---
name: "lintian-explain-tags"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "lintian"
version: "2.122.0"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/lintian-explain-tags"
---

# lintian-explain-tags(1)

offer more information about Lintian's tags

## NAME

lintian-explain-tags - offer more information about Lintian's tags

## SYNOPSIS

**lintian-explain-tags** *tag* ...

## DESCRIPTION

The **lintian-explain-tags** command explains the named tags given on the command line.

## OPTIONS

- **-l**, **--list-tags**

  List all tags Lintian knows about in sorted order.

- **-h**, **--help**

  Display usage information and exit.

- **--include-dir** dir

  Use dir as an additional "Lintian root".  The directory is expected have a similar layout to the LINTIAN\_BASE (if it exists), but does not need to be a full self-contained root.

  Unlike **lintian**, **lintian-explain-tags** will *not* load any code from these additional directories.

  This option may appear more than once; each time adding an additional directory.

- **--profile** prof

  Use the severities from the vendor profile prof when displaying tags. If the profile name does not contain a slash, the default profile for that vendor is chosen.

  If not specified, **lintian-explain-tags** loads the best profile for the current vendor.

  Please Refer to the Lintian User Manual for the full documentation of profiles.

- **-t**, **--tag**, **--tags**

  This option has no effect. It exists for historical reasons.

- **--user-dirs**, **--no-user-dirs**

  By default, **lintian** will check *$HOME* and */etc* for files supplied by the user or the local sysadmin (e.g. profiles).  This default can be disabled (and re-enabled) by using **--no-user-dirs** (and **--user-dirs**, respectively).

  These option can appear multiple times, in which case the of them to appear determines the result.

## EXIT STATUS

If any of the tags specified were not found in the specified profile (or in the default profile), this command returns with exit code 1.

When all requested tags were found, it returns with exit code 0.

## SEE ALSO

[**lintian**(1)](/lintian/1.md)

## AUTHORS

Niels Thykier \<niels@thykier.net\>

Richard Braakman \<dark@xs4all.nl\>

Christian Schwarz \<schwarz@monet.m.isar.de\>