sow show

Inspect one Package Object, including identity, normalized facts, storage, signature, and membership.

Command

sow show resolves one package reference in the selected Repository and prints the complete Package Object. It is read-only and takes no write lock.

Synopsis

sow show PACKAGE [-C|--workdir DIR] [-r|--repo NAME] [-d|--dist NAME]... [--json]

Flag	Meaning	Default
`-C, --workdir DIR`	Workspace discovery start directory	current directory
`-r, --repo NAME`	Select a Repository	selection rules
`-d, --dist NAME`	Narrow candidates to these Dists; repeatable	Repository scope
`--json`	Wrap the result in the `sow.cli/v1` envelope	false

Package reference

PACKAGE accepts a sha256:<hex> content identity, canonical rpm:<NEVRA> or deb:<name>=<version>:<arch> coordinate, full package filename, or bare binary name. See Package References for the exact grammar.

A bare name must resolve to exactly one Package Object in the selected scope. Unlike sow rm foo, which removes every matching version from Desired Membership, sow show foo refuses ambiguity and prints the candidates:

sow show libpq5 -r pgsql -d trixie
operation rejected: managed: operation rejected: package reference "libpq5" is ambiguous: deb:libpq5=18.2-1:amd64 sha256:fa84dc64..., deb:libpq5=18.3-1:amd64 sha256:491992c5..., deb:libpq5=18.3-1:arm64 sha256:3a2f7ef7...

Copy an exact coordinate or SHA-256 from the error or from sow ls and retry.

Output

Without --json, show prints the identity, storage path, and Desired/Built locations in a compact human-readable form:

sow show centos-release-6-0.el6.centos.5.x86_64.rpm -r demo -d el9
package repository=demo coordinate="centos-release-0:6-0.el6.centos.5.x86_64" sha256:ffd9e7bdaa4884831a6c055ada01dac96b84c50a8d518dac409b445af5dadc16 format=rpm architecture=x86_64 size=19776 storage=pool
pool=pool/c/centos-release/centos-release-6-0.el6.centos.5.x86_64.rpm
dists=el9 built_dists=el9

Adding --json returns the complete Package Object under result in the standard envelope, including the normalized fields below.

Field	Meaning
`canonical_arch`	`x86_64`, `aarch64`, or `neutral` for RPM `noarch` / DEB `all`
`kind`	Policy class: `main`, `debuginfo`, `debugsource`, `llvmjit`, `dbgsym`, or `dbg`
`source`	Normalized source-package name
`payload_sha256`	RPM signature-neutral digest used for re-signing idempotence
`signature_key`	Embedded package-signature key ID, when present
`storage`	`pending` before build; `pool` once published into the repository tree
`dists` / `built_dists`	Desired and current Built Membership

-d narrows candidate resolution; it does not alter package identity.

Exit codes

Code	Trigger
`0`	One Package Object printed
`1`	Runtime I/O failure
`2`	Usage error, Workspace not found, or implicit Repository selection is ambiguous
`5`	Repository state database unreadable or inconsistent
`6`	Explicit scope is not configured, or the reference matched nothing/several objects

sow show

Synopsis

Package reference

Output

Exit codes

See also