5.5. Debian changes files – .changes

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:

• Format (mandatory)

• Date (mandatory)

• Source (mandatory)

• Binary (mandatory)

• Architecture (mandatory)

• Version (mandatory)

• Distribution (mandatory)

• Urgency (recommended)

• Maintainer (mandatory)

• Changed-By

• Description (mandatory)

• Closes

• Changes (mandatory)

• Checksums-Sha1 and Checksums-Sha256 (mandatory)

• Files (mandatory)