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<--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.
+
=item B<--ignore=>I<file>
Ignore the specified file. This can be used if debian/ contains a debhelper
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
=back
+This mode is deprecated.
+
=item V5
Changes from V4 are:
=item -
-Commands that generate maintainer script fragements will order the
-fragements in reverse order for the prerm and postrm scripts.
+Commands that generate maintainer script fragments will order the
+fragments in reverse order for the prerm and postrm scripts.
=item -
=item -
dh_installman allows overwriting existing man pages in the package build
-directory. In previous compatability levels it silently refuses to do this.
+directory. In previous compatibility levels it silently refuses to do this.
=back
=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.
+dh_install, will fall back to looking for files in debian/tmp if it doesn't
+find them in the current directory (or wherever you tell it look using
+--sourcedir). This allows dh_install to interoperate with dh_auto_install,
+which installs to debian/tmp, without needing any special parameters.
+
+=item -
+
+dh_clean will read debian/clean and delete files listed there.
+
+=item -
+
+dh_clean will delete toplevel *-stamp files.
+
+=item -
+
+dh_installchangelogs will guess at what file is the upstream changelog if
+none is specified.
=back
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 6:
+compatibility level 7:
- Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 6)
+ Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 7)
=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. 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.
+of all debhelper commands. Command-specific options will be ignored by
+commands that do not support them.
+
+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