mode symbol names and tags are written in their
original form contrary to the post-processed symbol names with
tags stripped in the compatibility mode. Moreover, some symbols
might be omitted when writing a standard deb-symbols(5) file
(according to the tag processing rules) while all symbols are
always written to the symbol file template.
-c[0-4]
Define the checks to do when comparing the generated symbols
file with the template file used as starting point. By default
the level is 1. Increasing levels do more checks and include all
checks of lower levels. Level 0 never fails. Level 1 fails if
some symbols have disappeared. Level 2 fails if some new symbols
have been introduced. Level 3 fails if some libraries have
disappeared. Level 4 fails if some libraries have been
introduced.
This value can be overridden by the environment variable
DPKG_GENSYMBOLS_CHECK_LEVEL.
-q Keep quiet and never generate a diff between generated symbols
file and the template file used as starting point or show any
warnings about new/lost libraries or new/lost symbols. This
option only disables informational output but not the checks
themselves (see -c option).
-aarch Assume arch as host architecture when processing symbol files.
Use this option to generate a symbol file or diff for any
architecture provided its binaries are already available.
-d Enable debug mode. Numerous messages are displayed to explain
what dpkg-gensymbols does.
-V Enable verbose mode. The generated symbols file contains
deprecated symbols as comments. Furthermore in template mode,
pattern symbols are followed by comments listing real symbols
that have matched the pattern.
-?, --help
Show the usage message and exit.
--version
Show the version and exit.
SEE ALSO
https://people.redhat.com/drepper/symbol-versioning https://people.redhat.com/drepper/goodpractice.pdf https://people.redhat.com/drepper/dsohowto.pdf deb-symbols(5), dpkg-shlibdeps(1).
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