equivs - Circumvent Debian package dependencies

Tag: admin::package-management, devel::packaging, interface::commandline, made-of::lang:perl, role::sw:utility, suite::debian, works-with::software:package

This package provides a tool to create Debian packages that only contain dependency information.

One use for this is to create a metapackage: a package whose sole purpose is to declare dependencies and conflicts on other packages so that these will be automatically installed, upgraded, or removed.

Another use is to circumvent dependency checking. If a package P is not installed on the system, packages that depend on P cannot normally be installed. However, if functionality equivalent to P is known to be installed, this tool can be used to trick the Debian package management system into believing that package P is actually installed.

	this should be considered a crude hack to work around awkward situations, not a normal solution. If you use equivs to work around bugs in other Debian packages, you should also file bug reports against those packages.

To use equivs, you do:

b.1. equivs-control ns-control or b.2. cp /usr/share/doc/equivs/examples/<a control file> ns-control

When you call the "equivs-build" program, it will create a subdirectory "equivs", containing the files necessary to create a Debian package and build that package.

You need a control file for make-equivs. You will find examples of control files in /usr/share/doc/equivs/examples.

The control file has a structure like the control files in "real" Debian packages, but it doesn't have to define all keys, as default values will be used if you omit one. See the manual page for "equivs-build" for more information.