Category debian:lintian

  • Files:

    • lintian.txt: the raw (unfiltered) lintian output

    • analysis.json: the details about all the tags discovered (in a top-level tags key), some statistics/summary (in a top-level summary key) and a version key with the value 1.0 if the content follows the (initial) JSON structure described below.

  • Data:

    • summary: a duplicate of the summary key in analysis.json

  • analysis.json structure:

    • version: always 1.0

    • summary: a dictionary with the following keys:

      • tags_count_by_severity: a dictionary with a sub-key for each of the possible severities documenting the number of tags of the corresponding severity that have been emitted by lintian

      • package_filename: a dictionary mapping the name of the binary or source package to its associated filename (will be a single key dictionary for the case of a source package lintian analysis, and a multiple keys one for the case of an analysis of binary packages)

      • tags_found: the list of non-overridden tags that have been found during the analysis

      • overridden_tags_found: the list of overridden tags that have been found during the analysis

      • lintian_version: the lintian version used for the analysis

      • distribution: the distribution in which lintian has been run

    • tags: a sorted list of tags where each tag is represented with a dictionary. The list is sorted by the following criteria:

      • binary package name in alphabetical order (if relevant)

      • severity (from highest to lowest)

      • tag name (alphabetical order)

      • tag details (alphabetical order)

      Each tag is represented with the following fields:

      • tag: the name of the tag

      • severity: one of the possible severities (see below for full list)

      • package: the name of the binary or source package (there is no risk of confusion between a source and a binary of the same name as the artifact with the analysis is dedicated either to a source packages or to a set of binary packages, but not to both at the same time)

      • note: the details associated to the tag (those are printed after the tag name in the lintian output)

      • pointer: the optional part shown between angle brackets that gives a specific location for the issue (often a filename and a line number)

      • explanation: the long description shown after a tag with --info, aka the lines prefixed with N: (they always start and end with an empty line)

      • comment: the maintainer’s comment shown on lines prefixed with N: just before a given overridden tag (those lines can be identified by the lack of an empty line between them and the tag)

Note

Here’s the ordered list of all the possible severities (from highest to lowest):

  • error

  • warning

  • info

  • pedantic

  • experimental

  • overridden

  • classification

Note that experimental and overridden are not true tag severities, but lintian’s output replaces the usual severity field for those tags with X or O and it is thus not easily possible to capture the original severity.

And while classification is implemented like a low-severity issue, those tags do not represent real issues, they are just a convenient way to export data generated while doing the analysis.

  • Relationships:

    • relates-to: the corresponding artifacts that have been analyzed. They can be of type debian:source-package, debian:binary-package, debian:binary-packages, or debian:upload.