Manpages

DEBHELPER

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

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 dh-make 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.  

DEBHELPER COMMANDS

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

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

-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

-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.

NOTES

Multiple binary package support

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Other notes

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.  

ENVIRONMENT

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.

SEE ALSO

/usr/share/doc/debhelper/examples/

A set of example debian/rules files that use debhelper.

http://kitenet.net/programs/debhelper/

Debhelper web site.

AUTHOR

Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

DEBHELPER COMMANDS

DEBHELPER CONFIG FILES

SHARED DEBHELPER OPTIONS

COMMON DEBHELPER OPTIONS

NOTES

Multiple binary package support

Automatic generation of debian install scripts

Automatic generation of miscellaneous dependencies.

Package build directories

Debhelper compatibility levels

Doc directory symlinks

Other notes

ENVIRONMENT

SEE ALSO

AUTHOR