---
name: "Dpkg::Path"
section: "3perl"
platform: "linux"
package: "dpkg"
version: "1.23.11-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/Dpkg::Path/3perl"
---

# Dpkg::Path(3perl)

some common path handling functions

## NAME

Dpkg::Path - some common path handling functions

## DESCRIPTION

It provides some functions to handle various path.

## FUNCTIONS

- $pathname = get\_pkg\_root\_dir($file)

  This function will scan upwards the hierarchy of directory to find out the directory which contains the "DEBIAN" sub-directory and it will return its path. This directory is the root directory of a package being built.

  If no DEBIAN subdirectory is found, it will return undef.

- $pathname = relative\_to\_pkg\_root($file)

  Returns the filename relative to get\_pkg\_root\_dir($file).

- $pathname = guess\_pkg\_root\_dir($file)

  This function tries to guess the root directory of the package build tree. It will first use **get\_pkg\_root\_dir()**, but it will fallback to a more imprecise check: namely it will use the parent directory that is a sub-directory of the debian directory.

  It can still return undef if a file outside of the debian sub-directory is provided.

- $bool = check\_files\_are\_the\_same($file1, $file2, $resolve\_symlink)

  This function verifies that both files are the same by checking that the device numbers and the inode numbers returned by **stat()**/**lstat()** are the same. If `$resolve_symlink` is true then **stat()** is used, otherwise **lstat()** is used.

- $pathname = canonpath($file)

  This function returns a cleaned path. It simplifies double //, and remove /./ and /../ intelligently. For /../ it simplifies the path only if the previous element is not a symlink. Thus it should only be used on real filenames.

- $pathname = resolve\_symlink($symlink)

  Return the filename of the file pointed by the symlink. The new name is canonicalized by **canonpath()**.

- check\_directory\_traversal($basedir, $dir)

  This function verifies that the directory `$dir` does not contain any symlink that goes beyond `$basedir` (which should be either equal or a parent of `$dir`).

- $pathname = find\_command($command)

  Return the path of the command if defined and available on an absolute or relative path or on the `$PATH`, undef otherwise.

- $pathname = get\_control\_path($pkg, $filetype)

  Return the path of the control file of type `$filetype` for the given package.

- @pathname\_list = get\_control\_path($pkg)

  Return the path of all available control files for the given package.

- $file = find\_build\_file($basename)

  Selects the right variant of the given file: the arch-specific variant ("$basename.$arch") has priority over the OS-specific variant ("$basename.$os") which has priority over the default variant ("$basename"). If none of the files exists, then it returns undef.

- @files = find\_build\_file($basename)

  Return the available variants of the given file. Returns an empty list if none of the files exists.

## CHANGES

### Version 1.05 (dpkg 1.20.4)

New function: **check\_directory\_traversal()**.

### Version 1.04 (dpkg 1.17.11)

Update semantics: **find\_command()** now handles an empty or undef argument.

### Version 1.03 (dpkg 1.16.1)

New function: **find\_build\_file()**

### Version 1.02 (dpkg 1.16.0)

New function: **get\_control\_path()**

### Version 1.01 (dpkg 1.15.8)

New function: **find\_command()**

### Version 1.00 (dpkg 1.15.6)

Mark the module as public.