Description
control file field is used by dselect when
the user is selecting which packages to install and by dpkg
when it displays information about the status of packages and so
forth. It is included on the FTP site in the Packages files,
and may also be used by the Debian WWW pages.The description is intended to describe the program to a user who has never met it before so that they know whether they want to install it. It should also give information about the significant dependencies and conflicts between this package and others, so that the user knows why these dependencies and conflicts have been declared.
The field's format is as follows:
Description: single line synopsis extended description over several lines
The synopsis is often printed in lists of packages and so forth, and should be as informative as possible. Every package should also have an extended description.
Do not include any completely empty lines. These separate
different records in the Packages file and different packages in the
debian/control
file, and are forbidden in package control
files. See the previous paragraph for what happens if you get this
wrong.
The single line synopsis should be kept brief - certainly under 80 characters. dselect displays between 25 and 49 characters without panning if you're using an 80-column terminal, depending on what display options are in effect.
Do not include the package name in the synopsis line. The display software knows how to display this already, and you do not need to state it. Remember that in many situations the user may only see the synopsis line - make it as informative as you can.
The extended description should describe what the package does and how it relates to the rest of the system (in terms of, for example, which subsystem it is which part of).
The blurb that comes with a program in its announcements and/or README files is rarely suitable for use in a description. It is usually aimed at people who are already in the community where the package is used. The description field needs to make sense to anyone, even people who have no idea about any of the things the package deals with.
Put important information first, both in the synopis and extended description. Sometimes only the first part of the synopsis or of the description will be displayed. You can assume that there will usually be a way to see the whole extended description.
You may include information about dependencies and so forth in the extended description, if you wish.
Do not use tab characters. Their effect is not predictable.
Do not try to linewrap the summary (the part on the same line as the
field name Description
) into the extended description. This will
not work correctly when the full description is displayed, and makes
no sense where only the summary is available.
Package: smail Version: 3.1.29.1-13 Maintainer: Ian Jackson <iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk> Recommends: pine | mailx | elm | emacs | mail-user-agent Suggests: metamail Depends: cron, libc5 Conflicts: sendmail Provides: mail-transport-agent Description: Electronic mail transport system. Smail is the recommended mail transport agent (MTA) for Debian. . An MTA is the innards of the mail system - it takes messages from user-friendly mailer programs and arranges for them to be delivered locally or passed on to other systems as required. . In order to make use of it you must have one or more user level mailreader programs such as elm, pine, mailx or Emacs (which has Rmail and VM as mailreaders) installed. If you wish to send messages other than just to other users of your system you must also have appropriate networking support, in the form of IP or UUCP.