SRCINFO(5) File Formats Manual SRCINFO(5)

SRCINFO - Information on sources of ALPM based packages.

The SCRINFO format is a textual format that describes package source metadata. Such files are named .SRCINFO and located at the root of source repositories from which ALPM based packages are built. They are created from PKGBUILD files to allow safe metadata parsing in scenarios where using bash is not an option. The SRCINFO format is used by applications such as repository management software and custom web frontends to evaluate and present the source information of packages.

A SRCINFO file consists of a series of lines, each providing information on an aspect of the sources of one or several packages (see alpm-split-package for information on split packages). Lines starting with a '#' sign are treated as comments and are always ignored. Empty lines are always ignored. Leading whitespace is always ignored.

Unless noted otherwise, the information contained in a SRCINFO file is considered to be covered by the set of the 95 printable ASCII characters[1].

The file format distinguishes between section headers introducing specific sections and keyword assignments that can be used in those sections. Each line encodes information that either represents one section header or one keyword assignment.

The SRCINFO format requires the definition of a single pkgbase and one or more pkgname sections. While the pkgbase section contains metadata shared by all packages built from a PKGBUILD, the pkgname sections are used to declare package metadata and provide overrides that are specific for each respective package.

All section headers consist of a key, immediately followed by a whitespace, an '=' sign, another whitespace and a value.

The section header for a pkgbase section must use the word 'pkgbase' as key and an alpm-package-name as value. Exactly one such section header must exist in a SRCINFO file at the beginning of the file.

The section header for a pkgname section must use the word 'pkgname' as key and an alpm-package-name as value. At least one such section header must exist in a SRCINFO file (one for each package built from a PKGBUILD), but only after a pkgbase section header.

The pkgbase section must at least contain assignments for the pkgver and pkgrel keywords, and may otherwise also contain all other known keyword assignments. Keyword assignments present in this section also apply to all pkgname sections.

A pkgname section may have zero or more keyword assignments. It must not contain assignments for the epoch, pkgver, pkgrel, or validpgpkeys keywords, nor any keyword assignments representing build or test dependency declarations (see alpm-package-relation for details), source declarations (see alpm-package-source for details) or checksum declarations (see alpm-package-source-checksum for details). Keyword assignments in a pkgname section only apply to the specific package that the section describes. More specifically, all keyword assignments in a pkgname section are used to unset, extend or override the keyword assignments found in the pkgbase section. The following rules apply:

•
A keyword that has been previously defined in the pkgbase section and may be used in a pkgname section can be
  • unset by assigning an empty value to it (e.g. the pkgbase section defines `depends = bash` and the pkgname section defines `depends =`), or
  • overridden by defining it again (e.g. the pkgbase section defines `depends = bash` and the pkgname section defines `depends = zsh`).
•
All keywords that allow multiple assignments and that may be used in a pkgname section can be extended by first adding all keyword assignments found in the pkgbase section and afterwards adding further keyword assignments in a pkgname section (e.g. the pkgbase section defines `depends = bash` and the pkgname section defines `depends = bash` and `depends = bash-completion`).

Further rules may apply depending on keyword.

All keyword assignments are defined as a key from the following list immediately followed by a whitespace, an '=' sign, another whitespace and a value.

By default, exactly one keyword assignment may be present per keyword in a SRCINFO. As exception to this rule, the keywords arch, backup, checkdepends, conflicts, depends, groups, license, makedepends, optdepends, options, provides, replaces, as well as the source related keywords noextract, source, validpgpkeys, b2sums, md5sums, sha1sums, sha224sums, sha256sums, sha384sums and sha512sums may be provided zero or more times.

By default keyword assignments apply to all targeted alpm-architectures. Some keywords may also be provided in architecture-specific ways by appending an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all except `any`) - see each keyword section for details. These architecture-specific keyword assignments only apply to the architecture they target.

pkgdesc

The description of the package. This keyword assignment may be provided zero or one times in the pkgbase and/or in each pkgname section. The value is a UTF-8 string, zero or more characters long (e.g. `A project used for something`). No specific rules about the value exist, but it is suggested to be "short" and to not contain the package name (see alpm-package-name).

pkgver

The pkgver package version component for the package(s) (see alpm-pkgver for further information on the expected value). This keyword assignment must be provided once, exclusively in the pkgbase section.

The value is an alpm-pkgver (e.g. `1.0.0` or `1:1.0.0`).

pkgrel

The pkgrel package version component for the package(s) (see alpm-pkgrel for further details on the expected value).

This keyword assignment must be provided once, exclusively in the pkgbase section.

epoch

The optional epoch package version component for the package(s) (see alpm-epoch for further details on the expected value).

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or one time, exclusively in the pkgbase section.

url

The URL for the project of the package. This keyword assignment may be provided zero or one times in the pkgbase and/or in each pkgname section.

The value is a valid URL or an empty string (e.g. `https://example.org`).

install

The name of an alpm-install-scriptlet that is used for pre and post actions when installing, upgrading or uninstalling a package. This keyword assignment may be provided zero or one times in the pkgbase and/or in each pkgname section.

The value must be a UTF-8 string, that represents a relative file path (e.g. `scriptlet.install`).

changelog

The name of file containing changelog information for a package. This keyword assignment may be provided zero or one times in the pkgbase and/or in each pkgname section.

The value must be a UTF-8 string, that represents a relative file path (e.g. `pkg.changelog`).

arch

An architecture that applies for a pkgname section. This keyword assignment may be provided one or more times in the pkgbase and zero or more times in each pkgname section.

The value is an alpm-architecture (e.g. `x86_64` or `any`). The following rules apply, if this keyword is used multiple times:

  • each value must be unique
  • if the value `any` is used, no other value can be used alongside it, as it implies that a pkgname may be used on any architecture (which logically excludes being used only on a specific architecture)

groups

An arbitrary string, that denotes a distribution-wide group the package is in (see alpm-package-group). Groups are used e.g. by package managers to group packages and allow to bulk install them, or by other software to display information on these related packages.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times in the pkgbase as well as in each pkgname section. The value is represented by a UTF-8 string. Although it is possible to use a UTF-8 string, it is highly recommended to rely on the alpm-package-name format for the value instead, as package managers may use groups to install an entire group of packages.

license

A license that applies for the package(s).

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times in the pkgbase as well as in each pkgname section. The value represents a license identifier, which is a string of non-zero length (e.g. `GPL`). Although no specific restrictions are enforced for the value aside from its length, it is highly recommended to rely on SPDX license expressions (e.g. `GPL-3.0-or-later` or `Apache-2.0 OR MIT`). See SPDX License List[5] for further information.

checkdepends

A dependency for running tests of the package's upstream project. An architecture-specific checkdepends may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'checkdepends', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `checkdepends_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times, exclusively in the pkgbase section. The value is an alpm-package-relation of type test dependency (e.g. `example` or `example=1.0.0`).

makedepends

A build time dependency of the package (virtual component or package). An architecture-specific makedepends may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'makedepends', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `makedepends_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times, exclusively in the pkgbase section. The value is an alpm-package-relation of type build dependency (e.g. `example` or `example=1.0.0`).

depends

A run-time dependency of the package (virtual component or package). An architecture-specific depends may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'depends', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `depends_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times in the pkgbase as well as in each pkgname section. The value is an alpm-package-relation of type run-time dependency (e.g. `example` or `example=1.0.0`).

optdepends

An optional dependency of the package (virtual component or package). An architecture-specific optdepends may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'optdepends', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `optdepends_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times in the pkgbase as well as in each pkgname section. The value is an alpm-package-relation of type optional dependency (e.g. `example` or `example: this is a description`).

provides

Another virtual component or package, that the package provides. An architecture-specific provides may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'provides', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `provides_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times in the pkgbase as well as in each pkgname section. The value is an alpm-package-relation of type provision (e.g. `example` or `example=1.0.0`).

conflicts

Another virtual component or package, that the package conflicts with. An architecture-specific conflicts may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'conflicts', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `conflicts_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times in the pkgbase as well as in each pkgname section. The value is an alpm-package-relation of type conflict (e.g. `example` or `example=1.0.0`).

replaces

Another virtual component or package, that the package replaces upon installation. An architecture-specific replaces may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'replaces', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `replaces_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times in the pkgbase as well as in each pkgname section. The value is an alpm-package-relation of type replacement (e.g. `example` or `example=1.0.0`).

noextract

A local source file name (see alpm-package-source) of a file that should not be extracted during package building. Each value must represent the valid local file name of an existing source keyword assignment (e.g. `source = https://example.org/project-1.0.0.tar.gz` and `noextract = project-1.0.0.tar.gz`). A file matching the provided filename is not automatically extracted during package building, even if it is a compressed file (e.g. `example.tar.gz` or `example.zip`). An architecture-specific noextract may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'noextract', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `noextract_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times, exclusively in the pkgbase section.

options

An option used by the package build tool (i.e. makepkg, defaults are defined in OPTIONS of makepkg.conf) when building the package. This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times either in the pkgbase or in a pkgname section.

The value must be a unique word, optionally prefixed by a single '!', which indicates the negation of the option (e.g. `debug` or `!debug`). If the keyword assignment is used in a pkgname section, the value of the first occurrence may be empty, which indicates, that for the respective package none of the options defined in the pkgbase section apply.

backup

A relative file path of a file in a given package, that denotes a file for the package manager to keep backups for in case it changes or is deleted during a package update action (see pacman '.pacnew' and '.pacsave' files). This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times in the pkgbase as well as in each pkgname section. The value must be a valid relative Unix file path (e.g. `etc/package.conf`).

source

A (remote or local) source used in the packaging process of the package(s) (see alpm-package-source for further details on the allowed value), that are automatically extracted if they represent compressed files (unless a noextract value matching the file name exists). An architecture-specific source may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'source', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `source_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times, exclusively in the pkgbase section.

validpgpkeys

An OpenPGP fingerprint[2] which may be used for the validation of OpenPGP signatures[3] created for one or more alpm-package-sources (i.e. a source keyword assignment).

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times, exclusively in the pkgbase section. It must be used at least once if

  • one alpm-package-source value makes use of the `signed` URL fragment
  • or if there is one alpm-package-source ending with `.sig`, that equals another without that file ending
  • or if there is one alpm-package-source ending with `.sign`, that matches another without that file ending and all compression algorithm specific file endings (e.g. `.xz` or `.zst`) removed

The value is a 40 char long hexadecimal string (e.g `0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef01234567`). Although possible, it is strongly discouraged to use the non-unique, legacy OpenPGP Key ID[4] representation, a 16 char long hexadecimal string (e.g. `89abcdef01234567`)

md5sums

An MD5[6] hash digest of a file provided by name in a source value, or the special string 'SKIP' (see alpm-package-source-checksum for further details on the allowed value). An architecture-specific md5sums may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'md5sums', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `md5sums_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times, exclusively in the pkgbase section. If it is used, the SRCINFO must contain as many md5sums keyword assignments as there are source keyword assignments (the same applies for the architecture-specific variant of this keyword). The ordering of accompanying source keyword assignments dictate the ordering of the md5sums keyword assignments (i.e. the first md5sums keyword assignment provides data for the first source keyword assignment, etc.).

sha1sums

A SHA-1[7] hash digest of a file provided by name in a source value, or the special string 'SKIP' (see alpm-package-source-checksum for further details on the allowed value). An architecture-specific sha1sums may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'sha1sums', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `sha1sums_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times, exclusively in the pkgbase section. If it is used, the SRCINFO must contain as many sha1sums keyword assignments as there are source keyword assignments (the same applies for the architecture-specific variant of this keyword). The ordering of accompanying source keyword assignments dictate the ordering of the sha1sums keyword assignments (i.e. the first sha1sums keyword assignment provides data for the first source keyword assignment, etc.).

sha224sums

A SHA-224[8] hash digest of a file provided by name in a source value, or the special string 'SKIP' (see alpm-package-source-checksum for further details on the allowed value). An architecture-specific sha224sums may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'sha224sums', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `sha224sums_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times, exclusively in the pkgbase section. If it is used, the SRCINFO must contain as many sha224sums keyword assignments as there are source keyword assignments (the same applies for the architecture-specific variant of this keyword). The ordering of accompanying source keyword assignments dictate the ordering of the sha224sums keyword assignments (i.e. the first sha224sums keyword assignment provides data for the first source keyword assignment, etc.).

sha256sums

A SHA-256[8] hash digest of a file provided by name in a source value, or the special string 'SKIP' (see alpm-package-source-checksum for further details on the allowed value). An architecture-specific sha256sums may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'sha256sums', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `sha256sums_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times, exclusively in the pkgbase section. If it is used, the SRCINFO must contain as many sha256sums keyword assignments as there are source keyword assignments (the same applies for the architecture-specific variant of this keyword). The ordering of accompanying source keyword assignments dictate the ordering of the sha256sums keyword assignments (i.e. the first sha256sums keyword assignment provides data for the first source keyword assignment, etc.).

sha384sums

A SHA-384[8] hash digest of a file provided by name in a source value, or the special string 'SKIP' (see alpm-package-source-checksum for further details on the allowed value). An architecture-specific sha384sums may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'sha384sums', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `sha384sums_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times, exclusively in the pkgbase section. If it is used, the SRCINFO must contain as many sha384sums keyword assignments as there are source keyword assignments (the same applies for the architecture-specific variant of this keyword). The ordering of accompanying source keyword assignments dictate the ordering of the sha384sums keyword assignments (i.e. the first sha384sums keyword assignment provides data for the first source keyword assignment, etc.).

sha512sums

A SHA-512[8] hash digest of a file provided by name in a source value, or the special string 'SKIP' (see alpm-package-source-checksum for further details on the allowed value). An architecture-specific sha512sums may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'sha512sums', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `sha512sums_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times, exclusively in the pkgbase section. If it is used, the SRCINFO must contain as many sha512sums keyword assignments as there are source keyword assignments (the same applies for the architecture-specific variant of this keyword). The ordering of accompanying source keyword assignments dictate the ordering of the sha512sums keyword assignments (i.e. the first sha512sums keyword assignment provides data for the first source keyword assignment, etc.).

b2sums

A BLAKE2[9] hash digest of a file provided by name in a source value, or the special string 'SKIP' (see alpm-package-source-checksum for further details on the allowed value). An architecture-specific b2sums may be specified using a keyword consisting of 'b2sums', directly followed by an '_' sign, directly followed by an alpm-architecture (all alpm-architectures except `any` can be used), e.g. `b2sums_aarch64`.

This keyword assignment may be provided zero or more times, exclusively in the pkgbase section. If it is used, the SRCINFO must contain as many b2sums keyword assignments as there are source keyword assignments (the same applies for the architecture-specific variant of this keyword). The ordering of accompanying source keyword assignments dictate the ordering of the b2sums keyword assignments (i.e. the first b2sums keyword assignment provides data for the first source keyword assignment, etc.).

pkgbase = example
  pkgdesc = An example package
  pkgver = 1.0.0
  pkgrel = 1
  epoch = 1
  url = https://example.org
  arch = any
  license = GPL-3.0-or-later
  checkdepends = extra-test-tool
  checkdepends = other-extra-test-tool
  makedepends = cmake
  makedepends = python-sphinx
  depends = glibc
  depends = gcc-libs
  source = https://example.org/example-1.0.0.tar.gz
  sha512sums = 8b41e1b78ad11521113c52ff182a1b8e0a195754aa527fcd00a411620b46f20ffffb8088ccf85497121ad4499e0845b876f6dd6640088a2f0b2d8a600bdf4c0c
  b2sums = cb79bf658b69dff0acf721232455a461598dd26ed42047bd0362e7fbd796093145a694c1a6bcdcf5bf7f866d78f009c14bf456be0f944283829a6e33cedf2aef
pkgname = example
  # overrides the pkgdesc for the example package
  pkgdesc = A project that does something
  groups = package-group
  # extends the license for the example package
  license = GPL-3.0-or-later
  license = LGPL-3.0-or-later
  optdepends = python: for special-python-script.py
  optdepends = example-docs: for documentation
  provides = some-component
  conflicts = conflicting-package<1.0.0
  replaces = other-package>0.9.0-3
  backup = etc/example/config.toml
pkgname = example-docs
  # overrides the pkgdesc for the example-docs package
  pkgdesc = A project that does something - documentation
  # overrides the license for the example-docs package
  license = CC-BY-SA-4.0
  # unsets the dependencies for the example-docs package
  depends =

The above example represents a SRCINFO file that describes two split packages (see alpm-split-package for more details). Both pkgname sections override the `pkgdesc` keyword assignment. The first pkgname section additionally extends the `license` keyword specification from the pkgbase section and adds further package-specific keyword assignments (e.g. `replaces`, `groups`, `conflicts`, `provides`, `backup`, `optdepends`). The second pkgname section overrides the `license` keyword assignment and unsets the `depends` keyword assignment.

The following minimal PKGBUILD defines a package for two alpm-architectures.

pkgname=example
pkgver=0.1.0
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="An example package"
arch=(x86_64 aarch64)
url="https://example.org"
license=(GPL-3.0-or-later)
depends=(bash)
depends_x86_64=(zsh)
package() {
  pkgdesc+=" - extra info"
  depends_x86_64+=(nushell)
  depends_aarch64=(sh)
}

This PKGBUILD is represented by the following SRCINFO:

pkgbase = example
  pkgdesc = An example package
  pkgver = 0.1.0
  pkgrel = 1
  url = https://example.org
  arch = x86_64
  arch = aarch64
  license = GPL-3.0-or-later
  depends = bash
  depends_x86_64 = zsh
pkgname = example
  pkgdesc = An example package - extra info
  depends_x86_64 = zsh
  depends_x86_64 = nushell
  depends_aarch64 = sh

Depending on targeted alpm-architecture, the package data will differ when fully resolving all keywords.

For `aarch64`:

  • `pkgdesc = An example package - extra info`
  • `pkgver = 0.1.0`
  • `pkgrel = 1`
  • `url = https://example.org`
  • `arch = aarch64`
  • `license = GPL-3.0-or-later`
  • `depends = bash`
  • `depends = sh`

For `x86_64`:

  • `pkgdesc = An example package - extra info`
  • `pkgver = 0.1.0`
  • `pkgrel = 1`
  • `url = https://example.org`
  • `arch = x86_64`
  • `license = GPL-3.0-or-later`
  • `depends = bash`
  • `depends = zsh`
  • `depends = nushell`

alpm-srcinfo(1), bash(1), PKGBUILD(5), makepkg.conf(5), alpm-architecture(7), alpm-comparison(7), alpm-epoch(7), alpm-install-scriptlet(7), alpm-package-group(7), alpm-package-name(7), alpm-package-relation(7), alpm-package-version(7), alpm-pkgrel(7), alpm-pkgver(7), alpm-split-package(7), makepkg(8), pacman(8)

1.
printable ASCII characters

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII#Printable_characters

2.
OpenPGP fingerprint

https://openpgp.dev/book/certificates.html#fingerprint

3.
OpenPGP signatures

https://openpgp.dev/book/signing_data.html

4.
OpenPGP Key ID

https://openpgp.dev/book/glossary.html#term-Key-ID

5.
SPDX License List

https://spdx.org/licenses/

6.
MD5

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD5

7.
SHA-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-1

8.
SHA-2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2

9.
BLAKE2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLAKE_(hash_function)#BLAKE2