DPR

The DPR (Debian Package Ranker) is a program that fetches the "Contents" index from a Debian mirror for a given architecture (e.g. i386, amd64, arm64, etc.), then outputs the package file counts in descending order by file count. That is the package with the most files will appear first.

Sample Output:

php dpr.php amd64

1. main/piglit: 53007
2. main/esys-particle: 18408
3. main/acl2-books: 16907
4. main/libboost1.81-dev: 15456
5. main/libboost1.74-dev: 14333
6. main/racket: 9599
7. main/zoneminder: 8161
8. main/horizon-eda: 8130
9. main/libtorch-dev: 8089
10. main/liboce-modeling-dev: 7458

Features

• Includes a list of Debian mirrors to try via the included dpr.ini file.
• User may choose which distribution version they wish (stable, bookworm, Debian11.11, etc. The directory must exist within the /debian/dists directory of the Debian mirror.
• User may input which suites to include in the rankings.

Prerequisites

• PHP 5.x+ and above must be installed on the system running the script
• Internet access (to fetch from mirror)
• Debian mirror should have a standard Release file (/debian/dist/Distribution/Release) with the corresponding architecture's 'Contents-.gz' file. (e.g. /debian/dists/stable/main/Contents-amd64.gz)
• dpr.ini to be in the same directory as the script in order to read user-configured user settings
• We are only getting gzip (.gz) versions of Contents files

Installation

• Install PHP 5.x+
• Copy all files in this repo to a single directory
• To set program defaults without providing command-line arguments, modify the dpr.ini file. See below for syntax.

Usage

The script will read parameters in the order as follows:

• It will first read from the dpr.ini file (if it exists)
• Then, it will read from the command-line arguments to override any settings defined in the .ini file.
• The script requires just one argument: the architecture name (amd64, arm64, etc).
• If only the architecture is passed and no .ini config file exists, then the script will run with the following defaults:
  • Verbosity: normal
  • Mirror: ftp.debian.org
  • Version: stable
  • Suites: main
  • Top 'N': 10

To run the command, simply start with: php dpr.php arm64 to run with the above defaults.

dpr.ini File Syntax

The included file comes with the following content:

;; ini file for dpr.php

;; verbosity level, normal, verbose, silent
verbosity = normal 

;; top "N" packages to report
topn = 10

;; distribution to use
version = stable

;; suites to include when tallying
suites[] = main
; suites[] = contrib
; suites[] = non-free
; suites[] = non-free-firmware

;; mirrors to try in order as defined below
mirrors[] = ftp.us.debian.org
mirrors[] = atl.mirrors.clouvider.net
mirrors[] = debian.cc.lehigh.edu
mirrors[] = debian.csail.mit.edu
mirrors[] = debian.cs.binghamton.edu 

The ini file's options can be in any order. Just as long as they follow the correct syntax as follows:

• verbosity: 'normal', 'verbose', or 'silent'
• topn: Top "n" packages to report
• version: Distribution name to use (e.g. 'stable'
• suites[]: array of suites to include when tallying packages. Note:
• mirrors[]: array of mirrors to try.
• NOTE: Each of the 'suites[]' and 'mirrors[]' lines must have the '[]' to be properly parsed as an array.

Command-line Argument Syntax

If any command-line arguments are provided, they supersede the same settings found in the .ini file. Following are allowed arguments as shown in the script's help message:

-h  Display this help message
-v  Verbose output
-s  Suppress all output
-m  Comma-separated list of mirror hostnames
-d  Distribution version (e.g., stable, bullseye)
-p  Comma-separated list of suites to include
-n  Number of top packages to report

Example:  php dpr.php amd64 -v -m ftp.debian.org,ftp.us.debian.org -d stable -n 10

Sample Output

The above example command, php dpr.php amd64 -v -m ftp.debian.org,ftp.us.debian.org -d stable -n 10 gives following output (note the verbose mode):

[VERBOSE] Command-line arguments: {"amd64":true,"v":true,"m":"ftp.debian.org,ftp.us.debian.org","d":"stable","n":"10"}
[VERBOSE] Got ini values: {
    "verbosity": "normal",
    "topn": 10,
    "version": "stable",
    "suites": [
        "main"
    ],
    "mirrors": [
        "ftp.us.debian.org",
        "atl.mirrors.clouvider.net",
        "debian.cc.lehigh.edu",
        "debian.csail.mit.edu",
        "debian.cs.binghamton.edu"
    ]
}
[VERBOSE] Got cmd-line: verbosity = verbose
[VERBOSE] Got cmd-line: mirrors = "ftp.debian.org,ftp.us.debian.org"
[VERBOSE] Got cmd-line: version = stable
[VERBOSE] Got cmd-line: topn = 10
[VERBOSE] Final options: {
    "mirrors": [
        "ftp.debian.org",
        "ftp.us.debian.org"
    ],
    "version": "stable",
    "suites": [
        "main"
    ],
    "topn": 10,
    "verbosity": "verbose",
    "arch": "amd64"
}
[VERBOSE] Checking if https://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/Release exists...
[VERBOSE] URL OK: https://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/Release
[VERBOSE] Found architectures line: {"9":"Architectures: all amd64 arm64 armel armhf i386 mips64el mipsel ppc64el s390x\n"} in https://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/Release
[VERBOSE] Final architecture list: all, amd64, arm64, armel, armhf, i386, mips64el, mipsel, ppc64el, s390x
[VERBOSE] amd64 found in list: all, amd64, arm64, armel, armhf, i386, mips64el, mipsel, ppc64el, s390x
[VERBOSE] Gathering package info for suites: main
[VERBOSE] Checking if https://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/Contents-amd64.gz exists...
[VERBOSE] URL OK: https://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/Contents-amd64.gz
[VERBOSE] Working on suite: main
[VERBOSE] Checking if https://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/Contents-amd64.gz exists...
[VERBOSE] URL OK: https://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/Contents-amd64.gz
[VERBOSE] Total lines for main/Contents-amd64.gz: 1649528
[VERBOSE] Total packages for main suite: 49581
[VERBOSE] Total packages for all suites: 49581
1. main/piglit: 53007
2. main/esys-particle: 18408
3. main/acl2-books: 16907
4. main/libboost1.81-dev: 15456
5. main/libboost1.74-dev: 14333
6. main/racket: 9599
7. main/zoneminder: 8161
8. main/horizon-eda: 8130
9. main/libtorch-dev: 8089
10. main/liboce-modeling-dev: 7458

Command without verbose setting: php dpr.php amd64 -m ftp.debian.org,ftp.us.debian.org -d stable -n 10 provides the following output:

php dpr.php amd64  -m ftp.debian.org,ftp.us.debian.org -d stable -n 10

1. main/piglit: 53007
2. main/esys-particle: 18408
3. main/acl2-books: 16907
4. main/libboost1.81-dev: 15456
5. main/libboost1.74-dev: 14333
6. main/racket: 9599
7. main/zoneminder: 8161
8. main/horizon-eda: 8130