debhelper - the debhelper tool suite
dh_* [-v] [-a] [-i] [-s] [--no-act] [-ppackage] [-Npackage] [-Ptmpdir]
Debhelper is used to help you build a debian package. The philosophy
behind debhelper is to provide a collection of small, simple, and easily
understood tools that are used in debian/rules to automate various
common aspects of building a package. This means less work for you, the
packager. It also, to some degree means that these tools can be
changed if debian policy changes, and packages that use them will
require only a rebuild to 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
/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 dhmake
package, which contains a dh_make command that partially automates
the process. For a more gentle introduction, the maint-guide debian
package contains a tutorial about making your first package using debhelper.
Here is the complete list of available debhelper commands. See their
man pages for additional documentation.
dh_builddeb(1)
build debian packages
dh_clean(1)
clean up package build directories
dh_compress(1)
compress files and fix symlinks in package build directories
dh_fixperms(1)
fix permissions of files in package build directories
dh_gencontrol(1)
generate and install control file
dh_install(1)
install files into package build directories
dh_installchangelogs(1)
install changelogs into package build directories
dh_installcron(1)
install cron scripts into etc/cron.*
dh_installdeb(1)
install files into the DEBIAN directory
dh_installdebconf(1)
install files used by debconf in package build directories
dh_installdirs(1)
create subdirectories in package build directories
dh_installdocs(1)
install documentation into package build directories
dh_installemacsen(1)
register an emacs add on package
dh_installexamples(1)
install example files into package build directories
dh_installinfo(1)
install and register info files
dh_installinit(1)
install init scripts into package build directories
dh_installlogrotate(1)
install logrotate config files
dh_installman(1)
install man pages into package build directories
dh_installmanpages(1)
old-style man page installer
dh_installmenu(1)
install debian menu files into package build directories
dh_installmime(1)
install mime files into package build directories
dh_installmodules(1)
register modules with modutils
dh_installpam(1)
install pam support files
dh_installwm(1)
register a window manager
dh_installxaw(1)
install xaw wrappers config files into package build directories
dh_installxfonts(1)
register X fonts
dh_link(1)
create symlinks in package build directories
dh_listpackages(1)
list binary packages debhelper will act on
dh_makeshlibs(1)
automatically create shlibs file
dh_md5sums(1)
generate DEBIAN/md5sums file
dh_movefiles(1)
move files out of debian/tmp into subpackages
dh_perl(1)
calculates perl scripts & modules dependencies
dh_shlibdeps(1)
calculate shared library dependancies
dh_strip(1)
strip executables, shared libraries, and some static
libraries
dh_suidregister(1)
obsolete suid registration program
dh_testdir(1)
test directory before building debian package
dh_testroot(1)
ensure that a package is built as root
dh_testversion(1)
ensure that the correct version of debhelper is installed
dh_undocumented(1)
make symlinks to undocumented.7.gz man page
DEBHELPER CONFIG FILES [Toc] [Back] Many debhelper commands make use of files in debian/ to control what
they do. Besides the common debian/changelog and debian/control, which
are in all packages, not just those using debhelper, some additional
files can be used to configure the behavior of specific debhelper commands.
These files are typically named debian/package.foo (where "package"
of course, is replaced with the package that is being acted on).
For example, dh_installdocs uses files named debian/package.docs to
list the documentation files it will install. See the man pages of
individual commands for details about the names and formats of the
files they use.
Note that if a package is the first (or only) binary package listed in
debian/control, debhelper will use debian/foo if no debian/package.foo
file can be found.
In some rare cases, you may want to have different versions of these
files for different architectures. If files named debian/package.foo.arch
exist, where "arch" is the same as the output of "dpkg
--print-architecture", then they will be used in preference to other,
more general files.
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.
SHARED DEBHELPER OPTIONS [Toc] [Back] The following command line options are supported by all debhelper programs.
-v, --verbose
Verbose mode: show all commands that modify the package build
directory.
--no-act
Do not really do anything. If used with -v, the result is that the
command will output what it would have done.
-a, --arch
Act on all architecture dependent packages.
-i, --indep
Act on all architecture independent packages.
-ppackage, --package=package
Act on the package named "package". This option may be specified
multiple times to make debhelper operate on a given set of packages.
-s, --same-arch
This is a smarter version of the -a flag, that is used in some rare
circumstances. It understands that if the control file lists
"Architecture: i386" for the package, the package should not be
acted on on other architectures. So this flag makes the command act
on all "Architecture: any" packages, as well as on any packages
that have the current architecture explicitly specified. Contrast
to the -a flag, which makes the command work on all packages that
are not architecture independant.
-Npackage, --no-package=package
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.
-Ptmpdir, --tmpdir=tmpdir
Use "tmpdir" for package build directory. The default is
debian/<package>
COMMON DEBHELPER OPTIONS [Toc] [Back] The following command line options are supported by some debhelper programs.
See the man page of each program for a complete explanation of
what each option does.
-n Do not modify postinst/postrm/etc scripts.
-Xitem, --exclude=item
Exclude an item from processing. This option may be used multiple
times, to exclude more than one thing.
-A, -all
Makes files or other items that are specified on the command line
take effect in ALL packages acted on, not just the first.
Multiple binary package support
If your source package generates more than one binary package, debhelper
programs will default to acting on all binary packages when run.
If your source package happens to generate one architecture dependent
package, and another architecture independent package, this is not the
correct behavior, because you need to generate the architecture dependent
packages in the binary-arch debian/rules target, and the architecture
independent packages in the binary-indep debian/rules target.
To facilitate this, as well as give you more control over which packages
are acted on by debhelper programs, all debhelper programs accept
the -a, -i, -p, and -s parameters. These parameters are cumulative. If
none are given, debhelper programs default to acting on all packages
listed in the control file.
See /usr/share/doc/debhelper/examples/rules.multi for an example of how
to use this in a package that generates multiple binary packages.
Automatic generation of debian install scripts [Toc] [Back]
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.
All scripts 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 is one way to do that (note that I made sure that $1, $2,
etc are set with the set command):
my $temp="set -e\nset -- @ARGV\n" . << 'EOF';
#DEBHELPER#
EOF
system ($temp) / 256 == 0
or die "Problem with debhelper scripts: $!";
Automatic generation of miscellaneous dependencies. [Toc] [Back]
Some debhelper commands may make the generated package need to depend
on some other packages. For example, if you use dh_installdebconf(1),
your package will generally need to depend on debconf. Or if you use
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 dh_makeshlibs(1), and the ${perl:Depends} generated by
dh_perl(1). You can choose not to use any of these, if debhelper's
guesses don't match reality.
Package build directories [Toc] [Back]
By default, all debhelper programs assume that the temporary directory
used for assembling the tree of files in a package is debian/<package>.
Sometimes, you might want to use some other temporary directory. This
is supported by the -P flag. For example, "dh_installdocs -Pdebian/tmp",
will use debian/tmp as the temporary directory. Note that if
you use -P, the debhelper programs can only be acting on a single package
at a time. So if you have a package that builds many binary packages,
you will need to also use the -p flag to specify which binary
package the debhelper program will act on.
Debhelper compatibility levels [Toc] [Back]
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 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:
V1 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.
V2 In this mode, debhelper will consistently use debian/<package> as
the package tree directory for every package that is built.
V3 This mode works like V2, with the following additions:
- Debhelper config files support globbing via * and ?, when
appropriate. To turn this off and use those characters raw,
just prefix with a backslash.
- dh_makeshlibs makes the postinst and postrm scripts call
ldconfig.
- Every file in etc/ is automatically flagged as a conffile
by dh_installdeb.
V4 This is the reccommended mode of operation. It does everything V3
does, plus:
- dh_makeshlibs -V will not include the debian part of the
version number in the generated dependancy line in the
shlibs file.
- dh_installinit uses the new invoke-rc.d program in its generated
maintainer scripts. (This may later be rolled back
into V3).
- dh_fixperms will make all files in bin/ directories and in
etc/init.d executable.
- dh_link will correct existing links to conform with policy.
Doc directory symlinks [Toc] [Back]
Sometimes it is useful to make a package not contain a
/usr/share/doc/package directory at all, instead placing just a dangling
symlink in the binary package, that points to some other doc
directory. Policy says this is ok if your package depends on the package
whose doc directory it uses. To accomplish this, just don't tell
debhelper to install any documentation files into the package, and use
dh_link to set up the symlink (or do it by hand), and debhelper should
do the right thing: notice it is a dangling symlink and not try to
install a copyright file or changelog.
Other notes [Toc] [Back]
In general, if any debhelper program needs a directory to exist under
debian/, it will create it. I haven't bothered to document this in all
the man pages, but for example, dh_installdeb knows to make
debian/<package>/DEBIAN/ 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 archdependent
portions, and you are using dh_movefiles to move the archindep
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.
DH_VERBOSE
Set to 1 to enable verbose mode. Debhelper will output every command
it runs that modifies files on the build system.
DH_COMPAT
Temporarily specifies what compatibility level debhelper should run
at, overriding any value in debian/compat.
DH_NO_ACT
Set to 1 to enable no-act mode.
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. If you use DH_OPTIONS, be sure to build
depend on "debhelper >= 1.1.17" -- older debhelpers will ignore it
and do things you don't want them to. One very 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.
/usr/share/doc/debhelper/examples/
A set of example debian/rules files that use debhelper.
http://kitenet.net/programs/debhelper/
Debhelper web site.
Joey Hess <[email protected]>
3rd Berkeley Distribution 2002-04-11 DEBHELPER(1)
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