This file documents things you should know to write a new debhelper program.
-Any program with a name that debins with dh_ should conform to these
+Any program with a name that begins with dh_ should conform to these
guidelines (with the historical exception of dh_make).
Standardization:
are run, so the important stuff is clearly visible.
Debhelper programs should accept all options listed in the "SHARED
-DEBHELPER OPTIONS" section of debhelper(1), including and any long forms of
+DEBHELPER OPTIONS" section of debhelper(7), including any long forms of
these options, like --verbose . If necessary, the options may be ignored.
If debhelper commands need config files, they should use
debian/control. Also, debhelper commands should accept the same sort of
information that appears in the config files, on their command lines, if
possible, and apply that information to the first package they act on.
+The config file format should be as simple as possible, generally just a
+list of files to act on.
Debhelper programs should never modify the debian/postinst, debian/prerm,
-etc scripts, instead, they can add lines to debian/postinst.debhelper, etc.
+etc scripts. Instead, they can add lines to debian/postinst.debhelper, etc.
The autoscript() function (see below) is one easy way to do this.
dh_installdeb is an exception, it will run after the other commands and
merge these modifications into the actual postinst scripts.
In general, files named debian/*.debhelper are internal to debhelper, and
-their expstence or use should not be relied on by external programs such as
-the build process of a package.
+their existence or use should not be relied on by external programs such as
+the build process of a package. These files will be deleted by dh_clean.
Debhelper programs should default to doing exactly what policy says to do.
packages
-n NOSCRIPTS if set, do not make any modifications to the
package's postinst, postrm, etc scripts.
+-o ONLYSCRIPTS if set, only make modifications to the
+ package's scripts, but don't look for or
+ install associated files.
-X EXCLUDE exclude a something from processing (you
decide what this means for your program)
(This is an array)
EXCLUDE_FIND same as DH_EXCLUDE, except all items are put
into a string in a way that they will make
find find them. (Use ! in front to negate
- that, of course)
+ that, of course) Note that this should
+ only be used inside complex_doit(), not in
+ doit().
-x INCLUDE_CONFFILES
include conffiles. It's -x for obscure
historical reasons.
dh_installemacsen will ever use this)
--number PRIORITY will be set to a number (deprecated)
--priority PRIORITY will be set to a number
+--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.
MAINPACKAGE the name of the first binary package listed in
debian/control
FIRSTPACKAGE the first package we were instructed to act on. This package
- typically gets special treatment, additional arguments
+ typically gets special treatment; additional arguments
specified on the command line may effect it.
Functions:
(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)
excludefile($filename)
This function returns true if -X has been used to ask for the file
to be excluded.
+is_udeb($package)
+ Returns true if the package is marked as a udeb in the control
+ file.
+udeb_filename($package)
+ Returns the filename of the udeb package.
+getpackages($type)
+ Returns a list of packages in the control file.
+ Must pass "arch" or "indep" or "same" to specify arch-dependent or
+ -independent or same arch packages. If nothing is specified, returns all
+ 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>
-