---
title: The manifest.xml file
sort_info: 120
---

The manifest.xml is an optional (but *very recommended*) file that lies in the
root of every source package. This file describes both what the package *is*
(i.e. short description, contact information), and dependency information (what
should be installed for that package to be built successfully).

The general form of the file is:

{coderay:: xml}
<package>
  <description brief="one line of text">
    long description goes here, 
    <em>XHTML is allowed</em>
  </description>
  <author>Alice/alice@somewhere.bar, Bob/bob@nowhere.foo</author>
  <license>BSD</license>
  <url>http://sites.google.com/site/rubyinmotion</url>
  <logo>http://sites.google.com/site/rubyinmotion</logo>

  <depend package="pkgname"/> <!-- add dependency on another autoproj-built package -->
  <depend package="common"/>
  <rosdep name="python" /> <!-- add dependency on a prepackaged operating system package -->
</package>
{coderay}