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
34 The usual workflow is: 1. clone or fetch; 2. make and commit changes
35 in git as desired; 3. run dgit build, dgit sbuild or dgit
36 build-source, or generate the source and binary packages for upload
37 some other way; 4. do pre-upload tests of the proposed upload; 5. run
40 \fBdgit clone\fR \fIpackage\fP [\fIsuite\fP] [\fB./\fP\fIdir|\fB/\fP\fIdir\fR]
41 Consults the archive and dgit-repos to construct the git view of
48 in a new directory (named
51 also, downloads any necessary orig tarballs.
53 The suite's git tip is
54 left on the local branch
56 ready for work, and on the corresponding dgit remote tracking branch.
59 remote will be set up to point to the package's dgit-repos tree
60 for the distro to which
64 For your convenience, the
66 remote will be set up from the package's Vcs-Git field, if there is
67 one - but note that in the general case the history found there may be
68 different to or even disjoint from dgit's view.
70 \fBdgit fetch\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
71 Consults the archive and git-repos to update the git view of
72 history for a specific suite (and downloads any necessary orig
73 tarballs), and updates the remote tracking branch
74 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
75 If the current branch is
77 then dgit fetch defaults to
79 otherwise it parses debian/changelog and uses the suite specified
82 \fBdgit pull\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
83 Does dgit fetch, and then merges the new head of the remote tracking
85 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
86 into the current branch.
91 with some suitable options. Options and argumments after build
92 will be passed on to dpkg-buildpackage. It is not necessary to use
93 dgit build when using dgit; it is OK to use any approach which ensures
94 that the generated source package corresponds to the relevant git
97 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
99 \fBdgit build-source\fR ...
100 Builds the source package, and a changes file for a prospective
101 source-only upload, using
103 The output is left in
104 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB.dsc\fR
106 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_source.changes\fR.
108 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
111 Cleans the current working tree (according to the --clean= option in
115 Print a usage summary.
117 \fBdgit sbuild\fR ...
118 Constructs the source package, uses
120 to do a binary build, and uses mergechanges to merge the source and
121 binary changes files. Options and argumments after sbuild will be
122 passed on to sbuild. Changes files matching
123 .IB package _ version _*.changes
124 in the parent directory will be removed; the output is left in
125 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_multi.changes\fR.
127 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
129 \fBdgit git-build\fR ...
132 with some suitable options. Options and argumments after git-build
133 will be passed on to git-buildpackage.
135 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
137 \fBdgit push\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
138 Does an `upload', pushing the current HEAD to the archive (as a source
139 package) and to dgit-repos (as git commits). The package must already
140 have been built ready for upload, with the .dsc and .changes
141 left in the parent directory. It is normally best to do the build
142 with dgit too (eg with dgit sbuild): some existing build tools pass
143 unhelpful options to dpkg-source et al by default, which can result in
144 the built source package not being identical to the git tree.
146 In more detail: dgit push checks that the current HEAD corresponds to
147 the .dsc. It then pushes the HEAD to the suite's dgit-repos branch,
148 makes a signed git tag, edits the .dsc to contain the dgit metadata
149 field, runs debsign to sign the upload (.dsc and .changes), pushes the
150 signed tag, and finally uses dput to upload the .changes to the
153 dgit push always uses the package, suite and version specified in the
154 debian/changelog and the .dsc, which must agree. If the command line
155 specifies a suite then that must match too.
157 If dgit push fails while uploading, it is fine to simply retry the
158 dput on the .changes file at your leisure.
160 \fBdgit rpush\fR \fIbuild-host\fR\fB:\fR\fIbuild-dir\fR [\fIpush args...\fR]
161 Pushes the contents of the specified directory on a remote machine.
162 This is like running dgit push on build-host with build-dir as the
163 current directory; however, signing operations are done on the
164 invoking host. This allows you to do a push when the system which has
165 the source code and the build outputs has no access to the key:
167 1. Clone on build host (dgit clone)
169 2. Edit code on build host (edit, git commit)
171 3. Build package on build host (dgit build)
173 4. Test package on build host or elsewhere (dpkg -i, test)
175 5. Upload by invoking dgit rpush on host with your GPG key.
177 However, the build-host must be able to ssh to the dgit repos. If
178 this is not already the case, you must organise it separately, for
179 example by the use of ssh agent forwarding.
181 The remaining arguments are treated just as dgit push would handle
184 build-host and build\-dir can be passed as separate
185 arguments; this is assumed to be the case if the first argument
186 contains no : (except perhaps one in [ ], to support IPv6 address
189 You will need similar enough versions of dgit on the build-host and
190 the invocation host. The build-host needs gnupg installed, with your
191 public key in its keyring (but not your private key, obviously).
194 `3.0 (quilt)' format source packages need changes representing not
195 only in-tree but also as patches in debian/patches. dgit quilt-fixup
196 checks whether this has been done; if not, dgit will make appropriate
197 patches in debian/patches and also commit the resulting changes to
200 This is normally done automatically by dgit build and dgit push.
202 dgit will try to turn each relevant commit in your git history into a
203 new quilt patch. dgit cannot convert nontrivial merges, or certain
204 other kinds of more exotic history. If dgit can't find a suitable
205 linearisation of your history, by default it will fail, but you can
206 ask it to generate a single squashed patch instead.
209 Prints version information and exits.
211 .BI "dgit clone-dgit-repos-server" " destdir"
212 Tries to fetch a copy of the source code for the dgit-repos-server,
213 as actually being used on the dgit git server, as a git tree.
217 Go through the motions, fetching all information needed, but do not
218 actually update the output(s). For push, dgit does
219 the required checks and leaves the new .dsc in a temporary file,
220 but does not sign, tag, push or upload.
223 Go through many more of the motions: do everything that doesn't
224 involve either signing things, or making changes on the public
230 for signing the tag and the upload.
233 does not sign tags or uploads (meaningful only with push).
237 Specifies that we should process source package
239 rather than looking in debian/control or debian/changelog.
240 Valid with dgit fetch and dgit pull, only.
242 .BR --clean=git | -wg
243 The source tree should be cleaned, before building a source package
244 with one of the build options, using
245 .BR "git clean -xdf" .
246 This will delete all files which are not tracked by git. Also, -wg
249 to dpkg-buildpackage, which prevents the package's own clean target
252 --clean=git is useful when the package's clean target is troublesome;
253 the downside is simply that git clean may delete files you forgot to
256 .BR --clean=none | -wn
257 Do not clean the tree before building a source package. If there are
258 files which are not in git, or if the build creates such files, a
259 subsequent dgit push will fail.
261 .BR --clean=dpkg-source | -wd
262 Use dpkg-buildpackage to do the clean, so that the source package
263 is cleaned by dpkg-source running the package's clean target.
264 This is the default. It requires the package's build dependencies.
267 The package may be new in this suite. Without this, dgit will
271 Do not complain if the working tree does not match your git HEAD.
272 This can be useful with build, if you plan to commit later. (dgit
273 push will still ensure that the .dsc you upload and the git tree
274 you push are identical, so this option won't make broken pushes.)
276 .BI --deliberately- something
277 Declare that you are deliberately doing
279 This can be used to override safety catches, including safety catches
280 which relate to distro-specific policies. The meanings of
282 understood in the context of Debian are discussed below:
284 .BR --deliberately-not-fast-forward
285 Declare that you are deliberately rewinding history. When pushing to
286 Debian, use this when you are making a renewed upload of an entirely
287 new source package whose previous version was not accepted for release
288 from NEW because of problems with copyright or redistributibility.
290 .BR --deliberately-include-questionable-history
291 Declare that you are deliberately including, in the git history of
292 your current push, history which contains a previously-submitted
293 version of this package which was not approved (or has not yet been
294 approved) by the ftpmasters. When pushing to Debian, only use this
295 option after verifying that: none of the rejected-from-NEW (or
296 never-accepted) versions in the git history of your current push, were
297 rejected by ftpmaster for copyright or redistributability reasons.
299 .BR --deliberately-fresh-repo
300 Declare that you are deliberately rewinding history and want to
301 throw away the existing repo. Not relevant when pushing to Debian,
302 as the Debian server will do this automatically when necessary.
305 When fixing up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata, insist on
306 generating a linear patch stack. If such a stack cannot be generated,
310 When fixing up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata, prefer to
311 generate a linear patch stack, but if that doesn't seem possible,
312 generate a single squashed patch for all the changes made in git.
313 This is not a good idea for an NMU in Debian.
316 When fixing up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata,
317 generate a single squashed patch for all the changes made in git.
318 This is not a good idea for an NMU in Debian.
321 Check whether source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata would need fixing
322 up, but, if it does, fail. You must then fix the metadata yourself
323 somehow before pushing. (NB that dpkg-source --commit will not work
324 because the dgit git tree does not have a
328 .BR --quilt=nocheck | --no-quilt-fixup
329 Do not check whether up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata needs
330 fixing up. If you use this option and the metadata did in fact need
331 fixing up, dgit push will fail.
334 Prints debugging information to stderr. Repeating the option produces
335 more output (currently, up to -DD is meaningfully different).
338 Specifies a git configuration option. dgit itself is also controlled
339 by git configuration options.
341 .RI \fB-v\fR version "|\fB_\fR | " \fB--since-version=\fR version |\fB_\fR
344 option to pass to dpkg-genchanges, during builds. Changes (from
345 debian/changelog) since this version will be included in the built
346 changes file, and hence in the upload. If this option is not
347 specified, dgit will query the archive and use the latest version
348 uploaded to the intended suite.
352 inhibits this, so that no -v option will be passed to dpkg-genchanges
353 (and as a result, only the last stanza from debian/changelog will
354 be used for the build and upload).
356 .RI \fB-m\fR maintaineraddress
357 Passed to dpkg-genchanges (eventually).
359 .RI \fB--ch:\fR option
360 Specifies a single additional option to pass, eventually, to
363 .RI \fB--curl=\fR program |\fB--dput=\fR program |...
364 Specifies alternative programs to use instead of
369 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
370 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
378 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
379 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
381 For dgit, specifies the command to run on the remote host when dgit
382 rpush needs to invoke a remote copy of itself. (dgit also reinvokes
383 itself as the EDITOR for dpkg-source --commit; this is done using
384 argv[0], and is not affected by --dgit=).
386 For ssh, the default value is taken from the
390 environment variables, if set (see below). And, for ssh, when accessing the
391 archive and dgit-repos, this command line setting is overridden by the
393 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
396 (which can in turn be overridden with -c). Also, when dgit is using
397 git to access dgit-repos, only git's idea of what ssh to use (eg,
401 .RI \fB--curl:\fR option |\fB--dput:\fR option |...
402 Specifies a single additional option to pass to
407 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
408 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
414 Can be repeated as necessary.
416 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
417 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
418 Usually, for passing options to dpkg-genchanges, you should use
419 .BR --ch: \fIoption\fR.
421 See notes above regarding ssh and dgit.
423 NB that --gpg:option is not supported (because debsign does not
424 have that facility). But see -k.
426 .BR -d "\fIdistro\fR | " --distro= \fIdistro\fR
427 Specifies that the suite to be operated on is part of distro
429 This overrides the default value found from the git config option
430 .BR dgit-suite. \fIsuite\fR .distro .
431 The only effect is that other configuration variables (used
432 for accessing the archive and dgit-repos) used are
433 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .* .
435 If your suite is part of a distro that dgit already knows about, you
436 can use this option to make dgit work even if your dgit doesn't know
437 about the suite. For example, specifying
439 will work when the suite is an unknown suite in the Debian archive.
441 To define a new distro it is necessary to define methods and URLs
442 for fetching (and, for dgit push, altering) a variety of information both
443 in the archive and in dgit-repos. How to do this is not yet
444 documented, and currently the arrangements are unpleasant. See
448 Specifies the .changes file which is to be uploaded. By default
449 dgit push looks for single .changes file in the parent directory whose
450 filename suggests it is for the right package and version - or,
451 if there is a _multi.changes file, dgit uses that.
455 pathname contains slashes, the directory part is also used as
457 .BR --build-products-dir ;
458 otherwise, the changes file is expected in that directory (by
462 .BI --build-products-dir= directory
463 Specifies where to find the built files to be uploaded.
464 By default, dgit looks in the parent directory
467 .BI --existing-package= package
468 dgit push needs to canonicalise the suite name. Sometimes, dgit
469 lacks a way to ask the archive to do this without knowing the
470 name of an existing package. Without --new we can just use the
471 package we are trying to push. But with --new that will not work, so
474 or use the value of this option. This option is not needed with the
475 default mechanisms for accessing the archive.
478 Print a usage summary.
480 .BI --initiator-tempdir= directory
481 dgit rpush uses a temporary directory on the invoking (signing) host.
482 This option causes dgit to use
484 instead. Furthermore, the specified directory will be emptied,
485 removed and recreated before dgit starts, rather than removed
486 after dgit finishes. The directory specified must be an absolute
490 Do not delete the destination directory if clone fails.
491 .SH WORKFLOW - SIMPLE
492 It is always possible with dgit to clone or fetch a package, make
493 changes in git (using git-commit) on the suite branch
494 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
495 and then dgit push. You can use whatever gitish techniques you like
496 to construct the commit to push; the only requirement is that it is a
497 descendant of the state of the archive, as provided by dgit in the
498 remote tracking branch
499 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
501 If you are using dgit to do an NMU, and don't know about the
502 maintainers' preferred packaging workflows, you should make your
503 changes as a linear series of (logicially separated) commits on top of
504 what's already in the archive.
506 If you are lucky the other uploaders have also used dgit and
507 integrated the other relevant git history; if not you can fetch it
508 into your tree and cherry-pick etc. as you wish.
509 .SH WORKFLOW - INTEGRATING BETWEEN DGIT AND OTHER GIT HISTORY
510 If you are the maintainer of a package dealing with uploads made
511 without dgit, you will probably want to merge the synthetic commits
512 (made by dgit to represent the uploads) into your git history.
513 Normally you can just merge the dgit branch into your own master, or
514 indeed if you do your work on the dgit local suite branch
516 you can just use dgit pull.
518 However the first time dgit is used it will generate a new origin
519 commit from the archive which won't be linked into the rest of your
520 git history. You will need to merge this.
522 If last upload was in fact made with git, you should usually proceed
523 as follows: identify the commit which was actually used to build the
524 package. (Hopefully you have a tag for this.) Check out the dgit
526 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
527 and merge that other commit
528 .RB ( "git merge debian/" \fIversion\fR).
529 Hopefully this merge will be trivial because the two trees should
530 be the same. The resulting branch head can be merged into your
532 .RB ( "git checkout master && git merge dgit/" \fIsuite\fR).
534 If last upload was not made with git, a different approach is required
535 to start using dgit. First, do
537 (or clone) to obtain a git history representation of what's in the
538 archive and record it in the
539 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
540 tracking branch. Then somehow, using your other git history
541 plus appropriate diffs and cherry picks from the dgit remote tracking
542 branch, construct a git commit whose tree corresponds to the tree to use for the
543 next upload. If that commit-to-be-uploaded is not a descendant of the
544 dig remote tracking branch, check it out and say
545 .BR "git merge -s ours remotes/dgit/dgit/" \fIsuite\fR;
546 that tells git that we are deliberately throwing away any differences
547 between what's in the archive and what you intend to upload.
550 to actually upload the result.
552 dgit looks at the following git config keys to control its behaviour.
553 You may set them with git-config (either in system-global or per-tree
554 configuration), or provide
556 on the dgit command line.
558 .BI dgit-suite. suite .distro
560 .BI dgit.default.distro
562 .BI dgit-distro. distro .username
564 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-url
566 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-user
568 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-host
570 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-proto
572 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-path
574 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-check
576 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-create
578 .BI dgit-distro. distro .upload-host
580 .BI dgit-distro. distro .mirror
582 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query
584 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query-default-component
586 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-user
588 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-host
590 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-dbname
592 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
594 .BI dgit-distro. distro .keyid
598 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR . *
599 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
601 .BR DGIT_SSH ", " GIT_SSH
602 specify an alternative default program (and perhaps arguments) to use
603 instead of ssh. DGIT_SSH is consulted first and may contain arguments;
604 if it contains any whitespace will be passed to the shell. GIT_SSH
605 specifies just the program; no arguments can be specified, so dgit
606 interprets it the same way as git does.
608 also the --ssh= and --ssh: options.
610 .BR gpg ", " dpkg- "..., " debsign ", " git ", " curl ", " dput ", " LWP::UserAgent
611 and other subprograms and modules used by dgit are affected by various
612 environment variables. Consult the documentaton for those programs
615 We should be using some kind of vhost/vpath setup for the git repos on
616 alioth, so that they can be moved later if and when this turns out to
619 dgit push should perhaps do `git push origin', or something similar,
622 Debian does not have a working rmadison server, so to find out what
623 version of a package is in the archive, or to canonicalise suite
624 names, we ssh directly into the ftpmaster server and run psql there to
627 The mechanism for checking for and creating per-package repos on
628 alioth is a hideous bodge. One consequence is that dgit currently
629 only works for people with push access.
631 Debian Maintainers are currently not able to push, as there is not
632 currently any mechanism for determining and honouring the archive's
633 ideas about access control. Currently only DDs can push.
635 dgit's git representation of format `3.0 (quilt)' source packages does
636 not represent the patch stack as git commits. Currently the patch
637 series representation cannot round trip between git and the archive.
638 Ideally dgit would represent a quilty package with an origin commit of
639 some kind followed by the patch stack as a series of commits followed
640 by a pseudo-merge (to make the branch fast-forwarding). This would
641 also mean a new `dgit rebase-prep' command or some such to turn such a
642 fast-forwarding branch back into a rebasing patch stack, and a `force'
643 option to dgit push (perhaps enabled automatically by a note left by
644 rebase-prep) which will make the required pseudo-merge.
646 If the dgit push fails halfway through, it should be restartable and
647 idempotent. However this is not true for the git tag operation.
648 Also, it would be good to check that the proposed signing key is
649 available before starting work.
651 dgit's handling of .orig.tar.gz is not very sophisticated. Ideally
652 the .orig.tar.gz could be transported via the git repo as git tags.
653 Doing this is made more complicated by the possibility of a `3.0
654 (quilt)' package with multiple .orig tarballs.
656 dgit's build functions, and dgit push, should not make any changes to
657 your current HEAD. Sadly this is necessary for packages in the `3.0
658 (quilt)' source format. This is ultimately due to what I consider
659 design problems in quilt and dpkg-source.
661 There should be an option which arranges for the `3.0 (quilt)'
662 autocommit(s) to not appear on your HEAD, but instead only in the
663 remote tracking suite branch.
665 The option parser requires values to be cuddled to the option name.
667 dgit assumes knowledge of the archive database. (The information dgit
668 needs is not currently available via any public online service with a
669 well-defined interface, let alone a secure one.)
671 --dry-run does not always work properly, as not doing some of the git
672 fetches may result in subsequent actions being different. Doing a
673 non-dry-run dgit fetch first will help.
680 \fBgit-buildpackage\fP(1),
681 \fBdpkg-buildpackage\fP(1),
683 https://wiki.debian.org/Alioth