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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | COMMANDS | OPTIONS | TERMS | VARIABLES | FILES | EXAMPLES | ENVIRONMENT | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
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dpkg-architecture(1) dpkg suite dpkg-architecture(1)
dpkg-architecture - set and determine the architecture for package
building
dpkg-architecture [option...] [command]
dpkg-architecture provides a facility to determine and set the
build and host architecture for package building.
The build architecture is always determined by either the
DEB_BUILD_ARCH variable if set (and --force not being specified)
or by an external call to dpkg(1), and cannot be set at the
command line.
You can specify the host architecture by providing one or both of
the options --host-arch and --host-type, otherwise the
DEB_HOST_ARCH variable is used if set (and --force not being
specified). The default is determined by an external call to
gcc(1), or the same as the build architecture if CC or gcc are
both not available. One out of --host-arch and --host-type is
sufficient, the value of the other will be set to a usable
default. Indeed, it is often better to only specify one, because
dpkg-architecture will warn you if your choice does not match the
default.
-l, --list
Print the environment variables, one each line, in the format
VARIABLE=value. This is the default action.
Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
-e, --equal architecture
Check for equality of architecture. It compares the current
or specified Debian host architecture against architecture, to
check if they are equal. This action will not expand the
architecture wildcards. Command finishes with an exit status
of 0 if matched, 1 if not matched.
Supported since dpkg 1.13.13. Support for long command since
dpkg 1.17.17.
-i, --is architecture-wildcard
Check for identity of architecture. It compares the current
or specified Debian host architecture against
architecture-wildcard after having expanded it as an
architecture wildcard, to check if they match. Command
finishes with an exit status of 0 if matched, 1 if not
matched.
Supported since dpkg 1.13.13. Support for long command since
dpkg 1.17.17.
-q, --query variable-name
Print the value of a single variable.
Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
-s, --print-set
Print an export command. This can be used to set the
environment variables using the POSIX shell or make eval,
depending on the output format.
Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
-u, --print-unset
Print a similar command to --print-set but to unset all
variables.
Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
-c, --command command-string
Execute a command-string in an environment which has all
variables set to the determined value.
If the command-string contains shell metacharacters, then it
will be invoked through the system bourne shell.
Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
-L, --list-known
Print a list of valid architecture names. Possibly restricted
by one or more of the matching options --match-wildcard,
--match-bits or --match-endian
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14. Support for long command since
dpkg 1.17.17.
-?, --help
Show the usage message and exit.
Support for long command since dpkg 1.17.17.
--version
Show the version and exit.
Supported since dpkg 1.17.17.
-a, --host-arch architecture
Set the host Debian architecture.
Support for long option since dpkg 1.17.17.
-t, --host-type gnu-system-type
Set the host GNU system type.
Support for long option since dpkg 1.17.17.
-A, --target-arch architecture
Set the target Debian architecture.
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14. Support for long option since
dpkg 1.17.17.
-T, --target-type gnu-system-type
Set the target GNU system type.
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14. Support for long option since
dpkg 1.17.17.
-W, --match-wildcard architecture-wildcard
Restrict the architectures listed by --list-known to ones
matching the specified architecture wildcard.
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14. Support for long option since
dpkg 1.17.17.
-B, --match-bits architecture-bits
Restrict the architectures listed by --list-known to ones with
the specified CPU bits. Either 32 or 64.
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14. Support for long option since
dpkg 1.17.17.
-E, --match-endian architecture-endianness
Restrict the architectures listed by --list-known to ones with
the specified endianness. Either little or big.
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14. Support for long option since
dpkg 1.17.17.
--print-format format
Sets the output format for --print-set and --print-unset, to
either shell (default) or make.
Supported since dpkg 1.20.6.
-f, --force
Values set by existing environment variables with the same
name as used by the scripts are honored (i.e. used by
dpkg-architecture), except if this force flag is present.
This allows the user to override a value even when the call to
dpkg-architecture is buried in some other script (for example
dpkg-buildpackage(1)).
Support for long option since dpkg 1.17.17.
build machine
The machine the package is built on.
host machine
The machine the package is built for.
target machine
The machine the compiler is building for, or the emulator will
run code for. This is only needed when building a
cross-toolchain (or emulator), one that will be built on the
build architecture, to be run on the host architecture, and
that itself will build (or run emulated) code for the target
architecture.
Debian architecture
A Debian architecture describes a “machine” (considering it as
an abstraction not necessarily tied to an actual physical
device) representing a specific execution environment,
including its CPU and attributes (such as endianness and
bits), an operating system (usually a kernel, but other
paradigms using userland services are possible) and its
interfaces towards userland including the executable format
and their ABI, and a libc library and its ABI.
The special architecture all denotes an architecture
independent execution environment, used for things such as
shell and Perl scripts or documentation.
A Debian architecture is used in binary package metadata and
filenames (which specifies the binary tree in a package
repository), and can appear in package relationships.
An architecture must start with an alphanumeric character
(“0-9a-zA-Z”), and then gets followed by alphanumeric or dash
(“-”) characters.
Examples: amd64, i386, sparc64, hurd-amd64,
musl-linux-riscv64.
Debian architecture tuple
A Debian architecture tuple is the fully qualified
architecture with all its components spelled out. This
differs with Debian architectures in that at least the cpu
component does not embed the abi. The current tuple has the
form abi-libc-os-cpu.
Examples: base-gnu-linux-amd64, eabihf-musl-linux-arm.
Debian architecture wildcard
A Debian architecture wildcard is a special architecture that
acts as a pattern and will match any ”machine” architecture
being part of it (except for all).
The general form is a Debian architecture tuple with four or
less elements, and with at least one of them being any.
Missing elements of the tuple are prefixed implicitly as any,
and thus the following pairs are equivalent:
any-any-any-any = any
any-any-os-any = os-any
any-libc-any-any = libc-any-any
Examples: linux-any, any-i386, hurd-any, eabi-any-any-arm,
musl-any-any.
GNU system type
A GNU architecture specification string consisting of two
parts separated by a hyphen: CPU and system.
The CPU part never contains a hyphen, while the system part
might itself contain a hyphen to separate a kernel from its
general ABI, where the general ABI might contain both runtime
(such as libc) and executable ABI specifiers joined without a
hyphen.
Examples: i586-linux-gnu, sparc64-linux-gnu, i686-gnu,
x86_64-netbsd.
multiarch triplet
The clarified GNU system type, used for filesystem paths.
This triplet does not change even when the baseline ISA gets
bumped, so that the resulting paths are stable over time. The
only current difference with the GNU system type is that the
CPU part for i386 based systems is always i386.
Examples: i386-linux-gnu, x86_64-linux-gnu. Example paths:
/lib/powerpc64le-linux-gnu/, /usr/lib/i386-gnu/.
The following variables are read from the environment (unless
--force has been specified) and set by dpkg-architecture (see the
TERMS section for a description of the naming scheme):
DEB_BUILD_ARCH
The Debian architecture of the build machine.
Note: If you are not building tools that need to run during
the build, these are probably not the variables you are
looking for. See the "TERMS" section for the meanings of
these terms.
DEB_BUILD_ARCH_ABI
The Debian ABI name of the build machine.
Supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
DEB_BUILD_ARCH_LIBC
The Debian libc name of the build machine.
Supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
DEB_BUILD_ARCH_OS
The Debian system name of the build machine.
Supported since dpkg 1.13.2.
DEB_BUILD_ARCH_CPU
The Debian CPU name of the build machine.
Supported since dpkg 1.13.2.
DEB_BUILD_ARCH_BITS
The pointer size of the build machine (in bits).
Supported since dpkg 1.15.4.
DEB_BUILD_ARCH_ENDIAN
The endianness of the build machine (little / big).
Supported since dpkg 1.15.4.
DEB_BUILD_GNU_CPU
The GNU CPU part of DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE.
DEB_BUILD_GNU_SYSTEM
The GNU system part of DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE.
DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE
The GNU system type of the build machine.
DEB_BUILD_MULTIARCH
The clarified GNU system type of the build machine, used for
filesystem paths.
Supported since dpkg 1.16.0.
DEB_HOST_ARCH
The Debian architecture of the host machine.
DEB_HOST_ARCH_ABI
The Debian ABI name of the host machine.
Supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
DEB_HOST_ARCH_LIBC
The Debian libc name of the host machine.
Supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
DEB_HOST_ARCH_OS
The Debian system name of the host machine.
Supported since dpkg 1.13.2.
DEB_HOST_ARCH_CPU
The Debian CPU name of the host machine.
Supported since dpkg 1.13.2.
DEB_HOST_ARCH_BITS
The pointer size of the host machine (in bits).
Supported since dpkg 1.15.4.
DEB_HOST_ARCH_ENDIAN
The endianness of the host machine (little / big).
Supported since dpkg 1.15.4.
DEB_HOST_GNU_CPU
The GNU CPU part of DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE.
DEB_HOST_GNU_SYSTEM
The GNU system part of DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE.
DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE
The GNU system type of the host machine.
DEB_HOST_MULTIARCH
The clarified GNU system type of the host machine, used for
filesystem paths.
Supported since dpkg 1.16.0.
DEB_TARGET_ARCH
The Debian architecture of the target machine.
Note: If you are not building cross-toolchains (or emulators),
these are probably not the variables you are looking for. See
the "TERMS" section for the meanings of these terms.
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_ARCH_ABI
The Debian ABI name of the target machine.
Supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
DEB_TARGET_ARCH_LIBC
The Debian libc name of the target machine.
Supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
DEB_TARGET_ARCH_OS
The Debian system name of the target machine.
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_ARCH_CPU
The Debian CPU name of the target machine.
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_ARCH_BITS
The pointer size of the target machine (in bits).
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_ARCH_ENDIAN
The endianness of the target machine (little / big).
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_GNU_CPU
The GNU CPU part of DEB_TARGET_GNU_TYPE.
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_GNU_SYSTEM
The GNU system part of DEB_TARGET_GNU_TYPE.
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_GNU_TYPE
The GNU system type of the target machine.
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
DEB_TARGET_MULTIARCH
The clarified GNU system type of the target machine, used for
filesystem paths.
Supported since dpkg 1.17.14.
Architecture tables
All these files have to be present for dpkg-architecture to work.
Their location can be overridden at runtime with the environment
variable DPKG_DATADIR. These tables contain a format Version
pseudo-field on their first line to mark their format, so that
parsers can check if they understand it, such as "# Version=1.0".
/usr/local/share/dpkg/cputable
Table of known CPU names and mapping to their GNU name.
Format version 1.0, supported since dpkg 1.13.2.
/usr/local/share/dpkg/ostable
Table of known operating system names and mapping to their GNU
name.
Format version 2.0, supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
/usr/local/share/dpkg/tupletable
Mapping between Debian architecture tuples and Debian
architecture names.
Format version 1.0, supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
/usr/local/share/dpkg/abitable
Table of Debian architecture ABI attribute overrides.
Format version 2.0, supported since dpkg 1.18.11.
Packaging support
/usr/local/share/dpkg/architecture.mk
Makefile snippet that properly sets and exports all the
variables that dpkg-architecture outputs.
Supported since dpkg 1.16.1.
dpkg-buildpackage accepts the -a option and passes it to
dpkg-architecture. Other examples:
CC=i386-gnu-gcc dpkg-architecture -c debian/rules build
eval $(dpkg-architecture -u)
Check if the current or specified host architecture is equal to an
architecture:
dpkg-architecture -elinux-arm64
dpkg-architecture -ariscv64 -elinux-riscv64
Check if the current or specified host architecture is a Linux
system:
dpkg-architecture -ilinux-any
dpkg-architecture -aamd64 -ilinux-any
Usage in debian/rules
The environment variables set by dpkg-architecture are passed to
debian/rules as make variables (see make documentation). However,
you should not rely on them, as this breaks manual invocation of
the script. Instead, you should always initialize them using
dpkg-architecture with the -q option. Here are some examples,
which also show how you can improve the cross compilation support
in your package:
Retrieving the GNU system type and forwarding it to ./configure:
DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE)
DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE)
[...]
ifeq ($(DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE), $(DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE))
confflags += --build=$(DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE)
else
confflags += --build=$(DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE) \
--host=$(DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE)
endif
[...]
./configure $(confflags)
Doing something only for a specific architecture:
DEB_HOST_ARCH ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_ARCH)
ifeq ($(DEB_HOST_ARCH),arm64)
[...]
endif
or if you only need to check the CPU or OS type, use the
DEB_HOST_ARCH_CPU or DEB_HOST_ARCH_OS variables.
Note that you can also rely on an external Makefile snippet to
properly set all the variables that dpkg-architecture can provide:
include /usr/local/share/dpkg/architecture.mk
ifeq ($(DEB_HOST_ARCH),arm64)
[...]
endif
In any case, you should never use dpkg --print-architecture to get
architecture information during a package build.
DPKG_DATADIR
If set, it will be used as the dpkg data directory, where the
architecture tables are located. Defaults to
«/usr/local/share/dpkg».
Supported since dpkg 1.14.17.
DPKG_COLORS
Sets the color mode. The currently accepted values are: auto
(default), always and never.
Supported since dpkg 1.18.5.
DPKG_NLS
If set, it will be used to decide whether to activate Native
Language Support, also known as internationalization (or i18n)
support. The accepted values are: 0 and 1 (default).
Supported since dpkg 1.19.0.
dpkg-buildpackage(1).
This page is part of the dpkg (Debian Package Manager) project.
Information about the project can be found at
⟨https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg/⟩. If you have a bug report
for this manual page, see
⟨http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?src=dpkg⟩. This
page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository ⟨git
clone https://git.dpkg.org/git/dpkg/dpkg.git⟩ on 2026-08-03. (At
that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
the repository was 2026-08-01.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org
1.23.7-216-gff7e9 2026-03-07 dpkg-architecture(1)
Pages that refer to this page: dh_installdeb(1), dh_installdebconf(1), dpkg-buildpackage(1), deb-src-control(5), deb-src-rules(5), debhelper(7), debhelper-compat-upgrade-checklist(7)
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HTML rendering created 2026-09-09 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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