Deb (file format)

Debian package

The GNOME icon for deb files
Filename extension	.deb, .udeb
Internet media type	application/vnd.debian.binary-package
Developed by	Debian
Type of format	Package management system
Container for	Software package
Extended from	ar archive, tarball
Website

deb is the format, as well as extension of the software package format for the Debian distribution and its derivatives.

Debian packages are standard Unix ar archives that include two tar archives. One archive holds the control information and another contains the installable data.

dpkg provides the basic functionality for installing and manipulating Debian packages. Generally end users don't manage packages directly with dpkg but instead use the APT package management software or other APT front-ends such as synaptic or KPackage.

Debian packages can be converted into other package formats and vice versa using alien, and created from source code using checkinstall or the Debian Package Maker.

Some core Debian packages are available as udebs ("micro debs"), and are typically used only for bootstrapping a Debian installation. Although these files use the udeb filename extension, they adhere to the same structure specification as ordinary deb files. However, unlike their deb counterparts, udeb packages contain only essential functional files. In particular, documentation files are normally omitted. udeb packages are not installable on a standard Debian system, but are used in Debian-Installer.

Prior to Debian 0.93 a package consisted of a file header and two concatenated gzip archives. Since Debian 0.93, a deb package is implemented as an ar archive. This archive contains three files in a specific order: