3 debhelper - the debhelper tool suite
7 B<dh_>I<*> [B<-v>] [B<-a>] [B<-i>] [B<-s>] [B<--no-act>] [B<-p>I<package>] [B<-N>I<package>] [B<-P>I<tmpdir>]
11 Debhelper is used to help you build a Debian package. The philosophy behind
12 debhelper is to provide a collection of small, simple, and easily
13 understood tools that are used in F<debian/rules> to automate various common
14 aspects of building a package. This means less work for you, the packager.
15 It also, to some degree means that these tools can be changed if Debian
16 policy changes, and packages that use them will require only a rebuild to
17 comply with the new policy.
19 A typical F<debian/rules> file that uses debhelper will call several debhelper
20 commands in sequence, or use L<dh(1)> to automate this process. Examples of
21 rules files that use debhelper are in F</usr/share/doc/debhelper/examples/>
23 To create a new Debian package using debhelper, you can just copy one of
24 the sample rules files and edit it by hand. Or you can try the B<dh-make>
25 package, which contains a L<dh_make|dh_make(1)> command that partially
26 automates the process. For a more gentle introduction, the B<maint-guide> Debian
27 package contains a tutorial about making your first package using debhelper.
29 =head1 DEBHELPER COMMANDS
31 Here is the list of debhelper commands you can use. See their man
32 pages for additional documentation.
40 =head2 Deprecated Commands
42 A few debhelper commands are deprecated and should not be used.
52 If a program's name starts with B<dh_>, and the program is not on the above
53 lists, then it is not part of the debhelper package, but it should still
54 work like the other programs described on this page.
56 =head1 DEBHELPER CONFIG FILES
58 Many debhelper commands make use of files in F<debian/> to control what they
59 do. Besides the common F<debian/changelog> and F<debian/control>, which are
60 in all packages, not just those using debhelper, some additional files can
61 be used to configure the behavior of specific debhelper commands. These
62 files are typically named debian/I<package>.foo (where I<package> of course,
63 is replaced with the package that is being acted on).
65 For example, B<dh_installdocs> uses files named F<debian/package.docs> to list
66 the documentation files it will install. See the man pages of individual
67 commands for details about the names and formats of the files they use.
68 Generally, these files will list files to act on, one file per line. Some
69 programs in debhelper use pairs of files and destinations or slightly more
72 Note that if a package is the first (or only) binary package listed in
73 F<debian/control>, debhelper will use F<debian/foo> if no F<debian/package.foo>
76 In some rare cases, you may want to have different versions of these files
77 for different architectures or OSes. If files named debian/I<package>.foo.I<ARCH>
78 or debian/I<package>.foo.I<OS> exist, where I<ARCH> and I<OS> are the same as the
79 output of "B<dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_ARCH>" /
80 "B<dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_ARCH_OS>",
81 then they will be used in preference to other, more general files.
83 In many cases, these config files are used to specify various types of
84 files. Documentation or example files to install, files to move, and so on.
85 When appropriate, in cases like these, you can use standard shell wildcard
86 characters (B<?> and B<*> and B<[>I<..>B<]> character classes) in the files.
88 You can also put comments in these files; lines beginning with B<#> are
91 =head1 SHARED DEBHELPER OPTIONS
93 The following command line options are supported by all debhelper programs.
97 =item B<-v>, B<--verbose>
99 Verbose mode: show all commands that modify the package build directory.
103 Do not really do anything. If used with -v, the result is that the command
104 will output what it would have done.
106 =item B<-a>, B<--arch>
108 Act on architecture dependent packages that should be built for the
111 =item B<-i>, B<--indep>
113 Act on all architecture independent packages.
115 =item B<-p>I<package>, B<--package=>I<package>
117 Act on the package named I<package>. This option may be specified multiple
118 times to make debhelper operate on a given set of packages.
120 =item B<-s>, B<--same-arch>
122 This used to be a smarter version of the B<-a> flag, but the B<-a> flag is now
125 =item B<-N>I<package>, B<--no-package=>I<package>
127 Do not act on the specified package even if an B<-a>, B<-i>, or B<-p> option lists
128 the package as one that should be acted on.
130 =item B<--remaining-packages>
132 Do not act on the packages which have already been acted on by this debhelper
133 command earlier (i.e. if the command is present in the package debhelper log).
134 For example, if you need to call the command with special options only for a
135 couple of binary packages, pass this option to the last call of the command to
136 process the rest of packages with default settings.
138 =item B<--ignore=>I<file>
140 Ignore the specified file. This can be used if F<debian/> contains a debhelper
141 config file that a debhelper command should not act on. Note that
142 F<debian/compat>, F<debian/control>, and F<debian/changelog> can't be ignored, but
143 then, there should never be a reason to ignore those files.
145 For example, if upstream ships a F<debian/init> that you don't want
146 B<dh_installinit> to install, use B<--ignore=debian/init>
148 =item B<-P>I<tmpdir>, B<--tmpdir=>I<tmpdir>
150 Use I<tmpdir> for package build directory. The default is debian/I<package>
152 =item B<--mainpackage=>I<package>
154 This little-used option changes the package which debhelper considers the
155 "main package", that is, the first one listed in F<debian/control>, and the
156 one for which F<debian/foo> files can be used instead of the usual
157 F<debian/package.foo> files.
159 =item B<-O=>I<option>|I<bundle>
161 This is used by L<dh(1)> when passing user-specified options to all the
162 commands it runs. If the command supports the specified option or option
163 bundle, it will take effect. If the command does not support the option (or
164 any part of an option bundle), it will be ignored.
168 =head1 COMMON DEBHELPER OPTIONS
170 The following command line options are supported by some debhelper programs.
171 See the man page of each program for a complete explanation of what each
178 Do not modify F<postinst>, F<postrm>, etc. scripts.
180 =item B<-X>I<item>, B<--exclude=>I<item>
182 Exclude an item from processing. This option may be used multiple times,
183 to exclude more than one thing.
185 =item B<-A>, B<--all>
187 Makes files or other items that are specified on the command line take effect
188 in ALL packages acted on, not just the first.
192 =head1 BUILD SYSTEM OPTIONS
194 The following command line options are supported by all of the B<dh_auto_>I<*>
195 debhelper programs. These programs support a variety of build systems,
196 and normally heuristically determine which to use, and how to use them.
197 You can use these command line options to override the default behavior.
198 Typically these are passed to L<dh(1)>, which then passes them to all the
199 B<dh_auto_>I<*> programs.
203 =item B<-S>I<buildsystem>, B<--buildsystem=>I<buildsystem>
205 Force use of the specified I<buildsystem>, instead of trying to auto-select
206 one which might be applicable for the package.
208 =item B<-D>I<directory>, B<--sourcedirectory=>I<directory>
210 Assume that the original package source tree is at the specified
211 I<directory> rather than the top level directory of the Debian
214 =item B<-B>[I<directory>], B<--builddirectory=>[I<directory>]
216 Enable out of source building and use the specified I<directory> as the build
217 directory. If I<directory> parameter is omitted, a default build directory
220 If this option is not specified, building will be done in source by default
221 unless the build system requires or prefers out of source tree building.
222 In such a case, the default build directory will be used even if
223 B<--builddirectory> is not specified.
225 If the build system prefers out of source tree building but still
226 allows in source building, the latter can be re-enabled by passing a build
227 directory path that is the same as the source directory path.
231 Enable parallel builds if underlying build system supports them.
232 The number of parallel jobs is controlled by the
233 B<DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS> environment variable (L<Debian Policy, section 4.9.1>) at
234 build time. It might also be subject to a build system specific limit.
236 If this option is not specified, debhelper currently defaults to not
237 allowing parallel package builds.
239 =item B<--max-parallel=>I<maximum>
241 This option implies B<--parallel> and allows further limiting the number of
242 jobs that can be used in a parallel build. If the package build is known to
243 only work with certain levels of concurrency, you can set this to the maximum
244 level that is known to work, or that you wish to support.
246 =item B<--list>, B<-l>
248 List all build systems supported by debhelper on this system. The list
249 includes both default and third party build systems (marked as such). Also
250 shows which build system would be automatically selected, or which one
251 is manually specified with the B<--buildsystem> option.
255 =head1 COMPATABILITY LEVELS
257 From time to time, major non-backwards-compatible changes need to be made
258 to debhelper, to keep it clean and well-designed as needs change and its
259 author gains more experience. To prevent such major changes from breaking
260 existing packages, the concept of debhelper compatibility levels was
261 introduced. You tell debhelper which compatibility level it should use, and
262 it modifies its behavior in various ways.
264 Tell debhelper what compatibility level to use by writing a number to
265 F<debian/compat>. For example, to turn on v8 mode:
267 % echo 8 > debian/compat
269 Unless otherwise indicated, all debhelper documentation assumes that you
270 are using the most recent compatibility level, and in most cases does not
271 indicate if the behavior is different in an earlier compatibility level, so
272 if you are not using the most recent compatibility level, you're advised to
273 read below for notes about what is different in earlier compatibility
276 These are the available compatibility levels:
282 This is the original debhelper compatibility level, and so it is the default
283 one. In this mode, debhelper will use F<debian/tmp> as the package tree
284 directory for the first binary package listed in the control file, while using
285 debian/I<package> for all other packages listed in the F<control> file.
287 This mode is deprecated.
291 In this mode, debhelper will consistently use debian/I<package>
292 as the package tree directory for every package that is built.
294 This mode is deprecated.
298 This mode works like v2, with the following additions:
304 Debhelper config files support globbing via B<*> and B<?>, when appropriate. To
305 turn this off and use those characters raw, just prefix with a backslash.
309 B<dh_makeshlibs> makes the F<postinst> and F<postrm> scripts call B<ldconfig>.
313 Every file in F<etc/> is automatically flagged as a conffile by B<dh_installdeb>.
317 This mode is deprecated.
327 B<dh_makeshlibs -V> will not include the Debian part of the version number in
328 the generated dependency line in the shlibs file.
332 You are encouraged to put the new B<${misc:Depends}> into F<debian/control> to
333 supplement the B<${shlibs:Depends}> field.
337 B<dh_fixperms> will make all files in F<bin/> directories and in F<etc/init.d>
342 B<dh_link> will correct existing links to conform with policy.
346 This mode is deprecated.
356 Comments are ignored in debhelper config files.
360 B<dh_strip --dbg-package> now specifies the name of a package to put debugging
361 symbols in, not the packages to take the symbols from.
365 B<dh_installdocs> skips installing empty files.
369 B<dh_install> errors out if wildcards expand to nothing.
381 Commands that generate maintainer script fragments will order the
382 fragments in reverse order for the F<prerm> and F<postrm> scripts.
386 B<dh_installwm> will install a slave manpage link for F<x-window-manager.1.gz>,
387 if it sees the man page in F<usr/share/man/man1> in the package build
392 B<dh_builddeb> did not previously delete everything matching
393 B<DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE>, if it was set to a list of things to exclude, such as
394 B<CVS:.svn:.git>. Now it does.
398 B<dh_installman> allows overwriting existing man pages in the package build
399 directory. In previous compatibility levels it silently refuses to do this.
411 B<dh_install>, will fall back to looking for files in F<debian/tmp> if it doesn't
412 find them in the current directory (or wherever you tell it look using
413 B<--sourcedir>). This allows B<dh_install> to interoperate with B<dh_auto_install>,
414 which installs to F<debian/tmp>, without needing any special parameters.
418 B<dh_clean> will read F<debian/clean> and delete files listed there.
422 B<dh_clean> will delete toplevel F<*-stamp> files.
426 B<dh_installchangelogs> will guess at what file is the upstream changelog if
433 This is the recommended mode of operation.
441 Commands will fail rather than warning when they are passed unknown options.
445 B<dh_makeshlibs> will run B<dpkg-gensymbols> on all shared libraries that it
446 generates shlibs files for. So B<-X> can be used to exclude libraries.
447 Also, libraries in unusual locations that B<dpkg-gensymbols> would not
448 have processed before will be passed to it, a behavior change that
449 can cause some packages to fail to build.
453 B<dh> requires the sequence to run be specified as the first parameter, and
454 any switches come after it. Ie, use "B<dh $@ --foo>", not "B<dh --foo $@>".
458 B<dh_auto_>I<*> prefer to use Perl's B<Module::Build> in preference to F<Makefile.PL>.
464 This compatibility level is still open for development; use with caution.
472 Multiarch support. In particular, B<dh_auto_configure> passes
473 multiarch directories to autoconf in --libdir and --libexecdir.
477 dh is aware of the usual dependencies between targets in debian/rules.
478 So, "dh binary" will run any build, build-arch, build-indep, install,
479 etc targets that exist in the rules file. There's no need to define an
480 explicit binary target with explicit dependencies on the other targets.
484 B<dh_auto_configure> does not include the source package name
485 in --libexecdir when using autoconf.
489 B<dh> does not default to enabling --with=python-support
493 All of the B<dh_auto_>I<*> debhelper programs and B<dh> set
494 environment variables listed by B<dpkg-buildflags>, unless
495 they are already set. They support DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noopt too.
499 B<dh_auto_configure> passes CFLAGS to F<Makefile.PL> using
500 the OPTIMIZE variable.
508 =head2 Multiple binary package support
510 If your source package generates more than one binary package, debhelper
511 programs will default to acting on all binary packages when run. If your
512 source package happens to generate one architecture dependent package, and
513 another architecture independent package, this is not the correct behavior,
514 because you need to generate the architecture dependent packages in the
515 binary-arch F<debian/rules> target, and the architecture independent packages
516 in the binary-indep F<debian/rules> target.
518 To facilitate this, as well as give you more control over which packages
519 are acted on by debhelper programs, all debhelper programs accept the
520 B<-a>, B<-i>, B<-p>, and B<-s> parameters. These parameters are cumulative.
521 If none are given, debhelper programs default to acting on all packages listed
524 =head2 Automatic generation of Debian install scripts
526 Some debhelper commands will automatically generate parts of Debian
527 maintainer scripts. If you want these automatically generated things
528 included in your existing Debian maintainer scripts, then you need to add
529 B<#DEBHELPER#> to your scripts, in the place the code should be added.
530 B<#DEBHELPER#> will be replaced by any auto-generated code when you run
533 If a script does not exist at all and debhelper needs to add something to
534 it, then debhelper will create the complete script.
536 All debhelper commands that automatically generate code in this way let it
537 be disabled by the -n parameter (see above).
539 Note that the inserted code will be shell code, so you cannot directly use
540 it in a Perl script. If you would like to embed it into a Perl script, here
541 is one way to do that (note that I made sure that $1, $2, etc are set with
544 my $temp="set -e\nset -- @ARGV\n" . << 'EOF';
547 system ($temp) / 256 == 0
548 or die "Problem with debhelper scripts: $!";
550 =head2 Automatic generation of miscellaneous dependencies.
552 Some debhelper commands may make the generated package need to depend on
553 some other packages. For example, if you use L<dh_installdebconf(1)>, your
554 package will generally need to depend on debconf. Or if you use
555 L<dh_installxfonts(1)>, your package will generally need to depend on a
556 particular version of xutils. Keeping track of these miscellaneous
557 dependencies can be annoying since they are dependent on how debhelper does
558 things, so debhelper offers a way to automate it.
560 All commands of this type, besides documenting what dependencies may be
561 needed on their man pages, will automatically generate a substvar called
562 B<${misc:Depends}>. If you put that token into your F<debian/control> file, it
563 will be expanded to the dependencies debhelper figures you need.
565 This is entirely independent of the standard B<${shlibs:Depends}> generated by
566 L<dh_makeshlibs(1)>, and the B<${perl:Depends}> generated by L<dh_perl(1)>.
567 You can choose not to use any of these, if debhelper's guesses don't match
570 =head2 Package build directories
572 By default, all debhelper programs assume that the temporary directory used
573 for assembling the tree of files in a package is debian/I<package>.
575 Sometimes, you might want to use some other temporary directory. This is
576 supported by the B<-P> flag. For example, "B<dh_installdocs -Pdebian/tmp>", will
577 use B<debian/tmp> as the temporary directory. Note that if you use B<-P>, the
578 debhelper programs can only be acting on a single package at a time. So if
579 you have a package that builds many binary packages, you will need to also
580 use the B<-p> flag to specify which binary package the debhelper program will
585 Debhelper includes support for udebs. To create a udeb with debhelper,
586 add "B<Package-Type: udeb>" to the package's stanza in F<debian/control>, and
587 build-depend on debhelper (>= 4.2). Debhelper will try to create udebs that
588 comply with debian-installer policy, by making the generated package files
589 end in F<.udeb>, not installing any documentation into a udeb, skipping over
590 F<preinst>, F<postrm>, F<prerm>, and F<config> scripts, etc.
594 Once your package uses debhelper to build, be sure to add
595 debhelper to your Build-Depends line in F<debian/control>. You should
596 build-depend on a version of debhelper equal to (or greater than) the
597 debhelper compatibility level your package uses. So if your package used
598 compatibility level 7:
600 Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 7)
608 Set to B<1> to enable verbose mode. Debhelper will output every command it runs
609 that modifies files on the build system.
613 Temporarily specifies what compatibility level debhelper should run at,
614 overriding any value in F<debian/compat>.
618 Set to B<1> to enable no-act mode.
622 Anything in this variable will be prepended to the command line arguments
623 of all debhelper commands.
625 When using L<dh(1)>, it can be passed options that will be passed on to each
626 debhelper command, which is generally better than using DH_OPTIONS.
628 =item B<DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE>
630 If set, this adds the value the variable is set to to the B<-X> options of all
631 commands that support the B<-X> option. Moreover, B<dh_builddeb> will B<rm -rf>
632 anything that matches the value in your package build tree.
634 This can be useful if you are doing a build from a CVS source tree, in
635 which case setting B<DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE=CVS> will prevent any CVS directories
636 from sneaking into the package you build. Or, if a package has a source
637 tarball that (unwisely) includes CVS directories, you might want to export
638 B<DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE=CVS> in F<debian/rules>, to make it take effect wherever
639 your package is built.
641 Multiple things to exclude can be separated with colons, as in
642 B<DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE=CVS:.svn>
650 =item F</usr/share/doc/debhelper/examples/>
652 A set of example F<debian/rules> files that use debhelper.
654 =item L<http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/debhelper/>
662 Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>