3 debhelper - the debhelper tool suite
7 B<dh_>I<*> [B<-v>] [B<-a>] [B<-i>] [B<-s>] [B<--no-act>] [B<-ppackage>] [B<-Npackage] [-Ptmpdir>]
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 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 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 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 maint-guide debian
27 package contains a tutorial about making your first package using debhelper.
29 =head1 DEBHELPER COMMANDS
31 Here is the complete list of available debhelper commands. See their man
32 pages for additional documentation.
40 If a program's name starts with "dh_", and the program is not on the above
41 list, then it is not part of the debhelper package, but it should still
42 work like the other programs described on this page.
44 =head1 DEBHELPER CONFIG FILES
46 Many debhelper commands make use of files in F<debian/> to control what they
47 do. Besides the common F<debian/changelog> and F<debian/control>, which are
48 in all packages, not just those using debhelper, some additional files can
49 be used to configure the behavior of specific debhelper commands. These
50 files are typically named debian/package.foo (where "package" of course,
51 is replaced with the package that is being acted on).
53 For example, dh_installdocs uses files named debian/package.docs to list
54 the documentation files it will install. See the man pages of individual
55 commands for details about the names and formats of the files they use.
56 Generally, these files will list files to act on, one file per line. Some
57 programs in debhelper use pairs of files and destinations or slightly more
60 Note that if a package is the first (or only) binary package listed in
61 debian/control, debhelper will use debian/foo if no debian/package.foo
64 In some rare cases, you may want to have different versions of these files
65 for different architectures or OSes. If files named debian/package.foo.ARCH
66 or debian/package.foo.OS exist, where "ARCH" and "OS" are the same as the
67 output of "dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_ARCH" /
68 "dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_ARCH_OS",
69 then they will be used in preference to other, more general files.
71 In many cases, these config files are used to specify various types of
72 files. Documentation or example files to install, files to move, and so on.
73 When appropriate, in cases like these, you can use standard shell wildcard
74 characters ('?' and '*' and '[..]' character classes) in the files.
76 You can also put comments in these files; lines beginning with "#" are
79 =head1 SHARED DEBHELPER OPTIONS
81 The following command line options are supported by all debhelper programs.
85 =item B<-v>, B<--verbose>
87 Verbose mode: show all commands that modify the package build directory.
91 Do not really do anything. If used with -v, the result is that the command
92 will output what it would have done.
94 =item B<-a>, B<--arch>
96 Act on architecture dependent packages that should be built for the
99 =item B<-i>, B<--indep>
101 Act on all architecture independent packages.
103 =item B<->I<ppackage>, B<--package=>I<package>
105 Act on the package named "package". This option may be specified multiple
106 times to make debhelper operate on a given set of packages.
108 =item B<-s>, B<--same-arch>
110 This used to be a smarter version of the -a flag, but the -a flag is now
113 =item B<-N>I<package>, B<--no-package=>I<package>
115 Do not act on the specified package even if an -a, -i, or -p option lists
116 the package as one that should be acted on.
118 =item B<--remaining-packages>
120 Do not act on the packages which have already been acted on by this debhelper
121 command earlier (i.e. if the command is present in the package debhelper log).
122 For example, if you need to call the command with special options only for a
123 couple of binary packages, pass this option to the last call of the command to
124 process the rest of packages with default settings.
126 =item B<--ignore=>I<file>
128 Ignore the specified file. This can be used if debian/ contains a debhelper
129 config file that a debhelper command should not act on. Note that
130 debian/compat, debian/control, and debian/changelog can't be ignored, but
131 then, there should never be a reason to ignore those files.
133 For example, if upstream ships a debian/init that you don't want
134 dh_installinit to install, use --ignore=debian/init
136 =item B<-P>I<tmpdir>, B<--tmpdir=>I<tmpdir>
138 Use "tmpdir" for package build directory. The default is debian/<package>
140 =item B<--mainpackage=>I<package>
142 This little-used option changes the package which debhelper considers the
143 "main package", that is, the first one listed in debian/control, and the
144 one for which debian/foo files can be used instead of the usual
145 debian/package.foo files.
149 =head1 COMMON DEBHELPER OPTIONS
151 The following command line options are supported by some debhelper programs.
152 See the man page of each program for a complete explanation of what each
159 Do not modify postinst/postrm/etc scripts.
161 =item B<-X>I<item>, B<--exclude=>I<item>
163 Exclude an item from processing. This option may be used multiple times,
164 to exclude more than one thing.
166 =item B<-A>, B<--all>
168 Makes files or other items that are specified on the command line take effect
169 in ALL packages acted on, not just the first.
173 =head1 BUILD SYSTEM OPTIONS
175 The following command line options are supported by all of the dh_auto_*
176 debhelper programs. These programs support a variety of build systems,
177 and normally heuristically determine which to use, and how to use them.
178 You can use these command line options to override the default behavior.
182 =item B<-S>I<buildsystem>, B<--buildsystem=>I<buildsystem>
184 Force use of the specified I<buildsystem>, instead of trying to auto-select
185 one which might be applicable for the package.
187 =item B<-D>I<directory>, B<--sourcedirectory=>I<directory>
189 Assume that the original package source tree is at the specified
190 I<directory> rather than the top level directory of the Debian
193 =item B<-B>[I<directory>], B<--builddirectory>=[I<directory>]
195 Enable out of source building and use the specified I<directory> as the build
196 directory. If I<directory> parameter is omitted, a default build directory
199 If this option is not specified, building will be done in source by default
200 unless the build system requires or prefers out of source tree building.
201 In such a case, the default build directory will be used even if
202 L<--builddirectory> is not specified.
204 If the build system prefers out of source tree building but still
205 allows in source building, the latter can be re-enabled by passing a build
206 directory path that is the same as the source directory path.
208 =item B<--list>, B<-l>
210 List all build systems supported by debhelper on this system. The list
211 includes both default and third party build systems (marked as such). Also
212 shows which build system would be automatically selected, or which one
213 is manually specified with the I<--buildsystem> option.
219 =head2 Multiple binary package support
221 If your source package generates more than one binary package, debhelper
222 programs will default to acting on all binary packages when run. If your
223 source package happens to generate one architecture dependent package, and
224 another architecture independent package, this is not the correct behavior,
225 because you need to generate the architecture dependent packages in the
226 binary-arch debian/rules target, and the architecture independent packages
227 in the binary-indep debian/rules target.
229 To facilitate this, as well as give you more control over which packages
230 are acted on by debhelper programs, all debhelper programs accept the
231 B<-a>, B<-i>, B<-p>, and B<-s> parameters. These parameters are cumulative.
232 If none are given, debhelper programs default to acting on all packages listed
235 =head2 Automatic generation of debian install scripts
237 Some debhelper commands will automatically generate parts of debian
238 maintainer scripts. If you want these automatically generated things
239 included in your existing debian maintainer scripts, then you need to add
240 "#DEBHELPER#" to your scripts, in the place the code should be added.
241 "#DEBHELPER#" will be replaced by any auto-generated code when you run
244 If a script does not exist at all and debhelper needs to add something to
245 it, then debhelper will create the complete script.
247 All debhelper commands that automatically generate code in this way let it
248 be disabled by the -n parameter (see above).
250 Note that the inserted code will be shell code, so you cannot directly use
251 it in a perl script. If you would like to embed it into a perl script, here
252 is one way to do that (note that I made sure that $1, $2, etc are set with
255 my $temp="set -e\nset -- @ARGV\n" . << 'EOF';
258 system ($temp) / 256 == 0
259 or die "Problem with debhelper scripts: $!";
261 =head2 Automatic generation of miscellaneous dependencies.
263 Some debhelper commands may make the generated package need to depend on
264 some other packages. For example, if you use L<dh_installdebconf(1)>, your
265 package will generally need to depend on debconf. Or if you use
266 L<dh_installxfonts(1)>, your package will generally need to depend on a
267 particular version of xutils. Keeping track of these miscellaneous
268 dependencies can be annoying since they are dependant on how debhelper does
269 things, so debhelper offers a way to automate it.
271 All commands of this type, besides documenting what dependencies may be
272 needed on their man pages, will automatically generate a substvar called
273 ${misc:Depends}. If you put that token into your debian/control file, it
274 will be expanded to the dependencies debhelper figures you need.
276 This is entirely independent of the standard ${shlibs:Depends} generated by
277 L<dh_makeshlibs(1)>, and the ${perl:Depends} generated by L<dh_perl(1)>.
278 You can choose not to use any of these, if debhelper's guesses don't match
281 =head2 Package build directories
283 By default, all debhelper programs assume that the temporary directory used
284 for assembling the tree of files in a package is debian/<package>.
286 Sometimes, you might want to use some other temporary directory. This is
287 supported by the -P flag. For example, "dh_installdocs -Pdebian/tmp", will
288 use debian/tmp as the temporary directory. Note that if you use -P, the
289 debhelper programs can only be acting on a single package at a time. So if
290 you have a package that builds many binary packages, you will need to also
291 use the -p flag to specify which binary package the debhelper program will
294 =head2 Debhelper compatibility levels
296 From time to time, major non-backwards-compatible changes need to be made
297 to debhelper, to keep it clean and well-designed as needs change and its
298 author gains more experience. To prevent such major changes from breaking
299 existing packages, the concept of debhelper compatibility levels was
300 introduced. You tell debhelper which compatibility level it should use, and
301 it modifies its behavior in various ways.
303 Tell debhelper what compatibility level to use by writing a number to
304 debian/compat. For example, to turn on V7 mode:
306 % echo 7 > debian/compat
308 Unless otherwise indicated, all debhelper documentation assumes that you
309 are using the most recent compatibility level, and in most cases does not
310 indicate if the behavior is different in an earlier compatibility level, so
311 if you are not using the most recent compatibility level, you're advised to
312 read below for notes about what is different in earlier compatibility
315 These are the available compatibility levels:
321 This is the original debhelper compatibility level, and so it is the default
322 one. In this mode, debhelper will use debian/tmp as the package tree
323 directory for the first binary package listed in the control file, while using
324 debian/<package> for all other packages listed in the control file.
326 This mode is deprecated.
330 In this mode, debhelper will consistently use debian/<package>
331 as the package tree directory for every package that is built.
333 This mode is deprecated.
337 This mode works like V2, with the following additions:
343 Debhelper config files support globbing via * and ?, when appropriate. To
344 turn this off and use those characters raw, just prefix with a backslash.
348 dh_makeshlibs makes the postinst and postrm scripts call ldconfig.
352 Every file in etc/ is automatically flagged as a conffile by dh_installdeb.
356 This mode is deprecated.
366 dh_makeshlibs -V will not include the debian part of the version number in
367 the generated dependency line in the shlibs file.
371 You are encouraged to put the new ${misc:Depends} into debian/control to
372 supplement the ${shlibs:Depends} field.
376 dh_fixperms will make all files in bin/ directories and in etc/init.d
381 dh_link will correct existing links to conform with policy.
385 This mode is deprecated.
395 Comments are ignored in debhelper config files.
399 dh_strip --dbg-package now specifies the name of a package to put debugging
400 symbols in, not the packages to take the symbols from.
404 dh_installdocs skips installing empty files.
408 dh_install errors out if wildcards expand to nothing.
420 Commands that generate maintainer script fragments will order the
421 fragments in reverse order for the prerm and postrm scripts.
425 dh_installwm will install a slave manpage link for x-window-manager.1.gz,
426 if it sees the man page in usr/share/man/man1 in the package build
431 dh_builddeb did not previously delete everything matching
432 DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE, if it was set to a list of things to exclude, such as
433 "CVS:.svn:.git". Now it does.
437 dh_installman allows overwriting existing man pages in the package build
438 directory. In previous compatibility levels it silently refuses to do this.
444 This is the recommended mode of operation.
452 dh_install, will fall back to looking for files in debian/tmp if it doesn't
453 find them in the current directory (or wherever you tell it look using
454 --sourcedir). This allows dh_install to interoperate with dh_auto_install,
455 which installs to debian/tmp, without needing any special parameters.
459 dh_clean will read debian/clean and delete files listed there.
463 dh_clean will delete toplevel *-stamp files.
467 dh_installchangelogs will guess at what file is the upstream changelog if
476 Debhelper includes support for udebs. To create a udeb with debhelper,
477 add "XC-Package-Type: udeb" to the package's stanza in debian/control, and
478 build-depend on debhelper (>= 4.2). Debhelper will try to create udebs that
479 comply with debian-installer policy, by making the generated package files
480 end in ".udeb", not installing any documentation into a udeb, skipping over
481 preinst, postrm, prerm, and config scripts, etc.
485 In general, if any debhelper program needs a directory to exist under
486 debian/, it will create it. I haven't bothered to document this in all the
487 man pages, but for example, dh_installdeb knows to make debian/<package>/DEBIAN/
488 before trying to put files there, dh_installmenu knows you need a
489 debian/<package>/usr/share/menu/ before installing the menu files, etc.
491 Once your package uses debhelper to build, be sure to add
492 debhelper to your Build-Depends line in debian/control. You should
493 build-depend on a version of debhelper equal to (or greater than) the
494 debhelper compatibility level your package uses. So if your package used
495 compatibility level 7:
497 Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 7)
505 Set to 1 to enable verbose mode. Debhelper will output every command it runs
506 that modifies files on the build system.
510 Temporarily specifies what compatibility level debhelper should run at,
511 overriding any value in debian/compat.
515 Set to 1 to enable no-act mode.
519 Anything in this variable will be prepended to the command line arguments
520 of all debhelper commands. Command-specific options will be ignored by
521 commands that do not support them.
523 This is useful in some situations, for example, if you need to pass -p to
524 all debhelper commands that will be run. One good way to set DH_OPTIONS is
525 by using "Target-specific Variable Values" in your debian/rules file. See
526 the make documentation for details on doing this.
528 =item DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE
530 If set, this adds the value the variable is set to to the -X options of all
531 commands that support the -X option. Moreover, dh_builddeb will rm -rf
532 anything that matches the value in your package build tree.
534 This can be useful if you are doing a build from a CVS source tree, in
535 which case setting DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE=CVS will prevent any CVS directories
536 from sneaking into the package you build. Or, if a package has a source
537 tarball that (unwisely) includes CVS directories, you might want to export
538 DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE=CVS in debian/rules, to make it take effect wherever
539 your package is built.
541 Multiple things to exclude can be separated with colons, as in
542 DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE=CVS:.svn
550 =item F</usr/share/doc/debhelper/examples/>
552 A set of example debian/rules files that use debhelper.
554 =item L<http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/debhelper/>
562 Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>