(debian-policy.info)Debian changes files – changes

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5.5 Debian changes files – ‘.changes’
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The ‘.changes’ files are used by the Debian archive maintenance software
to process updates to packages.  They consist of a single paragraph,
possibly surrounded by a PGP signature.  That paragraph contains
information from the ‘debian/control’ file and other data about the
source package gathered via ‘debian/changelog’ and ‘debian/rules’.

‘.changes’ files have a format version that is incremented whenever the
documented fields or their meaning change.  This document describes
format 1.8.

The fields in this file are:

   - Note: Format. (mandatory)

   - Note: Date. (mandatory)

   - Note: Source. (mandatory)

   - Note: Binary. (mandatory)

   - Note: Architecture. (mandatory)

   - Note: Version. (mandatory)

   - Note: Distribution. (mandatory)

   - Note: Urgency. (recommended)

   - Note: Maintainer. (mandatory)

   - Note: Changed-By.

   - Note: Description. (mandatory)

   - Note: Closes.

   - Note: Changes. (mandatory)

   - Note: Checksums-Sha1 and Checksums-Sha256. (mandatory)

   - Note: Files. (mandatory)