In many cases, these config files are used to specify various types of
files. Documentation or example files to install, files to move, and so on.
When appropriate, in cases like these, you can use standard shell wildcard
-characters ('?' and '*') in the files.
+characters ('?' and '*' and '[..]' character classes) in the files.
=head1 SHARED DEBHELPER OPTIONS
Use "tmpdir" for package build directory. The default is debian/<package>
+=item B<--mainpackage=>I<package>
+
+This little-used option changes the package which debhelper considers the
+"main package", that is, the first one listed in debian/control, and the
+one for which debian/foo files can be used instead of the usual
+debian/package.foo files.
+
=back
=head1 COMMON DEBHELPER OPTIONS
=head2 Automatic generation of debian install scripts
-Some debhelper commands will automatically generate parts of debian install
-scripts. If you want these automatically generated things included in your
-debian install scripts, then you need to add "#DEBHELPER#" to your scripts,
-in the place the code should be added. "#DEBHELPER#" will be replaced by
-any auto-generated code when you run dh_installdeb.
+Some debhelper commands will automatically generate parts of debian
+maintainer scripts. If you want these automatically generated things
+included in your existing debian maintainer scripts, then you need to add
+"#DEBHELPER#" to your scripts, in the place the code should be added.
+"#DEBHELPER#" will be replaced by any auto-generated code when you run
+dh_installdeb.
+
+If a script does not exist at all and debhelper needs to add something to
+it, then debhelper will create the complete script.
-All scripts that automatically generate code in this way let it be disabled
-by the -n parameter (see above).
+All debhelper commands that automatically generate code in this way let it
+be disabled by the -n parameter (see above).
Note that the inserted code will be shell code, so you cannot directly use
it in a perl script. If you would like to embed it into a perl script, here
system ($temp) / 256 == 0
or die "Problem with debhelper scripts: $!";
+=head2 Automatic generation of miscellaneous dependencies.
+
+Some debhelper commands may make the generated package need to depend on
+some other packages. For example, if you use L<dh_installdebconf(1)>, your
+package will generally need to depend on debconf. Or if you use
+L<dh_installxfonts(1)>, your package will generally need to depend on a
+particular version of xutils. Keeping track of these miscellaneous
+dependencies can be annoying since they are dependant on how debhelper does
+things, so debhelper offers a way to automate it.
+
+All commands of this type, besides documenting what dependencies may be
+needed on their man pages, will automatically generate a substvar called
+${misc:Depends}. If you put that token into your debian/control file, it
+will be expanded to the dependencies debhelper figures you need.
+
+This is entirely independent of the standard ${shlibs:Depends} generated by
+L<dh_makeshlibs(1)>, and the ${perl:Depends} generated by L<dh_perl(1)>.
+You can choose not to use any of these, if debhelper's guesses don't match
+reality.
+
=head2 Package build directories
By default, all debhelper programs assume that the temporary directory used
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 DH_COMPAT environment variable was introduced.
-DH_COMPAT may be set to a number, to determine which major revision of
-debhelper should be used. There are currently 3:
+existing packages, the concept of debhelper compatability levels was
+introduced. You tell debhelper which compatability 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:
+
+ % echo 4 > debian/compat
+
+These are the available compatablity levels:
=over 4
=item V1
-Setting DH_COMPAT=1 (or leaving it unset) causes debhelper to act in
-compatibility mode. It will use debian/tmp as the package tree
+This is the original debhelper compatability 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
-Setting DH_COMPAT=2 causes debhelper to consistently use debian/<package>
+In this mode, debhelper will consistently use debian/<package>
as the package tree directory for every package that is built.
=item V3
-This is the reccommended mode of operation.
-Setting DH_COMPAT=3 does everything V2 does, plus:
+This mode works like V2, with the following additions:
=over 8
=item V4
-This mode is still under development, and its behavior may change at any
-time. Currently, setting DH_COMPAT=4 does everything V4 does, plus:
+This is the reccommended mode of operation. It does everything V3 does,
+plus:
=over 8
dh_makeshlibs -V will not include the debian part of the version number in
the generated dependancy line in the shlibs file.
+=item -
+
+You are encouraged to put the new ${misc:Depends} into debian/control to
+suppliment the ${shlibs:Depends} field.
+
+=item -
+
+dh_fixperms will make all files in bin/ directories and in etc/init.d
+executable.
+
+=item -
+
+dh_link will correct existing links to conform with policy.
+
=back
=back
before trying to put files there, dh_installmenu knows you need a
debian/<package>/usr/lib/menu/ before installing the menu files, etc.
-If you are generating a debian package that has arch-indep and
-arch-dependent portions, and you are using dh_movefiles to move the
-arch-indep files out of debian/tmp, you need to make sure that dh_movefiles
-does this even if only the arch-dependent package is being built (for
-ports to other architectures). I handle this in the example rules file
-"rules.multi" by calling dh_movefiles in the install target.
-
Once your package uses debhelper to build, be sure to add
-debhelper to your Build-Depends line in debian/control.
+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-Depends: debhelper (>= 4)
=head1 ENVIRONMENT
=item DH_COMPAT
-Specifies what compatibility level debhelper should run at. See above.
+Temporarily specifies what compatibility level debhelper should run at,
+overriding any value in debian/compat.
=item DH_NO_ACT
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
+
+If set, this adds the value the variable is set to to the -X options of all
+commands that support the -X option. Moreover, dh_builddeb will rm -rf
+anything that matches the value in your package build tree.
+
+This can be useful if you are doing a build from a CVS source tree, in
+which case setting DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE=CVS will prevent any CVS directories
+from sneaking into the package you build. Or, if a package has a source
+tarball that (unwisely) includes CVS directories, you might want to export
+DH_ALWAYS_EXCLUDE=CVS in debian/rules, to make it take effect wherever
+your package is built.
+
=back
=head1 SEE ALSO
A set of example debian/rules files that use debhelper.
-=item http://kitenet.net/programs/debhelper/
+=item L<http://kitenet.net/programs/debhelper/>
Debhelper web site.