comply with the new policy.
A typical debian/rules file that uses debhelper will call several debhelper
-commands in sequence. Debhelper commands are all named with a "dh_" prefix.
-Examples of rules files that use debhelper are in
-F</usr/share/doc/debhelper/examples/>
+commands in sequence, or use L<dh(1)> to automate this process. Examples of
+rules files that use debhelper are in F</usr/share/doc/debhelper/examples/>
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 dh-make
Do not act on the specified package even if an -a, -i, or -p option lists
the package as one that should be acted on.
+=item B<--ignore=>I<file>
+
+Ignore the specified file. This can be used if debian/ contains a debhelper
+config file that a debhelper command should not act on. Note that
+debian/compat, debian/control, and debian/changelog can't be ignored, but
+then, there should never be a reason to ignore those files.
+
+For example, if upstream ships a debian/init that you don't want
+dh_installinit to install, use --ignore=debian/init
+
=item B<-P>I<tmpdir>, B<--tmpdir=>I<tmpdir>
Use "tmpdir" for package build directory. The default is debian/<package>
If none are given, debhelper programs default to acting on all packages listed
in the control file.
-See F</usr/share/doc/debhelper/examples/rules.multi> for an example of how to
-use this in a package that generates multiple binary packages.
-
=head2 Automatic generation of debian install scripts
Some debhelper commands will automatically generate parts of debian
it modifies its behavior in various ways.
Tell debhelper what compatibility level to use by writing a number to
-debian/compat. For example, to turn on V5 mode:
+debian/compat. For example, to turn on V7 mode:
- % echo 5 > debian/compat
+ % echo 7 > debian/compat
Unless otherwise indicated, all debhelper documentation assumes that you
are using the most recent compatibility level, and in most cases does not
=item V5
-This is the recommended mode of operation. It does everything V4 does,
-plus:
+Changes from V4 are:
=over 8
=item V6
-This mode is still under development. Currently it has these differences
-compared to V5:
+Changes from V5 are:
=over 8
=item -
-dh_installwm will install a slave manpage link for x-window-manager.1.gz.
+Commands that generate maintainer script fragements will order the
+fragements in reverse order for the prerm and postrm scripts.
+
+=item -
+
+dh_installwm will install a slave manpage link for x-window-manager.1.gz,
+if it sees the man page in usr/share/man/man1 in the package build
+directory.
=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.
+"CVS:.svn:.git". Now it does.
=item -
=back
+=item V7
+
+This is the recommended mode of operation.
+
+Changes from V6 are:
+
+=over 8
+
+=item -
+
+dh_install, if --sourcedir is not specified, will first look for files in
+debian/tmp, and then will look in the current directory. This allows
+dh_install to interoperate with dh_auto_install without needing any special
+parameters.
+
+=item -
+
+dh_clean will read debian/clean and delete files listed there.
+
+=back
+
+=back
+
=head2 Doc directory symlinks
Sometimes it is useful to make a package not contain a /usr/share/doc/package
debhelper to your Build-Depends line in debian/control. You should
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:
+compatibility level 7:
- Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 5)
+ Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 7)
=head1 ENVIRONMENT
A set of example debian/rules files that use debhelper.
-=item L<http://kitenet.net/programs/debhelper/>
+=item L<http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/debhelper/>
Debhelper web site.