README for Debian devscripts package ==================================== Devscripts provides several scripts which may be of use to Debian developers. The following gives a summary of the available scripts -- please read the manpages for full details about the use of these scripts. They are contributed by multiple developers; for details of the authors, please see the code or manpages. Note also that most of them have changed significantly between devscripts version 1.x and 2.x. - debuild: A wrapper for building a package (i.e., dpkg-buildpackage) to avoid problems with insufficient permissions and wrong paths etc. Debuild will set up the proper environment for building a package. Debuild will use the fakeroot program to build the package by default, but can be instructed to use any other gain-root command, or can even be installed setuid root. Debuild can also be used to run various of the debian/rules operations with the same root-gaining procedure. Debuild will also run lintian to check that the package does not have any major policy violations. - debsign: Use GNU Privacy Guard to sign the changes (and possibly dsc) files created by running dpkg-buildpackage with no-sign options. Useful if you are building a package on a remote machine and wish to sign it on a local one. This script is capable of automatically downloading the .changes and .dsc files from a remote machine. - debrsign: This transfers a .changes/.dsc pair to a remote machine for signing, and runs debsign on the remote machine over an SSH connection. - debrelease: A wrapper around dupload or dput which figures out which version to upload, and then calls dupload or dput to actually perform the upload. - debchange (abbreviation dch): Modifies debian/changelog and manages version numbers for you. It will either increment the version number or add an entry for the current version, depending upon the options given to it. - dpkg-depcheck, dpkg-genbuilddeps: Runs a specified command (such as debian/rules build) or dpkg-buildpackage, respectively, to determine the packages used during the build process. This information can be helpful when trying to determine the packages needed in the Build-Depends etc. lines in the debian/control file. - debpkg: A wrapper for dpkg used by debi to allow convenient testing of packages. For debpkg to work, it needs to be made setuid root, and this needs to be performed by the sysadmin -- it is not installed as setuid root by default. (Note that being able to run a setuid root debpkg is effectively the same as having root access to the system, so this should be done with caution.) Having debpkg as a wrapper for dpkg can be a Good Thing (TM), as it decreases the potential for damage by accidental wrong use of commands in superuser mode (e.g., an inadvertant rm -rf * in the wrong directory is disastrous as many can attest to). - debdiff: A program which examines two .deb files or two .changes files and reports on any difference found in their file lists. Useful for ensuring that no files were inadvertantly lost between versions. - debi: Installs the current package by using the setuid root debpkg script described above. It assumes that the current package has just been built (for example by debuild), and the .deb lives in the parent directory, and will effectively run dpkg -i on the .deb. The ability to install the package with a very short command is very useful when troubleshooting packages. - debit: Like debi, but also runs debian-test to test the package after installation. - debc: List contents of current package. Do this after a successful "debuild" to see if the package looks all right. - debclean: Clean a Debian source tree. Debclean will clean all Debian source trees below the current directory, and if requested, also remove all files that were generated from these source trees (that is .deb, .dsc and .changes files). It will keep the .diffs and original files, though, so that the binaries and other files can be rebuilt if necessary. - uupdate: Update the package with an archive or patches from an upstream author. This will be of help if you have to update your package. It will try to apply the latest diffs to your package and tell you how successful it was. - uscan: Automatically scan for and download upstream updates. Uscan can also call a program such as uupdate to attempt to update the Debianised version based on the new update. Whilst uscan could be used to release the updated version automatically, it is probably better not to without testing it first. - dscverify: check the signature and MD5 sums of a dsc file against the most current Debian keyring on your system. - mergechanges: merge .changes files from the same release but built on different architectures. - plotchangelog: display information from a changelog graphically using gnuplot. - bts: A command-line tool for accessing the BTS, both to send mails to control@bts.debian.org and to access the web pages of the BTS. - grep-excuses: grep the update_excuses.html file to find out what is happening to your packages. - /usr/share/doc/devscripts/examples: This directory contains examples of procmail and exim scripts for sorting mail arriving to Debian mailing lists. Typical Maintenance cycle with devscripts ----------------------------------------- 1. cd 2. Editing of files 3. Log the changes with: dch -i "I changed this" 4. Run debuild to compile it. If it fails, return to 2. (You could also just test the compilation by running the appropriate part of debian/rules.) 5. Check if package contents appear to be ok with "debc" 6. Install the package with "debi" and test the functionality it should provide. (Note that this step requires debpkg to be setuid root, or you to be logged in as root or similar.) 7. If all is ok release it by running dupload. Wrapper scripts --------------- Devscripts includes two wrappers (the above mentioned "debuild" and "debpkg") that are intended to make life easier for Debian developers. These wrappers unset most environment variables for security reasons, set a secure PATH and then run the appropriate program (such as dpkg). Processing Makefiles is inherently dangerous though, since any UNIX command can be executed. The fakeroot command makes it possible to build a package in a secure way: it does not require any genuine root access, but rather pretends that it has it. It is strongly recommended that you install the "fakeroot" package! Installation of a package with dpkg always requires superuser mode and is therefore inherently dangerous. Debpkg aims to reduce the possibility of typos by only performing a dpkg -i as root. This does not, however, do anything for security, as there is no problem creating a package with a setuid-root shell using fakeroot and then installing it with debpkg. So only allow trusted users access to a setuid root debpkg, if at all! The wrappers have to be manually equipped to gain the necessary privileges to do their jobs because of security concerns. You have to equip "debpkg" with superuser privileges. "debuild" needs superuser privileges only if fakeroot or another gain-root command is not available. You can either: (a) invoke these wrappers from "sudo" or "super" or any other way you have to control superuser access, or (b) you can set them up to be accessible only to a group of users. (Some people suggest that this is highly dangerous since it creates another executable that runs with the setuid root bit set and which won't ever ask you for a password!) If you choose this method, it can be done by issuing the following command: dpkg-statoverride --update --add root root_group 4754 /usr/bin/debpkg once (and similarly for debuild if you really need it). This will enable access to debpkg for all users who are members of the group "root_group". Remember that you are in effect giving those users superuser access to your system! This information will be stored in the dpkg database and remembered across upgrades. Because of the security implications, only do this on your home linux box, NOT on a busy internet server (and possibly not even there). Originally by Christoph Lameter Modified extensively by Julian Gilbey