.\" -*- mode: troff; coding: utf-8 -*- .\" Automatically generated by Pod::Man 5.01 (Pod::Simple 3.43) .\" .\" Standard preamble: .\" ======================================================================== .de Sp \" Vertical space (when we can't use .PP) .if t .sp .5v .if n .sp .. .de Vb \" Begin verbatim text .ft CW .nf .ne \\$1 .. .de Ve \" End verbatim text .ft R .fi .. .\" \*(C` and \*(C' are quotes in nroff, nothing in troff, for use with C<>. .ie n \{\ . ds C` "" . ds C' "" 'br\} .el\{\ . ds C` . ds C' 'br\} .\" .\" Escape single quotes in literal strings from groff's Unicode transform. .ie \n(.g .ds Aq \(aq .el .ds Aq ' .\" .\" If the F register is >0, we'll generate index entries on stderr for .\" titles (.TH), headers (.SH), subsections (.SS), items (.Ip), and index .\" entries marked with X<> in POD. Of course, you'll have to process the .\" output yourself in some meaningful fashion. .\" .\" Avoid warning from groff about undefined register 'F'. .de IX .. .nr rF 0 .if \n(.g .if rF .nr rF 1 .if (\n(rF:(\n(.g==0)) \{\ . if \nF \{\ . de IX . tm Index:\\$1\t\\n%\t"\\$2" .. . if !\nF==2 \{\ . nr % 0 . nr F 2 . \} . \} .\} .rr rF .\" ======================================================================== .\" .IX Title "debhelper 7" .TH debhelper 7 2024-03-27 13.15.3 Debhelper .\" For nroff, turn off justification. Always turn off hyphenation; it makes .\" way too many mistakes in technical documents. .if n .ad l .nh .SH NAME debhelper \- the debhelper tool suite .SH SYNOPSIS .IX Header "SYNOPSIS" \&\fBdh_\fR\fI*\fR [\fB\-v\fR] [\fB\-a\fR] [\fB\-i\fR] [\fB\-\-no\-act\fR] [\fB\-p\fR\fIpackage\fR] [\fB\-N\fR\fIpackage\fR] [\fB\-P\fR\fItmpdir\fR] .SH DESCRIPTION .IX Header "DESCRIPTION" Debhelper is used to help you build a Debian package. The philosophy behind debhelper is to provide a collection of small, simple, and easily understood tools that are used in \fIdebian/rules\fR to automate various common aspects of building a package. This means less work for you, the packager. It also, to some degree means that these tools can be changed if Debian policy changes, and packages that use them will require only a rebuild to comply with the new policy. .PP A typical \fIdebian/rules\fR file that uses debhelper will call several debhelper commands in sequence, or use \fBdh\fR\|(1) to automate this process. Examples of rules files that use debhelper are in \fI/usr/share/doc/debhelper/examples/\fR .PP To create a new Debian package using debhelper, you can just copy one of the sample rules files and edit it by hand. Or you can try the \fBdh-make\fR package, which contains a dh_make command that partially automates the process. For a more gentle introduction, the \fBmaint-guide\fR Debian package contains a tutorial about making your first package using debhelper. .PP Except where the tool explicitly denotes otherwise, all of the debhelper tools assume that they run from the root directory of an unpacked source package. This is so they can locate find files like \fIdebian/control\fR when needed. .SH "DEBHELPER COMMANDS" .IX Header "DEBHELPER COMMANDS" Here is the list of debhelper commands you can use. See their man pages for additional documentation. .IP \fBdh_assistant\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_assistant" tool for supporting debhelper tools and provide introspection .IP \fBdh_auto_build\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_auto_build" automatically builds a package .IP \fBdh_auto_clean\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_auto_clean" automatically cleans up after a build .IP \fBdh_auto_configure\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_auto_configure" automatically configure a package prior to building .IP \fBdh_auto_install\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_auto_install" automatically runs make install or similar .IP \fBdh_auto_test\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_auto_test" automatically runs a package's test suites .IP \fBdh_bugfiles\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_bugfiles" install bug reporting customization files into package build directories .IP \fBdh_builddeb\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_builddeb" build Debian binary packages .IP \fBdh_clean\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_clean" clean up package build directories .IP \fBdh_compress\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_compress" compress files and fix symlinks in package build directories .IP \fBdh_dwz\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_dwz" optimize DWARF debug information in ELF binaries via dwz .IP \fBdh_fixperms\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_fixperms" fix permissions of files in package build directories .IP \fBdh_gencontrol\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_gencontrol" generate and install control file .IP \fBdh_icons\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_icons" Update caches of Freedesktop icons .IP \fBdh_install\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_install" install files into package build directories .IP \fBdh_installalternatives\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installalternatives" install declarative alternative rules .IP \fBdh_installcatalogs\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installcatalogs" install and register SGML Catalogs .IP \fBdh_installchangelogs\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installchangelogs" install changelogs into package build directories .IP \fBdh_installcron\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installcron" install cron scripts into etc/cron.* .IP \fBdh_installdeb\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installdeb" install files into the DEBIAN directory .IP \fBdh_installdebconf\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installdebconf" install files used by debconf in package build directories .IP \fBdh_installdirs\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installdirs" create subdirectories in package build directories .IP \fBdh_installdocs\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installdocs" install documentation into package build directories .IP \fBdh_installemacsen\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installemacsen" register an Emacs add on package .IP \fBdh_installexamples\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installexamples" install example files into package build directories .IP \fBdh_installgsettings\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installgsettings" install GSettings overrides and set dependencies .IP \fBdh_installifupdown\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installifupdown" install if-up and if-down hooks .IP \fBdh_installinfo\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installinfo" install info files .IP \fBdh_installinit\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installinit" install service init files into package build directories .IP \fBdh_installinitramfs\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installinitramfs" install initramfs hooks and setup maintscripts .IP \fBdh_installlogcheck\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installlogcheck" install logcheck rulefiles into etc/logcheck/ .IP \fBdh_installlogrotate\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installlogrotate" install logrotate config files .IP \fBdh_installman\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installman" install man pages into package build directories .IP \fBdh_installmenu\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installmenu" install Debian menu files into package build directories .IP \fBdh_installmime\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installmime" install mime files into package build directories .IP \fBdh_installmodules\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installmodules" register kernel modules .IP \fBdh_installpam\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installpam" install pam support files .IP \fBdh_installppp\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installppp" install ppp ip-up and ip-down files .IP \fBdh_installsystemd\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installsystemd" install systemd unit files .IP \fBdh_installsystemduser\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installsystemduser" install systemd unit files .IP \fBdh_installsysusers\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installsysusers" install and integrates systemd sysusers files .IP \fBdh_installtmpfiles\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installtmpfiles" install tmpfiles.d configuration files .IP \fBdh_installudev\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installudev" install udev rules files .IP \fBdh_installwm\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installwm" register a window manager .IP \fBdh_installxfonts\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installxfonts" register X fonts .IP \fBdh_link\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_link" create symlinks in package build directories .IP \fBdh_lintian\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_lintian" install lintian override files into package build directories .IP \fBdh_listpackages\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_listpackages" list binary packages debhelper will act on .IP \fBdh_makeshlibs\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_makeshlibs" automatically create shlibs file and call dpkg-gensymbols .IP \fBdh_md5sums\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_md5sums" generate DEBIAN/md5sums file .IP \fBdh_missing\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_missing" check for missing files .IP \fBdh_movefiles\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_movefiles" move files out of debian/tmp into subpackages .IP \fBdh_movetousr\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_movetousr" canonicalize location according to merged\-/usr .IP \fBdh_perl\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_perl" calculates Perl dependencies and cleans up after MakeMaker .IP \fBdh_prep\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_prep" perform cleanups in preparation for building a binary package .IP \fBdh_shlibdeps\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_shlibdeps" calculate shared library dependencies .IP \fBdh_strip\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_strip" strip executables, shared libraries, and some static libraries .IP \fBdh_systemd_enable\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_systemd_enable" enable/disable systemd unit files .IP \fBdh_systemd_start\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_systemd_start" start/stop/restart systemd unit files .IP \fBdh_testdir\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_testdir" test directory before building Debian package .IP \fBdh_testroot\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_testroot" ensure that a package is built with necessary level of root permissions .IP \fBdh_ucf\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_ucf" register configuration files with ucf .IP \fBdh_update_autotools_config\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_update_autotools_config" Update autotools config files .IP \fBdh_usrlocal\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_usrlocal" migrate usr/local directories to maintainer scripts .SS "Deprecated Commands" .IX Subsection "Deprecated Commands" A few debhelper commands are deprecated and should not be used. .IP \fBdh_installmanpages\fR\|(1) 4 .IX Item "dh_installmanpages" old-style man page installer (deprecated) .SS "Other Commands" .IX Subsection "Other Commands" If a program's name starts with \fBdh_\fR, and the program is not on the above lists, then it is not part of the debhelper package, but it should still work like the other programs described on this page. .SH "DEBHELPER CONFIG FILES" .IX Header "DEBHELPER CONFIG FILES" Many debhelper commands make use of files in \fIdebian/\fR to control what they do. Besides the common \fIdebian/changelog\fR and \fIdebian/control\fR, which are in all packages, not just those using debhelper, some additional files can be used to configure the behavior of specific debhelper commands. These files are typically named debian/\fIpackage\fR.foo (where \fIpackage\fR of course, is replaced with the package that is being acted on). .PP For example, \fBdh_installdocs\fR uses files named \fIdebian/package.docs\fR to list the documentation files it will install. See the man pages of individual commands for details about the names and formats of the files they use. Generally, these files will list files to act on, one file per line. Some programs in debhelper use pairs of files and destinations or slightly more complicated formats. .PP Note if there is only one binary package listed in \fIdebian/control\fR, then debhelper will use \fIdebian/foo\fR when there's no \fIdebian/package.foo\fR file. In compat levels before compat 15, this fallback also occurs for the first binary package listed in \fIdebian/control\fR when there are multiple binary packages. However, it is often a good idea to keep the \fIpackage.\fR prefix as it is more explicit and also required when upgrading to compat 15. .PP Additionally, there are some special cases where debhelper will always fallback to a prefix-less version. These are cases such as \fIdebian/copyright\fR and \fIdebian/changelog\fR, where the files are generally used and needed for all binary packages. .PP In some rare cases, you may want to have different versions of these files for different architectures or OSes. If files named debian/\fIpackage\fR.foo.\fIARCH\fR or debian/\fIpackage\fR.foo.\fIOS\fR exist, where \fIARCH\fR and \fIOS\fR are the same as the output of "\fBdpkg-architecture \-qDEB_HOST_ARCH\fR" / "\fBdpkg-architecture \-qDEB_HOST_ARCH_OS\fR", then they will be used in preference to other, more general files. .PP Mostly, these config files are used to specify lists of various types of files. Documentation or example files to install, files to move, and so on. When appropriate, in cases like these, you can use standard shell wildcard characters (\fB?\fR and \fB*\fR and \fB[\fR\fI..\fR\fB]\fR character classes) in the files. You can also put comments in these files; lines beginning with \fB#\fR are ignored. .PP The syntax of these files is intentionally kept very simple to make them easy to read, understand, and modify. .SS "Substitutions in debhelper config files" .IX Subsection "Substitutions in debhelper config files" In compatibility level 13 and later, it is possible to use simple substitutions in debhelper config files for the following tools: .IP \(bu 4 dh_clean .IP \(bu 4 dh_install .IP \(bu 4 dh_installcatalogs .IP \(bu 4 dh_installdeb .IP \(bu 4 dh_installdirs .IP \(bu 4 dh_installdocs .IP \(bu 4 dh_installexamples .IP \(bu 4 dh_installinfo .IP \(bu 4 dh_installman .IP \(bu 4 dh_installwm .IP \(bu 4 dh_link .IP \(bu 4 dh_missing .IP \(bu 4 dh_ucf .PP All substitution variables are of the form \fI${foo}\fR and the braces are mandatory. Variable names are case-sensitive and consist of alphanumerics (a\-zA\-Z0\-9), hyphens (\-), underscores (_), and colons (:). The first character must be an alphanumeric. .PP If you need a literal dollar sign that cannot trigger a substitution, you can either use the \fB${Dollar}\fR substitution or the sequence \fB${}\fR. .PP The following expansions are available: .IP "\fBDEB_HOST_*\fR, \fBDEB_BUILD_*\fR, \fBDEB_TARGET_*\fR" 4 .IX Item "DEB_HOST_*, DEB_BUILD_*, DEB_TARGET_*" Expands to the relevant \fBdpkg\-architecture\fR\|(1) value (similar to \&\fIdpkg-architecture \-qVARIABLE_HERE\fR). .Sp When in doubt, the \fBDEB_HOST_*\fR variant is the one that will work both for native and cross builds. .Sp For performance reasons, debhelper will attempt to resolve these names from the environment first before consulting \&\fBdpkg\-architecture\fR\|(1). This is mostly mentioned for completeness as it will not matter for most cases. .IP \fBDollar\fR 4 .IX Item "Dollar" Expands to a single literal \fB$\fR\-symbol. This symbol will \fInever\fR be considered part of a substitution variable. That is: .Sp .Vb 4 \& # Triggers an error \& ${NO_SUCH_TOKEN} \& # Expands to the literal value "${NO_SUCH_TOKEN}" \& ${Dollar}{NO_SUCH_TOKEN} .Ve .Sp This variable equivalent to the sequence \fB${}\fR and the two can be used interchangeably. .IP "\fBNewline\fR, \fBSpace\fR, \fBTab\fR" 4 .IX Item "Newline, Space, Tab" Expands to a single ASCII newline, space and tab respectively. .Sp This can be useful if you need to include a literal whitespace character (e.g. space) where it would otherwise be stripped or used as a separator. .IP \fBenv:\fR\f(BINAME\fR 4 .IX Item "env:NAME" Expands to the environment variable \fINAME\fR. The environment variable must be set (but can be set to the empty string). .PP Note that all variables must expand to a defined value. As an example, if debhelper sees \fI${env:FOO}\fR, then it will insist that the environment variable \fIFOO\fR is set (it can be set to the empty string). .PP \fISubstitution limits\fR .IX Subsection "Substitution limits" .PP To avoid infinite loops and resource exhaustion, debhelper will stop with an error if the text contains many substitution variables (50) or they expand beyond a certain size (4096 characters or 3x length of the original input \- whichever is bigger). .PP \fISubstitution limitations: filtering\fR .IX Subsection "Substitution limitations: filtering" .PP The built-in substitution cannot be used to "filter" out content. Attempts to create "comments" or "empty lines" via substitution will result in those variables being considered a token in its own right with the content given. .PP If you want filtering, consider using an executable debhelper config file with \fBdh-exec\fR as interpreter. The \fBdh-exec\fR tool supports several features out of the box. Though keep in mind that \fBdh-exec\fR has its own substitution logic that can feature interact with the one from debhelper. .SS "Executable debhelper config files" .IX Subsection "Executable debhelper config files" If you need additional flexibility, many of the debhelper tools (e.g. \fBdh_install\fR\|(1)) support executing a config file as a script. .PP To use this feature, simply mark the config file as executable (e.g. \fBchmod +x debian/\fR\f(BIpackage\fR\fB.install\fR) and the tool will attempt to execute it and use the output of the script. In many cases, you can use \fBdh\-exec\fR\|(1) as interpreter of the config file to retain most of the original syntax while getting the additional flexibility you need. .PP When using executable debhelper config files, please be aware of the following: .IP \(bu 4 The executable config file \fBmust\fR exit with success (i.e. its return code should indicate success). .IP \(bu 4 In compatibility level 13+, the output will be subject to substitutions (see "Substitutions in debhelper config files") where the tool support these. Remember to be careful if your generator \fIalso\fR provides substitutions as this can cause unnecessary confusion. Notably, the commonly used \fBdh-exec\fR tool has its own substitution support. .Sp Otherwise, the output will be used exactly as-is. Notably, debhelper will \fInot\fR expand wildcards or strip comments or strip whitespace in the output it reads. The \fBdh-exec\fR tool has an output filter on by default that will prune these things out. .PP If you need the package to build on a file system where you cannot disable the executable bit, then you can use \fBdh\-exec\fR\|(1) and its \&\fBstrip-output\fR script. .SH "SHARED DEBHELPER OPTIONS" .IX Header "SHARED DEBHELPER OPTIONS" The following command line options are supported by all debhelper programs. .IP "\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR" 4 .IX Item "-v, --verbose" Verbose mode: show commands that modify the package build directory. .Sp Note that verbose mode may also output other "internal" commands that do not directly affect the package build directory. .IP \fB\-\-no\-act\fR 4 .IX Item "--no-act" Do not really do anything. If used with \-v, the result is that the command will output what it would have done. .IP "\fB\-a\fR, \fB\-\-arch\fR" 4 .IX Item "-a, --arch" Act on architecture dependent packages that should be built for the \&\fBDEB_HOST_ARCH\fR architecture. .IP "\fB\-i\fR, \fB\-\-indep\fR" 4 .IX Item "-i, --indep" Act on all architecture independent packages. .IP "\fB\-p\fR\fIpackage\fR, \fB\-\-package=\fR\fIpackage\fR" 4 .IX Item "-ppackage, --package=package" Act on the package named \fIpackage\fR. This option may be specified multiple times to make debhelper operate on a given set of packages. .IP "\fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-same\-arch\fR" 4 .IX Item "-s, --same-arch" Deprecated alias of \fB\-a\fR. .Sp This option is removed in compat 12. .IP "\fB\-N\fR\fIpackage\fR, \fB\-\-no\-package=\fR\fIpackage\fR" 4 .IX Item "-Npackage, --no-package=package" Do not act on the specified package even if an \fB\-a\fR, \fB\-i\fR, or \fB\-p\fR option lists the package as one that should be acted on. .IP \fB\-\-remaining\-packages\fR 4 .IX Item "--remaining-packages" Do not act on the packages which have already been acted on by this debhelper command earlier (i.e. if the command is present in the package debhelper log). For example, if you need to call the command with special options only for a couple of binary packages, pass this option to the last call of the command to process the rest of packages with default settings. .IP "\fB\-P\fR\fItmpdir\fR, \fB\-\-tmpdir=\fR\fItmpdir\fR" 4 .IX Item "-Ptmpdir, --tmpdir=tmpdir" Use \fItmpdir\fR for package build directory. The default is debian/\fIpackage\fR .IP \fB\-\-mainpackage=\fR\fIpackage\fR 4 .IX Item "--mainpackage=package" \&\fBDeprecated\fR: This option has no practical use in compat 15 or later as the behaviour it affects is removed in compat 15. .Sp This little-used option changes the package which debhelper considers the "main package", that is, the first one listed in \fIdebian/control\fR, and the one for which \fIdebian/foo\fR files can be used instead of the usual \&\fIdebian/package.foo\fR files. .IP \fB\-O=\fR\fIoption\fR|\fIbundle\fR 4 .IX Item "-O=option|bundle" This is used by \fBdh\fR\|(1) when passing user-specified options to all the commands it runs. If the command supports the specified option or option bundle, it will take effect. If the command does not support the option (or any part of an option bundle), it will be ignored. .SH "COMMON DEBHELPER OPTIONS" .IX Header "COMMON DEBHELPER OPTIONS" The following command line options are supported by some debhelper programs. See the man page of each program for a complete explanation of what each option does. .IP \fB\-n\fR 4 .IX Item "-n" Do not modify \fIpostinst\fR, \fIpostrm\fR, etc. scripts. .IP "\fB\-X\fR\fIitem\fR, \fB\-\-exclude=\fR\fIitem\fR" 4 .IX Item "-Xitem, --exclude=item" Exclude an item from processing. This option may be used multiple times, to exclude more than one thing. The \fIitem\fR is typically part of a filename, and any file containing the specified text will be excluded. .IP "\fB\-A\fR, \fB\-\-all\fR" 4 .IX Item "-A, --all" Makes files or other items that are specified on the command line take effect in ALL packages acted on, not just the first. .SH "BUILD SYSTEM OPTIONS" .IX Header "BUILD SYSTEM OPTIONS" The following command line options are supported by all of the \fBdh_auto_\fR\fI*\fR debhelper programs. These programs support a variety of build systems, and normally heuristically determine which to use, and how to use them. You can use these command line options to override the default behavior. Typically these are passed to \fBdh\fR\|(1), which then passes them to all the \&\fBdh_auto_\fR\fI*\fR programs. .IP "\fB\-S\fR\fIbuildsystem\fR, \fB\-\-buildsystem=\fR\fIbuildsystem\fR" 4 .IX Item "-Sbuildsystem, --buildsystem=buildsystem" Force use of the specified \fIbuildsystem\fR, instead of trying to auto-select one which might be applicable for the package. .Sp Pass \fBnone\fR as \fIbuildsystem\fR to disable auto-selection. .IP "\fB\-D\fR\fIdirectory\fR, \fB\-\-sourcedir=\fR\fIdirectory\fR, \fB\-\-sourcedirectory=\fR\fIdirectory\fR" 4 .IX Item "-Ddirectory, --sourcedir=directory, --sourcedirectory=directory" Assume that the original package source tree is at the specified \&\fIdirectory\fR rather than the top level directory of the Debian source package tree. .Sp \&\fBWarning\fR: The \fB\-\-sourcedir\fR variant matches a similar named option in \&\fBdh_install\fR and \fBdh_missing\fR (etc.) for historical reasons. While they have a similar name, they have very distinct purposes and in some cases it can cause errors when this variant is passed to \fBdh\fR (when then passes it on to all tools). .IP "\fB\-B\fR[\fIdirectory\fR], \fB\-\-builddir\fR[\fI=directory\fR], \fB\-\-builddirectory\fR[\fI=directory\fR]" 4 .IX Item "-B[directory], --builddir[=directory], --builddirectory[=directory]" Enable out of source building and use the specified \fIdirectory\fR as the build directory. If \fIdirectory\fR parameter is omitted, a default build directory will be chosen. .Sp If this option is not specified, building will be done in source by default unless the build system requires or prefers out of source tree building. In such a case, the default build directory will be used even if \&\fB\-\-builddirectory\fR is not specified. .Sp If the build system prefers out of source tree building but still allows in source building, the latter can be re-enabled by passing a build directory path that is the same as the source directory path. .IP "\fB\-\-parallel\fR, \fB\-\-no\-parallel\fR" 4 .IX Item "--parallel, --no-parallel" Control whether parallel builds should be used if underlying build system supports them. The number of parallel jobs is controlled by the \fBDEB_BUILD_OPTIONS\fR environment variable ("Debian Policy, section 4.9.1") at build time. It might also be subject to a build system specific limit. .Sp If neither option is specified, debhelper currently defaults to \&\fB\-\-parallel\fR in compat 10 (or later) and \fB\-\-no\-parallel\fR otherwise. .Sp As an optimization, \fBdh\fR will try to avoid passing these options to subprocesses, if they are unnecessary and the only options passed. Notably this happens when \fBDEB_BUILD_OPTIONS\fR does not have a \&\fIparallel\fR parameter (or its value is 1). .IP \fB\-\-max\-parallel=\fR\fImaximum\fR 4 .IX Item "--max-parallel=maximum" This option implies \fB\-\-parallel\fR and allows further limiting the number of jobs that can be used in a parallel build. If the package build is known to only work with certain levels of concurrency, you can set this to the maximum level that is known to work, or that you wish to support. .Sp Notably, setting the maximum to 1 is effectively the same as using \&\fB\-\-no\-parallel\fR. .IP \fB\-\-reload\-all\-buildenv\-variables\fR 4 .IX Item "--reload-all-buildenv-variables" By default, \fBdh\fR\|(1) will compute several environment variables (e.g. by using \fBdpkg\-buildflags\fR\|(1)) and cache them to avoid having all \fBdh_auto_*\fR tool recompute them. .Sp When passing this option, the concrete \fBdh_auto_*\fR tool will ignore the cache from \fBdh\fR\|(1) and retrigger a rebuild of these variables. This is useful in the very rare case where the package need to do multiple builds but with different \fB...FLAGS\fR options. A concrete example would be needing to change the \fB\-O\fR parameter in \fBCFLAGS\fR in the second build: .Sp .Vb 1 \& export DEB_CFLAGS_MAINT_APPEND=\-O3 \& \& %: \& dh $@ \& \& override_dh_auto_configure: \& dh_auto_configure \-Bbuild\-deb ... \& DEB_CFLAGS_MAINT_APPEND=\-Os dh_auto_configure \e \& \-\-reload\-all\-buildenv\-variables \-Bbuild\-udeb ... .Ve .Sp Without \fB\-\-reload\-all\-buildenv\-variables\fR in the second call to \&\fBdh_auto_configure\fR\|(1), the change in \fBDEB_CFLAGS_MAINT_APPEND\fR would be ignored as \fBdh_auto_configure\fR\|(1) would use the cached value of \fBCFLAGS\fR set by \fBdh\fR\|(1). .Sp This option is only available with \fBdebhelper (>= 12.7~)\fR when the package uses compatibility level 9 or later. .IP "\fB\-\-list\fR, \fB\-l\fR" 4 .IX Item "--list, -l" List all build systems supported by debhelper on this system. The list includes both default and third party build systems (marked as such). Also shows which build system would be automatically selected, or which one is manually specified with the \fB\-\-buildsystem\fR option. .SH "COMPATIBILITY LEVELS" .IX Header "COMPATIBILITY LEVELS" From time to time, major non-backwards-compatible changes need to be made to debhelper, to keep it clean and well-designed as needs change and its author gains more experience. To prevent such major changes from breaking existing packages, the concept of debhelper compatibility levels was introduced. You must tell debhelper which compatibility level it should use, and it modifies its behavior in various ways. .PP In current debhelper, you can specify the compatibility level in \&\fIdebian/control\fR by adding a Build-Depends on the debhelper-compat package. For example, to use v13 mode, ensure \fIdebian/control\fR has: .PP .Vb 1 \& Build\-Depends: debhelper\-compat (= 13) .Ve .PP This also serves as an appropriate versioned build dependency on a sufficient version of the debhelper package, so you do not need to specify a separate versioned build dependency on the debhelper package unless you need a specific point release of debhelper (such as for the introduction of a new feature or bugfix within a compatibility level). .PP Note that debhelper does not provide debhelper-compat for experimental or beta compatibility levels; packages experimenting with those compatibility levels should put the compat level in the \fBX\-DH-Compat\fR field of the source stanza of the \fIdebian/control\fR file (or, if only for selected commands, the \&\fBDH_COMPAT\fR environment variable). .PP Historically, debhelper required specifying the compatibility level in the file \fIdebian/compat\fR, and debhelper up to version 14 supports this for backward compatibility. To use this method, the \fIdebian/compat\fR file should contain the compatibility level as a single number, and no other content. If you specify the compatibility level by this method, your package will also need a versioned build dependency on a version of the debhelper package equal to (or greater than) the compatibility level your package uses. So, if you specify compatibility level 13 in \fIdebian/compat\fR, ensure \&\fIdebian/control\fR has: .PP .Vb 1 \& Build\-Depends: debhelper (>= 13~) .Ve .PP Note that you must use exactly one method for specifying the default debhelper compat level of the package. Whenever possible, the debhelper-compat build-dependency is recommended. .PP If needed be, the \fBDH_COMPAT\fR environment variable can be used to override the compat level for a given command. The feature is mostly useful for either temporarily upgrading a few commands to a new compat level or keeping a few commands on a lower compat level. The feature is best used sparingly as it effectively introduces special-cases into the \&\fIdebian/rules\fR file that may be surprising to maintainers or reviewers (or, in the long term, to yourself). .PP Unless otherwise indicated, all debhelper documentation assumes that you are using the most recent compatibility level, and in most cases does not indicate if the behavior is different in an earlier compatibility level, so if you are not using the most recent compatibility level, you're advised to read below for notes about what is different in earlier compatibility levels. .SS "Supported compatibility levels" .IX Subsection "Supported compatibility levels" The list of supported compatibility levels and the related upgrade check list has moved to \fBdebhelper\-compat\-upgrade\-checklist\fR\|(7). .SH NOTES .IX Header "NOTES" .SS "Multiple binary package support" .IX Subsection "Multiple binary package support" If your source package generates more than one binary package, debhelper programs will default to acting on all binary packages when run. If your source package happens to generate one architecture dependent package, and another architecture independent package, this is not the correct behavior, because you need to generate the architecture dependent packages in the binary-arch \fIdebian/rules\fR target, and the architecture independent packages in the binary-indep \fIdebian/rules\fR target. .PP To facilitate this, as well as give you more control over which packages are acted on by debhelper programs, all debhelper programs accept the \&\fB\-a\fR, \fB\-i\fR, \fB\-p\fR, and \fB\-s\fR parameters. These parameters are cumulative. If none are given, debhelper programs default to acting on all packages listed in the control file, with the exceptions below. .PP First, any package whose \fBArchitecture\fR field in \fBdebian/control\fR does not match the \fBDEB_HOST_ARCH\fR architecture will be excluded ("Debian Policy, section 5.6.8"). .PP Also, some additional packages may be excluded based on the contents of the \&\fBDEB_BUILD_PROFILES\fR environment variable and \fBBuild-Profiles\fR fields in binary package stanzas in \fBdebian/control\fR, according to the draft policy at . .PP \fIInteraction between package selections and Build-Profiles\fR .IX Subsection "Interaction between package selections and Build-Profiles" .PP Build-Profiles affect which packages are included in the package selections mechanisms in debhelper. Generally, the package selections are described from the assumption that all packages are enabled. This section describes how the selections react when a package is disabled due to the active Build-Profiles (or lack of active Build-Profiles). .IP "\-a/\-\-arch, \-i/\-\-indep OR no selection options (a raw ""dh_X"" call)" 4 .IX Item "-a/--arch, -i/--indep OR no selection options (a raw ""dh_X"" call)" The package disabled by Build-Profiles is silently excluded from the selection. .Sp Note you will receive a warning if \fIall\fR packages related to these selections are disabled. In that case, it generally does not make sense to do the build in the first place. .IP "\-N \fIpackage\fR / \-\-no\-package \fIpackage\fR" 4 .IX Item "-N package / --no-package package" The option is accepted and effectively does nothing. .IP "\-p \fIpackage\fR / \-\-package \fIpackage\fR" 4 .IX Item "-p package / --package package" The option is accepted, but debhelper will not act on the package. .PP Note that it does not matter whether a package is enabled or disabled by default. .SS "Automatic generation of Debian install scripts" .IX Subsection "Automatic generation of Debian install scripts" Some debhelper commands will automatically generate parts of Debian maintainer scripts. If you want these automatically generated things included in your existing Debian maintainer scripts, then you need to add \&\fB#DEBHELPER#\fR to your scripts, in the place the code should be added. \&\fB#DEBHELPER#\fR will be replaced by any auto-generated code when you run \&\fBdh_installdeb\fR. .PP If a script does not exist at all and debhelper needs to add something to it, then debhelper will create the complete script. .PP All debhelper commands that automatically generate code in this way let it be disabled by the \-n parameter (see above). .PP Note that the inserted code will be shell code, so you cannot directly use it in a Perl script. If you would like to embed it into a Perl script, here is one way to do that (note that I made sure that \f(CW$1\fR, \f(CW$2\fR, etc are set with the set command): .PP .Vb 12 \& my $temp="set \-e\enset \-\- @ARGV\en" . << \*(AqEOF\*(Aq; \& #DEBHELPER# \& EOF \& if (system($temp)) { \& my $exit_code = ($? >> 8) & 0xff; \& my $signal = $? & 0x7f; \& if ($exit_code) { \& die("The debhelper script failed with error code: ${exit_code}"); \& } else { \& die("The debhelper script was killed by signal: ${signal}"); \& } \& } .Ve .SS "Automatic generation of miscellaneous dependencies." .IX Subsection "Automatic generation of miscellaneous dependencies." Some debhelper commands may make the generated package need to depend on some other packages. For example, if you use \fBdh_installdebconf\fR\|(1), your package will generally need to depend on debconf. Or if you use \&\fBdh_installxfonts\fR\|(1), your package will generally need to depend on a particular version of xutils. Keeping track of these miscellaneous dependencies can be annoying since they are dependent on how debhelper does things, so debhelper offers a way to automate it. .PP All commands of this type, besides documenting what dependencies may be needed on their man pages, will automatically generate a substvar called \&\fB${misc:Depends}\fR. If you put that token into your \fIdebian/control\fR file, it will be expanded to the dependencies debhelper figures you need. .PP This is entirely independent of the standard \fB${shlibs:Depends}\fR generated by \&\fBdh_makeshlibs\fR\|(1), and the \fB${perl:Depends}\fR generated by \fBdh_perl\fR\|(1). You can choose not to use any of these, if debhelper's guesses don't match reality. .SS "Package build directories" .IX Subsection "Package build directories" By default, all debhelper programs assume that the temporary directory used for assembling the tree of files in a package is debian/\fIpackage\fR. .PP Sometimes, you might want to use some other temporary directory. This is supported by the \fB\-P\fR flag. For example, "\fBdh_installdocs \-Pdebian/tmp\fR", will use \fBdebian/tmp\fR as the temporary directory. Note that if you use \fB\-P\fR, the debhelper programs can only be acting on a single package at a time. So if you have a package that builds many binary packages, you will need to also use the \fB\-p\fR flag to specify which binary package the debhelper program will act on. .SS udebs .IX Subsection "udebs" Debhelper includes support for udebs. To create a udeb with debhelper, add "\fBPackage-Type: udeb\fR" to the package's stanza in \fIdebian/control\fR. Debhelper will try to create udebs that comply with debian-installer policy, by making the generated package files end in \fI.udeb\fR, not installing any documentation into a udeb, skipping over \&\fIpreinst\fR, \fIpostrm\fR, \fIprerm\fR, and \fIconfig\fR scripts, etc. .SH ENVIRONMENT .IX Header "ENVIRONMENT" This section describes some of the environment variables that influences the behaviour of debhelper or which debhelper interacts with. .PP It is important to note that these must be actual environment variables in order to affect the behaviour of debhelper (not simply \fIMakefile\fR variables). To specify them properly in \fIdebian/rules\fR, be sure to "\fBexport\fR" them. For example, "\fBexport DH_VERBOSE\fR". .IP \fBDH_VERBOSE\fR 4 .IX Item "DH_VERBOSE" Set to a non-empty value to enable verbose mode. Please see the \fB\-v\fR / \fB\-\-verbose\fR option for details. .IP \fBDH_QUIET\fR 4 .IX Item "DH_QUIET" Set to a non-empty value to enable quiet mode. Debhelper will not output commands calling the upstream build system nor will dh print which subcommands are called and depending on the upstream build system might make that more quiet, too. This makes it easier to spot important messages but makes the output quite useless as buildd log. .Sp Ignored if DH_VERBOSE is also set or \fB\-v\fR / \fB\-\-verbose\fR is passed. .IP \fBDH_COMPAT\fR 4 .IX Item "DH_COMPAT" Temporarily specifies what compatibility level debhelper should run at, overriding the default compat level of the source package. .IP \fBDH_NO_ACT\fR 4 .IX Item "DH_NO_ACT" Set to \fB1\fR to enable no-act mode. .IP \fBDH_OPTIONS\fR 4 .IX Item "DH_OPTIONS" All debhelper tools will parse command line arguments listed in this variable before any command option (as if they had been prepended to the command line arguments). Unfortunately, some third-party provided tools may not support this variable and will ignore these command line arguments. .Sp When using \fBdh\fR\|(1), it can be passed options that will be passed on to each debhelper command, which is generally better than using DH_OPTIONS. .IP \fBDH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE\fR 4 .IX Item "DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE" If set, this adds the value the variable is set to to the \fB\-X\fR options of all commands that support the \fB\-X\fR option. Moreover, \fBdh_builddeb\fR will \fBrm \-rf\fR anything that matches the value in your package build tree. .Sp This can be useful if you are doing a build from a CVS source tree, in which case setting \fBDH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE=CVS\fR will prevent any CVS directories from sneaking into the package you build. Or, if a package has a source tarball that (unwisely) includes CVS directories, you might want to export \&\fBDH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE=CVS\fR in \fIdebian/rules\fR, to make it take effect wherever your package is built. .Sp Multiple things to exclude can be separated with colons, as in \&\fBDH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE=CVS:.svn\fR .IP \fBDH_EXTRA_ADDONS\fR 4 .IX Item "DH_EXTRA_ADDONS" If set, this adds the specified dh addons to be run in the appropriate places in the sequence of commands. This is equivalent to specifying the addon to run with the \-\-with flag in the debian/rules file. Any \-\-without calls specifying an addon in this environment variable will not be run. .Sp This is intended to be used by downstreams or specific local configurations that require a debhelper addon to be run during multiple builds without having to patch a large number of rules file. If at all possible, this should be avoided in favor of a \-\-with flag in the rules file. .IP "\fBDH_COLORS\fR, \fBDPKG_COLORS\fR" 4 .IX Item "DH_COLORS, DPKG_COLORS" These variables can be used to control whether debhelper commands should use colors in their textual output. Can be set to "always", "auto" (the default), or "never". .Sp Note that \fBDPKG_COLOR\fR also affects a number of dpkg related tools and debhelper uses it on the assumption that you want the same color setting for dpkg and debhelper. In the off-hand chance you want different color setting for debhelper, you can use \fBDH_COLORS\fR instead or in addition to \&\fBDPKG_COLORS\fR. .IP \fBNO_COLOR\fR 4 .IX Item "NO_COLOR" If no explicit request for color has been given (e.g. \fBDH_COLORS\fR and \&\fBDPKG_COLORS\fR are both unset), the presence of this environment variable cause the default color setting to be "never". .Sp The variable is defined according to . In this project, the environment variables (such as \fBDH_COLORS\fR) are considered an explicit request for color. .IP "\fBCFLAGS\fR, \fBCPPFLAGS\fR, \fBCXXFLAGS\fR, \fBOBJCFLAGS\fR, \fBOBJCXXFLAGS\fR, \fBGCJFLAGS\fR, \fBFFLAGS\fR, \fBFCFLAGS\fR, \fBLDFLAGS\fR" 4 .IX Item "CFLAGS, CPPFLAGS, CXXFLAGS, OBJCFLAGS, OBJCXXFLAGS, GCJFLAGS, FFLAGS, FCFLAGS, LDFLAGS" By default (in any non-deprecated compat level), debhelper will automatically set these flags by using \fBdpkg\-buildflags\fR\|(1), when they are unset. If you need to change the default flags, please use the features from \&\fBdpkg\-buildflags\fR\|(1) to do this (e.g. \fBDEB_BUILD_MAINT_OPTIONS=hardening=all\fR or \fBDEB_CPPFLAGS_MAINT_APPEND=\-DCUSTOM_MACRO=true\fR) rather than setting the concrete variable directly. .IP "\fBHOME\fR, \fBXDG_*\fR" 4 .IX Item "HOME, XDG_*" In compat 13 and later, these environment variables are reset before invoking the upstream build system via the \fBdh_auto_*\fR helpers. The variables \fBHOME\fR (all \fBdh_auto_*\fR helpers) and \fBXDG_RUNTIME_DIR\fR (\fBdh_auto_test\fR only) will be set to a writable directory. All remaining variables and \fBXDG_RUNTIME_DIR\fR (except for during \fBdh_auto_test\fR) will be cleared. .Sp The \fBHOME\fR directory will be created as an empty directory but it will be reused between calls to \fBdh_auto_*\fR. Any content will persist until explicitly deleted or \fBdh_clean\fR. .IP \fBDEB_BUILD_OPTIONS\fR 4 .IX Item "DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS" Please see "Supported flags in DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS" for this environment variable. .Sp Please note that this variable should \fInot\fR be altered by package maintainers inside \fIdebian/rules\fR to change the behaviour of debhelper. Instead, where the package maintainer need these features, they should look disabling the relevant feature directly (e.g. by overriding the concrete tools). .IP \fBDEB_BUILD_MAINT_OPTIONS\fR 4 .IX Item "DEB_BUILD_MAINT_OPTIONS" This is a dpkg specific environment variable (see e.g. \fBdpkg\-buildflags\fR\|(1)). The debhelper tool suite silently ignores it. .Sp It is documented here because it has a similar name to \fBDEB_BUILD_OPTIONS\fR, which make some people mistakenly assume that debhelper will also react to this variable. .SS "Supported flags in DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS" .IX Subsection "Supported flags in DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS" The debhelper tool suite reacts to the following flags in \fBDEB_BUILD_OPTIONS\fR. .IP \fBdherroron=obsolete\-compat\-levels\fR 4 .IX Item "dherroron=obsolete-compat-levels" \&\fIThis is a debhelper specific value.\fR .Sp When \fBdherroron\fR is present and set to \fBobsolete-compat-levels\fR, then debhelper tools will promote deprecation warnings for usage of old soon to be removed compat levels into errors. .Sp This is useful for automated checking for code relying on deprecated compat levels that is scheduled for removal. .Sp This option is intended for testing purposes; not production builds. .IP \fBnostrip\fR 4 .IX Item "nostrip" \&\fIThis value will change the content of the debs being built. The .deb packages built when this is set is therefore not bit-for-bit reproducible with a regular build in the general case.\fR .Sp This value will cause the official debhelper tools will skip actions and helpers that either remove, detach or deduplicate debugging symbols in ELF binaries. .Sp This value affects \fBdh_dwz\fR\|(1) and \fBdh_strip\fR\|(1). .IP \fBnocheck\fR 4 .IX Item "nocheck" This value will cause the official debhelper build systems to skip runs of upstream test suites. .Sp Package maintainers looking to avoid running the upstream tests should \&\fBnot\fR rely on this. Instead, they can add an empty override target to skip \fBdh_auto_test\fR. .Sp This value affects \fBdh_auto_test\fR\|(1). .IP \fBnodoc\fR 4 .IX Item "nodoc" \&\fIThis value will change the content of the debs being built. The .deb packages built when this is set is therefore not bit-for-bit reproducible with a regular build in the general case.\fR .Sp This value will cause several debhelper tools to skip installation of documentation such as manpages or upstream provided documentation. Additionally, the tools will also ignore if declared documentation is "missing" on the assumption that the documentation has not been built. .Sp This value effects tools \fIlike\fR \fBdh_installdocs\fR\|(1), which \fIknows\fR it is working with documentation. .IP \fBnotrimdch\fR 4 .IX Item "notrimdch" \&\fIThis value will change the content of the debs being built. The .deb packages built when this is set is therefore not bit-for-bit reproducible with a regular build in the general case.\fR .Sp This value will cause \fBdh_installchangelogs\fR\|(1) to act as if it had been passed the \fB\-\-no\-trim\fR option, forcing it to forgo removing older entries from changelogs. .IP "\fBnoautodbgsym\fR, \fBnoddebs\fR" 4 .IX Item "noautodbgsym, noddebs" \&\fIThe official name is noautodbgsym. The noddebs variant is accepted for historical reasons.\fR .Sp This value causes debhelper to skip the generation of automatically generated debug symbol packages. .Sp This value affects \fBdh_strip\fR\|(1). .IP \fBparallel=N\fR 4 .IX Item "parallel=N" This value enables debhelper to use up to \fBN\fR threads or processes (subject to parameters like \fB\-\-no\-parallel\fR and \fB\-\-max\-parallel=M\fR). Not all debhelper tools work with parallel tasks and may silently ignore the request. .Sp This value affects many debhelper tools. Most notably \fBdh_auto_*\fR, which will attempt to run the underlying upstream build system with that number of threads. .IP \fBterse\fR 4 .IX Item "terse" This value will cause the official debhelper build systems to configure upstream builds to be terse (i.e. reduce verbosity in their output). This is subject to the upstream and the debhelper build system supporting such features. .Sp This value affects most \fBdh_auto_*\fR tools directly. For commands provided by the debhelper package, it also causes the tools to act like the \fBDH_QUIET\fR environment variable was non-empty. .PP Unknown flags are silently ignored. .PP Note third-party debhelper-like tools or third-party provided build systems may or may not react to the above flags. This tends to depend on implementation details of the tool. .SH "SEE ALSO" .IX Header "SEE ALSO" .IP \fBdebhelper\-compat\-upgrade\-checklist\fR\|(7) 4 .IX Item "debhelper-compat-upgrade-checklist" List of supported compat levels and an upgrade checklist for each of them. .IP \fI/usr/share/doc/debhelper/examples/\fR 4 .IX Item "/usr/share/doc/debhelper/examples/" A set of example \fIdebian/rules\fR files that use debhelper. .IP 4 .IX Item "" Debhelper web site. .SH AUTHOR .IX Header "AUTHOR" Joey Hess