/usr/share/doc/lintian/lintian.html/chapter-3.html

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>Chapter 3. Advanced usage</H1
><DIV
CLASS="sect1"
><H1
CLASS="sect1"
><A
NAME="section-3.1"
>3.1. How Lintian works</A
></H1
><P
>Lintian is divided into the following layers:</P
><P
></P
><DIV
CLASS="variablelist"
><DL
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>frontend</I
></SPAN
></DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;              the command line interface (currently, this layer
              consists of two scripts,
              namely <B
CLASS="command"
>lintian</B
>
              and <B
CLASS="command"
>lintian-info</B
>)
             </P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>checks</I
></SPAN
></DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;              a set of modules that check different aspects of packages.
            </P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>data collectors</I
></SPAN
></DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;              a set of scripts that prepares specific information
              about a package needed by the check modules
            </P
></DD
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><P
>&#13;        When you check a package with Lintian, the following steps are
        performed (not exactly in this order&#8212;but the details aren't important
        now):
      </P
><P
></P
><OL
TYPE="1"
><LI
><P
>&#13;            An entry is created for the package in
            the <SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>laboratory</I
></SPAN
> (or
            just <SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>lab</I
></SPAN
>).
          </P
></LI
><LI
><P
>&#13;            Some data is collected about the package. (That is done by
            the so-called <SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>data collector</I
></SPAN
>
            scripts.) For example, the <B
CLASS="command"
>file</B
> program
            is run on each file in the package and the output is
            stored in the lab.
          </P
></LI
><LI
><P
>&#13;            The <SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>checks</I
></SPAN
> are run over the package
            and report any discovered policy violations or other
            errors. These scripts don't access the package contents
            directly, but use the collected data as input.
          </P
></LI
><LI
><P
>&#13;            Depending on the <SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>lab mode</I
></SPAN
> Lintian
            uses (see below), the whole lab directory is removed
            again.  If the lab is not removed, parts of the data
            collected may be auto cleaned to reduce disk space.
          </P
></LI
></OL
><P
>&#13;        This separation of the <SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>check</I
></SPAN
>
        from the <SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>data collector scripts</I
></SPAN
> makes it
        possible to run Lintian several times over a package without
        having to recollect all the data each time. In addition, the
        checker scripts do not have to worry about packaging details
        since this is abstracted away by the collector scripts.
      </P
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lintian 2.5.43 / usr / share / doc / lintian / lintian.html / chapter-3.html
