dpkg-vendor - queries information about distribution vendors
Contents
Commands
--isvendor
Exits with 0 if the current vendor is vendor. Otherwise exits with 1.
--derives-fromvendor
Exits with 0 if the current vendor distribution is a derivative of vendor, otherwise exits with 1.
It uses the Parent field to browse all ancestors of the current vendor.
--queryfield
Print on standard output the value of the vendor-specific field for the current vendor.
--help
Show the usage message and exit.
--version
Show the version and exit.
Description
dpkg-vendor is a tool to query information about vendors listed in /etc/dpkg/origins. /etc/dpkg/origins/default contains information about the current vendor. The origin files provide metadata about specific vendors, such as their URL or where to file bug reports, and are usually used both to determine the behavior of tools and resulting contents during package builds targeting a specific vendor, and to describe the provenance of packages. Packages can explicitly declare their vendor by including an Origin field, otherwise the vendor for a package without such field is assumed to be the one pointed to by the default origin symbolic link. The default symbolic link is also used to denote the origin of the current installation managed by dpkg, be that a full distribution or an overlay on top of an existing base system that contains either no packaging system or a native one. This program was introduced in dpkg 1.15.1.
Environment
DEB_VENDOR
This setting defines the current vendor. If not set, it will discover the current vendor by reading
/etc/dpkg/origins/default.
DPKG_COLORS
Sets the color mode (since dpkg 1.18.5). The currently accepted values are: auto (default), always
and never.
DPKG_NLS
If set, it will be used to decide whether to activate Native Language Support, also known as
internationalization (or i18n) support (since dpkg 1.19.0). The accepted values are: 0 and 1
(default).
Files
Packagingsupport/usr/share/dpkg/vendor.mk
Makefile snippet that sets the current vendor and its parent into variables, and provides make macros
to check for derivatives (since dpkg 1.16.1).
Name
dpkg-vendor - queries information about distribution vendors
Options
--vendorvendor
Assumes the current vendor is vendor instead of discovering it with the DEB_VENDOR environment
variable or /etc/dpkg/origins/default.
See Also
deb-origin(5). 1.22.18 2025-03-20 dpkg-vendor(1)
Synopsis
dpkg-vendor [option...] command
