DH_INSTALL

Section: Debhelper (1)
Updated: 2002-04-16
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NAME

dh_install - install files into package build directories

SYNOPSIS

dh_install [-Xitem] [debhelper options] [file [...] dest]

DESCRIPTION

dh_install is a debhelper program that handles installing files into package build directories. There are many dh_install* commands that handle installing specific types of files such as documentation, examples, man pages, and so on, and they should be used when possible as they often have extra intelligence for those particular tasks. dh_install, then, is useful for installing everything else, for which no particular intelligence is needed. It is a replacement for the old dh_movefiles command.

Files named debian/package.install list the files to install into each package and where they should be installed to. The format is a set of lines, where each line lists a file or files to install, and at the end of the line tells the directory it should be installed in. The name of the files (or directories) to install should be given relative to the current directory, while the installation directory is given relative to the package build directory. You may use wildcards in the names of the files to install (in v3 mode and above).

This program may be used in one of two ways. If you just have a file or two that the upstream Makefile does not install for you, you can run dh_install on them to move them into place. On the other hand, maybe you have a large package that builds multiple binary packages. You can use the upstream Makefile to install it all into debian/tmp, and then use dh_install to copy directories and files from there into the proper package build directories.

OPTIONS

-Xitem, --exclude=item

Exclude files that contain ``item'' anywhere in their filename from being installed.

--autodest

Guess as the destination directory to install things to. If this is specified, you should not list destination directories in debian/package.install files or on the command line. Instead, dh_install will guess as follows:

Strip off debian/tmp from the front of the filename, of it is present, and install into the dirname of the filename. So if the filename is debian/tmp/usr/bin, then that directory will be copied to debian/package/usr/. If the filename is debian/tmp/etc/passwd, it will be copied to debian/package/etc/.

Note that if you list only a filename on a line by itself in a debian/package.install file, with no explicit destination, then dh_install will automatically guess the destination even if this flag is not set.

file [...] dest

Lists files (or directories) to install and where to install them to. The files will be installed into the first package dh_install acts on.

AUTHOR

Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 16:18:41 GMT, May 08, 2025