1 .TH dgit 1 "" "Debian Project" "dgit"
3 dgit \- git integration with the Debian archive
7 [\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBclone\fP [\fIdgit\-opts\fP]
8 \fIpackage\fP [\fIsuite\fP] [\fB./\fP\fIdir|\fB/\fP\fIdir\fR]
11 [\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBfetch\fP|\fBpull\fP [\fIdgit\-opts\fP]
15 [\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBbuild\fP|\fBsbuild\fP|\fBbuild-source\fP
19 [\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBpush\fP [\fIdgit\-opts\fP]
23 [\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBrpush\fR \fIbuild-host\fR\fB:\fR\fIbuild-dir\fR
27 [\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fIaction\fR ...
30 allows you to treats the Debian archive as if it were a git
31 repository. See \fBdgit\fP(7) for detailed information about the data
32 model, common problems likely to arise with certain kinds of package,
35 The usual workflow is:
37 1. \fBdgit clone\fR or \fBfetch\fR;
39 2. make, do dev tests, and commit changes in git as desired;
41 3. build packages for upload, using e.g. \fBdgit sbuild\fR
43 4. do pre-upload tests of the proposed upload;
48 \fBdgit clone\fR \fIpackage\fP [\fIsuite\fP] [\fB./\fP\fIdir|\fB/\fP\fIdir\fR]
49 Consults the archive and dgit-repos to construct the git view of
56 in a new directory (named
59 also, downloads any necessary orig tarballs.
61 The suite's git tip is
62 left on the local branch
64 ready for work, and on the corresponding dgit remote tracking branch.
67 remote will be set up to point to the package's dgit-repos tree
68 for the distro to which
72 For your convenience, the
74 remote will be set up from the package's Vcs-Git field, if there is
75 one - but note that in the general case the history found there may be
76 different to or even disjoint from dgit's view.
78 \fBdgit fetch\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
79 Consults the archive and git-repos to update the git view of
80 history for a specific suite (and downloads any necessary orig
81 tarballs), and updates the remote tracking branch
82 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
83 If the current branch is
85 then dgit fetch defaults to
87 otherwise it parses debian/changelog and uses the suite specified
90 \fBdgit pull\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
91 Does dgit fetch, and then merges the new head of the remote tracking
93 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
94 into the current branch.
99 with some suitable options. Options and argumments after build
100 will be passed on to dpkg-buildpackage. It is not necessary to use
101 dgit build when using dgit; it is OK to use any approach which ensures
102 that the generated source package corresponds to the relevant git
105 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
107 \fBdgit build-source\fR ...
108 Builds the source package, and a changes file for a prospective
109 source-only upload, using
111 The output is left in
112 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB.dsc\fR
114 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_source.changes\fR.
116 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
119 Cleans the current working tree (according to the --clean= option in
123 Print a usage summary.
125 \fBdgit sbuild\fR ...
126 Constructs the source package, uses
128 to do a binary build, and uses mergechanges to merge the source and
129 binary changes files. Options and argumments after sbuild will be
130 passed on to sbuild. Changes files matching
131 .IB package _ version _*.changes
132 in the parent directory will be removed; the output is left in
133 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_multi.changes\fR.
135 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
137 \fBdgit git-build\fR ...
140 with some suitable options. Options and argumments after git-build
141 will be passed on to git-buildpackage.
143 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
145 \fBdgit push\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
146 Does an `upload', pushing the current HEAD to the archive (as a source
147 package) and to dgit-repos (as git commits). The package must already
148 have been built ready for upload, with the .dsc and .changes
149 left in the parent directory. It is normally best to do the build
150 with dgit too (eg with dgit sbuild): some existing build tools pass
151 unhelpful options to dpkg-source et al by default, which can result in
152 the built source package not being identical to the git tree.
154 In more detail: dgit push checks that the current HEAD corresponds to
155 the .dsc. It then pushes the HEAD to the suite's dgit-repos branch,
156 makes a signed git tag, edits the .dsc to contain the dgit metadata
157 field, runs debsign to sign the upload (.dsc and .changes), pushes the
158 signed tag, and finally uses dput to upload the .changes to the
161 dgit push always uses the package, suite and version specified in the
162 debian/changelog and the .dsc, which must agree. If the command line
163 specifies a suite then that must match too.
165 If dgit push fails while uploading, it is fine to simply retry the
166 dput on the .changes file at your leisure.
168 \fBdgit rpush\fR \fIbuild-host\fR\fB:\fR\fIbuild-dir\fR [\fIpush args...\fR]
169 Pushes the contents of the specified directory on a remote machine.
170 This is like running dgit push on build-host with build-dir as the
171 current directory; however, signing operations are done on the
172 invoking host. This allows you to do a push when the system which has
173 the source code and the build outputs has no access to the key:
175 1. Clone on build host (dgit clone)
177 2. Edit code on build host (edit, git commit)
179 3. Build package on build host (dgit build)
181 4. Test package on build host or elsewhere (dpkg -i, test)
183 5. Upload by invoking dgit rpush on host with your GPG key.
185 However, the build-host must be able to ssh to the dgit repos. If
186 this is not already the case, you must organise it separately, for
187 example by the use of ssh agent forwarding.
189 The remaining arguments are treated just as dgit push would handle
192 build-host and build\-dir can be passed as separate
193 arguments; this is assumed to be the case if the first argument
194 contains no : (except perhaps one in [ ], to support IPv6 address
197 You will need similar enough versions of dgit on the build-host and
198 the invocation host. The build-host needs gnupg installed, with your
199 public key in its keyring (but not your private key, obviously).
201 .B dgit setup-mergechangelogs
202 Configures a git merge helper for the file
205 .BR dpkg-mergechangelogs .
206 You can use this in any git repository, not just ones used with
207 the other dgit operations.
210 `3.0 (quilt)' format source packages need changes representing not
211 only in-tree but also as patches in debian/patches. dgit quilt-fixup
212 checks whether this has been done; if not, dgit will make appropriate
213 patches in debian/patches and also commit the resulting changes to
216 This is normally done automatically by dgit build and dgit push.
218 dgit will try to turn each relevant commit in your git history into a
219 new quilt patch. dgit cannot convert nontrivial merges, or certain
220 other kinds of more exotic history. If dgit can't find a suitable
221 linearisation of your history, by default it will fail, but you can
222 ask it to generate a single squashed patch instead.
225 Prints version information and exits.
227 .BI "dgit clone-dgit-repos-server" " destdir"
228 Tries to fetch a copy of the source code for the dgit-repos-server,
229 as actually being used on the dgit git server, as a git tree.
232 .BR --dry-run " | " -n
233 Go through the motions, fetching all information needed, but do not
234 actually update the output(s). For push, dgit does
235 the required checks and leaves the new .dsc in a temporary file,
236 but does not sign, tag, push or upload.
238 .BR --damp-run " | " -L
239 Go through many more of the motions: do everything that doesn't
240 involve either signing things, or making changes on the public
246 for signing the tag and the upload.
249 does not sign tags or uploads (meaningful only with push).
253 Specifies that we should process source package
255 rather than looking in debian/control or debian/changelog.
256 Valid with dgit fetch and dgit pull, only.
258 .BR --clean=git " | " -wg
259 The source tree should be cleaned, before building a source package
260 with one of the build options, using
261 .BR "git clean -xdf" .
262 This will delete all files which are not tracked by git. Also, -wg
265 to dpkg-buildpackage, which prevents the package's own clean target
268 --clean=git is useful when the package's clean target is troublesome;
269 the downside is simply that git clean may delete files you forgot to
272 .BR --clean=none " | " -wn
273 Do not clean the tree before building a source package. If there are
274 files which are not in git, or if the build creates such files, a
275 subsequent dgit push will fail.
277 .BR --clean=dpkg-source " | " -wd
278 Use dpkg-buildpackage to do the clean, so that the source package
279 is cleaned by dpkg-source running the package's clean target.
280 This is the default. It requires the package's build dependencies.
283 The package may be new in this suite. Without this, dgit will
287 Do not complain if the working tree does not match your git HEAD.
288 This can be useful with build, if you plan to commit later. (dgit
289 push will still ensure that the .dsc you upload and the git tree
290 you push are identical, so this option won't make broken pushes.)
292 .BI --deliberately- something
293 Declare that you are deliberately doing
295 This can be used to override safety catches, including safety catches
296 which relate to distro-specific policies. The meanings of
298 understood in the context of Debian are discussed below:
300 .BR --deliberately-not-fast-forward
301 Declare that you are deliberately rewinding history. When pushing to
302 Debian, use this when you are making a renewed upload of an entirely
303 new source package whose previous version was not accepted for release
304 from NEW because of problems with copyright or redistributibility.
306 .BR --deliberately-include-questionable-history
307 Declare that you are deliberately including, in the git history of
308 your current push, history which contains a previously-submitted
309 version of this package which was not approved (or has not yet been
310 approved) by the ftpmasters. When pushing to Debian, only use this
311 option after verifying that: none of the rejected-from-NEW (or
312 never-accepted) versions in the git history of your current push, were
313 rejected by ftpmaster for copyright or redistributability reasons.
315 .BR --deliberately-fresh-repo
316 Declare that you are deliberately rewinding history and want to
317 throw away the existing repo. Not relevant when pushing to Debian,
318 as the Debian server will do this automatically when necessary.
321 When fixing up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata, insist on
322 generating a linear patch stack. If such a stack cannot be generated,
326 When fixing up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata, prefer to
327 generate a linear patch stack, but if that doesn't seem possible,
328 generate a single squashed patch for all the changes made in git.
329 This is not a good idea for an NMU in Debian.
332 When fixing up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata,
333 generate a single squashed patch for all the changes made in git.
334 This is not a good idea for an NMU in Debian.
337 Check whether source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata would need fixing
338 up, but, if it does, fail. You must then fix the metadata yourself
339 somehow before pushing. (NB that dpkg-source --commit will not work
340 because the dgit git tree does not have a
344 .BR --quilt=nocheck " | " --no-quilt-fixup
345 Do not check whether up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata needs
346 fixing up. If you use this option and the metadata did in fact need
347 fixing up, dgit push will fail.
350 Prints debugging information to stderr. Repeating the option produces
351 more output (currently, up to -DD is meaningfully different).
354 Specifies a git configuration option. dgit itself is also controlled
355 by git configuration options.
357 .RI \fB-v\fR version "|\fB_\fR | " \fB--since-version=\fR version |\fB_\fR
360 option to pass to dpkg-genchanges, during builds. Changes (from
361 debian/changelog) since this version will be included in the built
362 changes file, and hence in the upload. If this option is not
363 specified, dgit will query the archive and use the latest version
364 uploaded to the intended suite.
368 inhibits this, so that no -v option will be passed to dpkg-genchanges
369 (and as a result, only the last stanza from debian/changelog will
370 be used for the build and upload).
372 .RI \fB-m\fR maintaineraddress
373 Passed to dpkg-genchanges (eventually).
375 .RI \fB--ch:\fR option
376 Specifies a single additional option to pass, eventually, to
379 .RI \fB--curl=\fR program " | \fB--dput=\fR" program " |..."
380 Specifies alternative programs to use instead of
385 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
386 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
394 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
395 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
397 For dgit, specifies the command to run on the remote host when dgit
398 rpush needs to invoke a remote copy of itself. (dgit also reinvokes
399 itself as the EDITOR for dpkg-source --commit; this is done using
400 argv[0], and is not affected by --dgit=).
402 For ssh, the default value is taken from the
406 environment variables, if set (see below). And, for ssh, when accessing the
407 archive and dgit-repos, this command line setting is overridden by the
409 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
412 (which can in turn be overridden with -c). Also, when dgit is using
413 git to access dgit-repos, only git's idea of what ssh to use (eg,
417 .RI \fB--curl:\fR option " | \fB--dput:\fR" option " |..."
418 Specifies a single additional option to pass to
423 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
424 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
430 Can be repeated as necessary.
432 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
433 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
434 Usually, for passing options to dpkg-genchanges, you should use
435 .BR --ch: \fIoption\fR.
437 See notes above regarding ssh and dgit.
439 NB that --gpg:option is not supported (because debsign does not
440 have that facility). But see -k.
442 .BR -d "\fIdistro\fR | " --distro= \fIdistro\fR
443 Specifies that the suite to be operated on is part of distro
445 This overrides the default value found from the git config option
446 .BR dgit-suite. \fIsuite\fR .distro .
447 The only effect is that other configuration variables (used
448 for accessing the archive and dgit-repos) used are
449 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .* .
451 If your suite is part of a distro that dgit already knows about, you
452 can use this option to make dgit work even if your dgit doesn't know
453 about the suite. For example, specifying
455 will work when the suite is an unknown suite in the Debian archive.
457 To define a new distro it is necessary to define methods and URLs
458 for fetching (and, for dgit push, altering) a variety of information both
459 in the archive and in dgit-repos. How to do this is not yet
460 documented, and currently the arrangements are unpleasant. See
464 Specifies the .changes file which is to be uploaded. By default
465 dgit push looks for single .changes file in the parent directory whose
466 filename suggests it is for the right package and version - or,
467 if there is a _multi.changes file, dgit uses that.
471 pathname contains slashes, the directory part is also used as
473 .BR --build-products-dir ;
474 otherwise, the changes file is expected in that directory (by
478 .BI --build-products-dir= directory
479 Specifies where to find the built files to be uploaded.
480 By default, dgit looks in the parent directory
483 .BI --existing-package= package
484 dgit push needs to canonicalise the suite name. Sometimes, dgit
485 lacks a way to ask the archive to do this without knowing the
486 name of an existing package. Without --new we can just use the
487 package we are trying to push. But with --new that will not work, so
490 or use the value of this option. This option is not needed with the
491 default mechanisms for accessing the archive.
494 Print a usage summary.
496 .BI --initiator-tempdir= directory
497 dgit rpush uses a temporary directory on the invoking (signing) host.
498 This option causes dgit to use
500 instead. Furthermore, the specified directory will be emptied,
501 removed and recreated before dgit starts, rather than removed
502 after dgit finishes. The directory specified must be an absolute
506 Do not delete the destination directory if clone fails.
507 .SH WORKFLOW - SIMPLE
508 It is always possible with dgit to clone or fetch a package, make
509 changes in git (using git-commit) on the suite branch
510 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
511 and then dgit push. You can use whatever gitish techniques you like
512 to construct the commit to push; the only requirement is that it is a
513 descendant of the state of the archive, as provided by dgit in the
514 remote tracking branch
515 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
517 If you are using dgit to do an NMU, and don't know about the
518 maintainers' preferred packaging workflows, you should make your
519 changes as a linear series of (logicially separated) commits on top of
520 what's already in the archive.
522 If you are lucky the other uploaders have also used dgit and
523 integrated the other relevant git history; if not you can fetch it
524 into your tree and cherry-pick etc. as you wish.
525 .SH WORKFLOW - INTEGRATING BETWEEN DGIT AND OTHER GIT HISTORY
526 If you are the maintainer of a package dealing with uploads made
527 without dgit, you will probably want to merge the synthetic commits
528 (made by dgit to represent the uploads) into your git history.
529 Normally you can just merge the dgit branch into your own master, or
530 indeed if you do your work on the dgit local suite branch
532 you can just use dgit pull.
534 However the first time dgit is used it will generate a new origin
535 commit from the archive which won't be linked into the rest of your
536 git history. You will need to merge this.
538 If last upload was in fact made with git, you should usually proceed
539 as follows: identify the commit which was actually used to build the
540 package. (Hopefully you have a tag for this.) Check out the dgit
542 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
543 and merge that other commit
544 .RB ( "git merge debian/" \fIversion\fR).
545 Hopefully this merge will be trivial because the two trees should
546 be the same. The resulting branch head can be merged into your
548 .RB ( "git checkout master && git merge dgit/" \fIsuite\fR).
550 If last upload was not made with git, a different approach is required
551 to start using dgit. First, do
553 (or clone) to obtain a git history representation of what's in the
554 archive and record it in the
555 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
556 tracking branch. Then somehow, using your other git history
557 plus appropriate diffs and cherry picks from the dgit remote tracking
558 branch, construct a git commit whose tree corresponds to the tree to use for the
559 next upload. If that commit-to-be-uploaded is not a descendant of the
560 dig remote tracking branch, check it out and say
561 .BR "git merge -s ours remotes/dgit/dgit/" \fIsuite\fR;
562 that tells git that we are deliberately throwing away any differences
563 between what's in the archive and what you intend to upload.
566 to actually upload the result.
568 dgit looks at the following git config keys to control its behaviour.
569 You may set them with git-config (either in system-global or per-tree
570 configuration), or provide
572 on the dgit command line.
574 .BI dgit-suite. suite .distro
576 .BI dgit.default.distro
578 .BI dgit-distro. distro .username
580 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-url
582 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-user
584 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-host
586 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-proto
588 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-path
590 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-check
592 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-create
594 .BI dgit-distro. distro .upload-host
596 .BI dgit-distro. distro .mirror
598 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query
600 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query-default-component
602 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-user
604 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-host
606 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-dbname
608 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
610 .BI dgit-distro. distro .keyid
614 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR . *
615 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
617 .BR DGIT_SSH ", " GIT_SSH
618 specify an alternative default program (and perhaps arguments) to use
619 instead of ssh. DGIT_SSH is consulted first and may contain arguments;
620 if it contains any whitespace will be passed to the shell. GIT_SSH
621 specifies just the program; no arguments can be specified, so dgit
622 interprets it the same way as git does.
624 also the --ssh= and --ssh: options.
626 .BR gpg ", " dpkg- "..., " debsign ", " git ", " curl ", " dput ", " LWP::UserAgent
627 and other subprograms and modules used by dgit are affected by various
628 environment variables. Consult the documentaton for those programs
631 We should be using some kind of vhost/vpath setup for the git repos on
632 alioth, so that they can be moved later if and when this turns out to
635 dgit push should perhaps do `git push origin', or something similar,
638 Debian does not have a working rmadison server, so to find out what
639 version of a package is in the archive, or to canonicalise suite
640 names, we ssh directly into the ftpmaster server and run psql there to
643 The mechanism for checking for and creating per-package repos on
644 alioth is a hideous bodge. One consequence is that dgit currently
645 only works for people with push access.
647 Debian Maintainers are currently not able to push, as there is not
648 currently any mechanism for determining and honouring the archive's
649 ideas about access control. Currently only DDs can push.
651 dgit's git representation of format `3.0 (quilt)' source packages does
652 not represent the patch stack as git commits. Currently the patch
653 series representation cannot round trip between git and the archive.
654 Ideally dgit would represent a quilty package with an origin commit of
655 some kind followed by the patch stack as a series of commits followed
656 by a pseudo-merge (to make the branch fast-forwarding). This would
657 also mean a new `dgit rebase-prep' command or some such to turn such a
658 fast-forwarding branch back into a rebasing patch stack, and a `force'
659 option to dgit push (perhaps enabled automatically by a note left by
660 rebase-prep) which will make the required pseudo-merge.
662 If the dgit push fails halfway through, it should be restartable and
663 idempotent. However this is not true for the git tag operation.
664 Also, it would be good to check that the proposed signing key is
665 available before starting work.
667 dgit's handling of .orig.tar.gz is not very sophisticated. Ideally
668 the .orig.tar.gz could be transported via the git repo as git tags.
669 Doing this is made more complicated by the possibility of a `3.0
670 (quilt)' package with multiple .orig tarballs.
672 dgit's build functions, and dgit push, should not make any changes to
673 your current HEAD. Sadly this is necessary for packages in the `3.0
674 (quilt)' source format. This is ultimately due to what I consider
675 design problems in quilt and dpkg-source.
677 There should be an option which arranges for the `3.0 (quilt)'
678 autocommit(s) to not appear on your HEAD, but instead only in the
679 remote tracking suite branch.
681 The option parser requires values to be cuddled to the option name.
683 dgit assumes knowledge of the archive database. (The information dgit
684 needs is not currently available via any public online service with a
685 well-defined interface, let alone a secure one.)
687 --dry-run does not always work properly, as not doing some of the git
688 fetches may result in subsequent actions being different. Doing a
689 non-dry-run dgit fetch first will help.
696 \fBgit-buildpackage\fP(1),
697 \fBdpkg-buildpackage\fP(1),
699 https://wiki.debian.org/Alioth