deb-split(5)

NAME
deb-split - Debian multi-part binary package format

SYNOPSIS
filename.deb

DESCRIPTION
The multi-part .deb format is used to split big packages into smaller pieces to ease transport in small media.

FORMAT
The file is an ar archive with a magic value of !<arch>. The file names might contain a trailing slash (since dpkg 1.15.6).

The first member is named debian-split and contains a series of lines, separated by newlines. Currently seven lines are present. The first is the format version number, 2.1 at the time this manual page was written. The second is the package name. The third is the package version. The fourth is the md5sum of the package. The fifth is the total size of the package. The sixth is the maximum part size. The seventh is the current part number, followed by a slash and the total amount of parts (as in ‘1/10’).

Programs which read multi-part archives should be prepared for additional lines to be present, and should ignore these if this is the case.

If the version number has changed, an incompatible change has been made and the program should stop. If it has not, then the program should be able to safely continue, unless it encounters an unexpected member in the archive (except at the end), as described below.

The second, last required member is named data.N, where N denotes the part number. It contains the raw part data.

These members must occur in this exact order. Current implementations should ignore any additional members after data.N. Further members may be defined in the future, and (if possible) will be placed after these two.

SEE ALSO
deb(5), dpkg-split(1).