=back
+If a program's name starts with "dh_", and the program is not on the above
+list, then it is not part of the debhelper package, but it should still
+work like the other programs described on this page.
+
=head1 DEBHELPER CONFIG FILES
Many debhelper commands make use of files in F<debian/> to control what they
files are typically named debian/package.foo (where "package" of course,
is replaced with the package that is being acted on).
-For example,
-dh_installdocs uses files named debian/package.docs 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.
+For example, dh_installdocs uses files named debian/package.docs 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.
Note that if a package is the first (or only) binary package listed in
debian/control, debhelper will use debian/foo if no debian/package.foo
In some rare cases, you may want to have different versions of these files
for different architectures. If files named debian/package.foo.arch
-exist, where "arch" is the same as the output of "dpkg --print-architecture",
+exist, where "arch" is the same as the output of
+"dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_ARCH",
then they will be used in preference to other, more general files.
In many cases, these config files are used to specify various types of
When appropriate, in cases like these, you can use standard shell wildcard
characters ('?' and '*' and '[..]' character classes) in the files.
+You can also put comments in these files; lines beginning with "#" are
+ignored.
+
=head1 SHARED DEBHELPER OPTIONS
The following command line options are supported by all debhelper programs.
this flag makes the command act on all "Architecture: any" packages, as well
as on any packages that have the current architecture explicitly specified.
Contrast to the -a flag, which makes the command work on all packages that
-are not architecture independant.
+are not architecture independent.
=item B<-N>I<package>, B<--no-package=>I<package>
Exclude an item from processing. This option may be used multiple times,
to exclude more than one thing.
-=item B<-A>, B<-all>
+=item B<-A>, B<--all>
Makes files or other items that are specified on the command line take effect
in ALL packages acted on, not just the first.
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 compatability levels was
-introduced. You tell debhelper which compatability level it should use, and
+existing packages, the concept of debhelper compatibility levels was
+introduced. You tell debhelper which compatibility level it should use, and
it modifies its behavior in various ways.
-You tell debhelper what compatability level to use by writing a number to
-debian/compat. For example, to turn on V4 mode:
+Tell debhelper what compatibility level to use by writing a number to
+debian/compat. For example, to turn on V5 mode:
+
+ % echo 5 > debian/compat
- % echo 4 > debian/compat
+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.
-These are the available compatablity levels:
+These are the available compatibility levels:
=over 4
=item V1
-This is the original debhelper compatability level, and so it is the default
+This is the original debhelper compatibility level, and so it is the default
one. In this mode, debhelper will use debian/tmp as the package tree
directory for the first binary package listed in the control file, while using
debian/<package> for all other packages listed in the control file.
+
This mode is deprecated.
=item V2
In this mode, debhelper will consistently use debian/<package>
as the package tree directory for every package that is built.
+This mode is deprecated.
+
=item V3
This mode works like V2, with the following additions:
=back
+This mode is deprecated.
+
=item V4
-This is the reccommended mode of operation. It does everything V3 does,
-plus:
+Changes from V3 are:
=over 8
=item -
dh_makeshlibs -V will not include the debian part of the version number in
-the generated dependancy line in the shlibs file.
+the generated dependency line in the shlibs file.
=item -
You are encouraged to put the new ${misc:Depends} into debian/control to
-suppliment the ${shlibs:Depends} field. In particular, the new
-dh_installinit feature needs a versioned dependency on sysvinit.
+supplement the ${shlibs:Depends} field.
=item -
=back
+=item V5
+
+This is the recommended mode of operation. It does everything V4 does,
+plus:
+
+=over 8
+
+=item -
+
+Comments are ignored in debhelper config files.
+
+=item -
+
+dh_strip --dbg-package now specifies the name of a package to put debugging
+symbols in, not the packages to take the symbols from.
+
+=item -
+
+dh_installdocs skips installing empty files.
+
+=item -
+
+dh_install errors out if wildcards expand to nothing.
+
+=back
+
+=item V6
+
+This mode is still under development. Currently it has these differences
+compared to V5:
+
+=over 8
+
+=item -
+
+dh_installwm will install a slave manpage link for x-window-manager.1.gz.
+
+=item -
+
+dh_builddeb did not previously delete everything matching
+DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE, if it was set to a list of things to exclude, such as
+"CVS:.svn". Now it does.
+
+=item -
+
+dh_installman allows overwriting existing man pages in the package build
+directory. In previous compatability levels it silently refuses to do this.
+
=back
=head2 Doc directory symlinks
hand), and debhelper should do the right thing: notice it is a dangling
symlink and not try to install a copyright file or changelog.
+=head2 udebs
+
+Debhelper includes support for udebs. To create a udeb with debhelper,
+add "XC-Package-Type: udeb" to the package's stanza in debian/control, and
+build-depend on debhelper (>= 4.2). Debhelper will try to create udebs that
+comply with debian-installer policy, by making the generated package files
+end in ".udeb", not installing any documentation into a udeb, skipping over
+preinst, postrm, prerm, and config scripts, etc.
+
=head2 Other notes
In general, if any debhelper program needs a directory to exist under
debian/, it will create it. I haven't bothered to document this in all the
man pages, but for example, dh_installdeb knows to make debian/<package>/DEBIAN/
before trying to put files there, dh_installmenu knows you need a
-debian/<package>/usr/lib/menu/ before installing the menu files, etc.
+debian/<package>/usr/share/menu/ before installing the menu files, etc.
Once your package uses debhelper to build, be sure to add
debhelper to your Build-Depends line in debian/control. You should
-build-depend on a verson of debhelper equal to (or greater than) the
-debhelper compatability level your package uses. So if your package used
-compatability level 4:
+build-depend on a version of debhelper equal to (or greater than) the
+debhelper compatibility level your package uses. So if your package used
+compatibility level 5:
- Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 4)
+ Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 5)
=head1 ENVIRONMENT
=item DH_OPTIONS
-Anything in this variable will be prepended to the command line
-arguments of all debhelper commands. This is useful in some situations,
-for example, if you need to pass -p to all debhelper commands that will be
-run. If you use DH_OPTIONS, be sure to build depend on "debhelper >= 1.1.17" --
-older debhelpers will ignore it and do things you don't want them to. One very
-good way to set DH_OPTIONS is by using "Target-specific Variable Values" in
-your debian/rules file. See the make documentation for details on doing this.
+Anything in this variable will be prepended to the command line arguments
+of all debhelper commands. This is useful in some situations, for example,
+if you need to pass -p to all debhelper commands that will be run. One good
+way to set DH_OPTIONS is by using "Target-specific Variable Values" in your
+debian/rules file. See the make documentation for details on doing this.
=item DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE
DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE=CVS in debian/rules, to make it take effect wherever
your package is built.
+Multiple things to exclude can be separated with colons, as in
+DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE=CVS:.svn
+
=back
=head1 SEE ALSO
projects / debhelper.git / blobdiff