.SRCINFO

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.SRCINFO files contain package metadata in a simple, unambiguous format, so that tools such as devtools, the AUR's Web back-end or AUR helpers may retrieve a package's metadata without parsing the PKGBUILD directly. See FS#25210, FS#15043, and FS#16394 for examples of the sorts of issues that may arise from attempting to parse shell scripts.

Warning: Changes to PKGBUILD metadata, such as pkgver() updates, do not automatically propagate to .SRCINFO. Pushing an edited PKGBUILD to the AUR without also updating its .SRCINFO will cause the AUR to serve stale metadata.

Generation

.SRCINFO files may be generated using makepkg:

$ makepkg --printsrcinfo > .SRCINFO

Syntax

.SRCINFO files are lists of key = value pairs, separated into sections.

Keys take their names and meanings from PKGBUILD variables; see PKGBUILD(5) § OPTIONS AND DIRECTIVES. Neither keys nor values are quoted. Data that, in a PKGBUILD, would be represented by an array is instead specified multiple times. For instance, the following are equivalent:

PKGBUILD
arch=(i686 x86_64)
.SRCINFO
arch = i686
arch = x86_64

The main section of the file is headed by a pkgbase declaration, and contains data applicable to the package as a whole. In a standard PKGBUILD describing a single package, this will be the only section, followed by a pkgname declaration containing the same value as the preceding pkgbase:

pkgbase = foo
	pkgdesc = An example package.
	...
	md5sums = SKIP

pkgname = foo

In a split PKGBUILD, each section is headed by a pkgname, followed by any data specific to that package.

This article or section needs expansion.

Reason: The above will suffice for some, below is a verbose list of parameters; split these up to improve readability. Also, find ways to reduce redundancy between this and PKGBUILD. (Discuss in Talk:.SRCINFO)

Specification

The following fields may appear only once in each .SRCINFO file, in the pkgbase section:

  • pkgver, pkgrel, epoch

The following fields may appear up to once in any section.

  • pkgdesc, url, install, changelog

The following fields may be repeated within a section to specify multiple values:

  • arch
  • groups
  • license
  • noextract
  • options
  • backup
  • validpgpkeys (can only be in pkgbase)

The following fields may, additionally, specify multiple architectures as shown below:

source_x86_64 = https://foo.bar/file.tar.gz
source_i686 = https://foo.bar/file_i686_patch.tar.gz
  • source
  • depends, checkdepends, makedepends, optdepends
  • provides, conflicts, replaces
  • md5sums, sha1sums, sha224sums, sha256sums, sha384sums, sha512sums

Fields with other names are ignored. Blank lines and comment lines beginning with a hash sign (#) are also ignored. Lines may be indented.