dpkg commands in C

Question

How do I use dpkg commands in C? What headers/commands are available?

I tried a web search, but it mostly displays manpages for dpkg, and I don't see the said manpage mention anything C-related.

Answer 1

Unfortunately for you, dpkg provides a much better api for Perl or Ruby than for C. The package you want is libdpkg-dev, which provides the static library libdpkg.a. However, be warned that this library is volatile and intended for internal use only by the dpkg binary. Use at your own risk ;)

Answer 2

Look at the package page, fetch the sources and see what you can extract:

 http://packages.debian.org/source/sid/dpkg

The source package created several binary packages, including libdpkg. But you may also want to look at apt and its sources / library as there are other binaries built against it whereas libdpkg-dev has few/none:

edd@max:~$ apt-cache rdepends libdpkg-dev 
libdpkg-dev
Reverse Depends:
  libdpkg-dev:i386
edd@max:~$ apt-cache rdepends libapt-
libapt-inst1.3   libapt-inst1.4   libapt-pkg4.11   libapt-pkg4.12 \
libapt-pkg-dev   libapt-pkg-doc   libapt-pkg-perl  
edd@max:~$ apt-cache rdepends libapt-pkg4.12
libapt-pkg4.12
Reverse Depends:
  libapt-pkg4.12:i386
  libapt-pkg4.12:i386
  libapt-pkg-dev
  libapt-inst1.4
  apt-utils
  apt-transport-https
  apt
  libapt-pkg4.12:i386
  libapt-pkg4.12:i386
  synaptic
  ruby-debian
  postgresql-9.1-debversion
  packagekit-backend-aptcc
  ovaldi
  libopenscap1
  debian-xcontrol
  aptsh
  apt-watch-backend
  apt-transport-debtorrent
  apt-move
  adept
  qapt-deb-installer
  python3-apt-dbg
  python3-apt
  python-apt-dbg
  python-apt
  libqapt1
  libqapt-runtime
  libept1.4.12
  libapt-pkg-perl
  libapt-pkg-dev
  libapt-inst1.4
  aptitude
  apt-utils
  apt-transport-https
  apt
edd@max:~$