Allow individual debhelper programs to define their own special options by passing...

[debhelper.git] / doc / PROGRAMMING

diff --git a/doc/PROGRAMMING b/doc/PROGRAMMING
index a33daeb065e32d67279599cdc9411731798d4d54..0d96457fff6cc4114d5726affe4082eef778ca0a 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/PROGRAMMING
+++ b/doc/PROGRAMMING
@@ -77,6 +77,13 @@ All debhelper programs should respond to certain arguments, such as -v, -i,
 -a, and -p. To help you make this work right, Dh_Lib.pm handles argument
 processing. Just call init().
 
+You can add support for additional options to your command by passing an
+options hash to init(). The hash is then passed on the Getopt::Long to
+parse the command line options. For example, to add a --foo option, which
+sets $dh{FOO}:
+
+init(options => { foo => \$dh{FOO} });
+
 After argument processing, some global variables are used to hold the
 results; programs can use them later. These variables are elements of the
 %dh hash.
@@ -144,12 +151,12 @@ switch            variable        description
 --name         NAME            a name to use for installed files, instead of
                                the package name
 --error-handler        ERROR_HANDLER   a function to call on error
+--language     LANGUAGE        specify what language a file is in
+--add-udeb     SHLIBS_UDEB     used by dh_makeshlibs
 
 Any additional command line parameters that do not start with "-" will be 
 ignored, and you can access them later just as you normally would.
 
-If you need a new command line option, just ask me, and I will add it.
-
 Global variables:
 ----------------
 
@@ -220,6 +227,8 @@ autoscript($package, $scriptname, $snippetname, $sedcommands)
           (optional)
        This command automatically adds shell script snippets to a debian
        maintainer script (like the postinst or prerm).
+       Note that in v6 mode and up, the snippets are added in reverse
+       order for the removal scripts.
 dirname($pathname)
        Return directory part of pathname.
 basename($pathname)
@@ -255,5 +264,8 @@ getpackages($type)
        packages.
        As a side effect, populates %package_arches and %package_types with
        the types of all packages (not only those returned).
+inhibit_log()
+       Prevent logging the program's successful finish to
+       debian/*debhelper.log
 
 -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>