dgit: --force-*: Provide framework

[dgit.git] / dgit.1

.TH dgit 1 "" "Debian Project" "dgit"
.SH NAME
dgit \- git integration with the Debian archive
.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B dgit
[\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBclone\fP [\fIdgit\-opts\fP]
\fIpackage\fP [\fIsuite\fP] [\fB./\fP\fIdir|\fB/\fP\fIdir\fR]
.br
.B dgit
[\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBfetch\fP|\fBpull\fP [\fIdgit\-opts\fP]
[\fIsuite\fP]
.br
.B dgit
[\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBbuild\fP|\fBsbuild\fP|\fBbuild-source\fP
[\fIbuild\-opts\fp]
.br
.B dgit
[\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBpush\fP [\fIdgit\-opts\fP]
[\fIsuite\fP]
.br
.B dgit
[\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBrpush\fR \fIbuild-host\fR\fB:\fR\fIbuild-dir\fR
[\fIpush args...\fR]
.br
.B dgit
[\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fIaction\fR ...
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B dgit
allows you to treat the Debian archive as if it were a git
repository.  See \fBdgit\fP(7) for detailed information about the data
model, common problems likely to arise with certain kinds of package,
etc.

The usual workflow is:
.br
1.      \fBdgit clone\fR or \fBfetch\fR;
.br
2.      make, do dev tests, and commit changes in git as desired;
.br
3.      build packages for upload, using e.g. \fBdgit sbuild\fR
.br
4.      do pre-upload tests of the proposed upload;
.br
5.      \fBdgit push\fR.
.SH OPERATIONS
.TP
\fBdgit clone\fR \fIpackage\fP [\fIsuite\fP] [\fB./\fP\fIdir|\fB/\fP\fIdir\fR]
Consults the archive and dgit-repos to construct the git view of
history for
.I package
in
.I suite
.RB ( sid
by default)
in a new directory (named
.BI ./ package
by default);
also, downloads any necessary orig tarballs.

The suite's git tip is
left on the local branch
.BI dgit/ suite
ready for work, and on the corresponding dgit remote tracking branch.
The
.B origin
remote will be set up to point to the package's dgit-repos tree
for the distro to which
.I suite
belongs.

For your convenience, the
.B vcs-git
remote will be set up from the package's Vcs-Git field, if there is
one - but note that in the general case the history found there may be
different to or even disjoint from dgit's view.
.TP
\fBdgit fetch\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
Consults the archive and git-repos to update the git view of
history for a specific suite (and downloads any necessary orig
tarballs), and updates the remote tracking branch
.BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
If the current branch is
.BI dgit/ suite
then dgit fetch defaults to
.IR suite ;
otherwise it parses debian/changelog and uses the suite specified
there.
.TP
\fBdgit pull\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
Does dgit fetch, and then merges the new head of the remote tracking
branch
.BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
into the current branch.
.TP
\fBdgit build\fR ...
Runs
.B dpkg-buildpackage
with some suitable options.  Options and arguments after build
will be passed on to dpkg-buildpackage.  It is not necessary to use
dgit build when using dgit; it is OK to use any approach which ensures
that the generated source package corresponds to the relevant git
commit.

Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
.TP
\fBdgit build-source\fR ...
Builds the source package, and a changes file for a prospective
source-only upload, using
.BR dpkg-source .
The output is left in
.IR package \fB_\fR version \fB.dsc\fR
and
.IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_source.changes\fR.

Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
.TP
.B dgit clean
Cleans the current working tree (according to the --clean= option in
force).
.TP
.B dgit help
Print a usage summary.
.TP
\fBdgit sbuild\fR ...
Constructs the source package, uses
.B  sbuild
to do a binary build, and uses mergechanges to merge the source and
binary changes files.  Options and arguments after sbuild will be
passed on to sbuild.
The output is left in
.IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_multi.changes\fR.

Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
.TP
\fBdgit gbp-build\fR ...
Runs
.B git-buildpackage
with some suitable options.  Options and arguments after gbp-build
will be passed on to git-buildpackage.

By default this uses \-\-quilt=gbp, so HEAD should be a
git-buildpackage style branch, not a patches-applied branch.

Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
.TP
\fBdgit push\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
Does an `upload', pushing the current HEAD to the archive (as a source
package) and to dgit-repos (as git commits).  The package must already
have been built ready for upload, with the .dsc and .changes
left in the parent directory.  It is normally best to do the build
with dgit too (eg with dgit sbuild): some existing build tools pass
unhelpful options to dpkg-source et al by default, which can result in
the built source package not being identical to the git tree.

In more detail: dgit push checks that the current HEAD corresponds to
the .dsc.  It then pushes the HEAD to the suite's dgit-repos branch,
makes a signed git tag, edits the .dsc to contain the dgit metadata
field, runs debsign to sign the upload (.dsc and .changes), pushes the
signed tag, and finally uses dput to upload the .changes to the
archive.

dgit push always uses the package, suite and version specified in the
debian/changelog and the .dsc, which must agree.  If the command line
specifies a suite then that must match too.

If dgit push fails while uploading, it is fine to simply retry the
dput on the .changes file at your leisure.
.TP
\fBdgit rpush\fR \fIbuild-host\fR\fB:\fR\fIbuild-dir\fR [\fIpush args...\fR]
Pushes the contents of the specified directory on a remote machine.
This is like running dgit push on build-host with build-dir as the
current directory; however, signing operations are done on the
invoking host.  This allows you to do a push when the system which has
the source code and the build outputs has no access to the key:

1.      Clone on build host (dgit clone)
.br
2.      Edit code on build host (edit, git commit)
.br
3.      Build package on build host (dgit build)
.br
4.      Test package on build host or elsewhere (dpkg -i, test)
.br
5.      Upload by invoking dgit rpush on host with your GPG key.

However, the build-host must be able to ssh to the dgit repos.  If
this is not already the case, you must organise it separately, for
example by the use of ssh agent forwarding.

The remaining arguments are treated just as dgit push would handle
them.

build-host and build\-dir can be passed as separate
arguments; this is assumed to be the case if the first argument
contains no : (except perhaps one in [ ], to support IPv6 address
literals).

You will need similar enough versions of dgit on the build-host and
the invocation host.  The build-host needs gnupg installed, with your
public key in its keyring (but not your private key, obviously).
.TP
.B dgit setup-new-tree
Configure the current working tree the way that dgit clone would have
set it up.  Like running
.B dgit setup-useremail
and
.B setup-mergechangelogs
(but only does each thing if dgit is configured to do it automatically).
You can use these in any git repository, not just ones used with
the other dgit operations.
.TP
.B dgit setup-useremail
Set the working tree's user.name and user.email from the
distro-specific dgit configuration
.RB ( dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .user-name " and " .user-email ),
or DEBFULLNAME or DEBEMAIL.
.TP
.B dgit setup-mergechangelogs
Configures a git merge helper for the file
.B debian/changelog
which uses
.BR dpkg-mergechangelogs .
.TP
.B dgit quilt-fixup
`3.0 (quilt)' format source packages need changes representing not
only in-tree but also as patches in debian/patches.  dgit quilt-fixup
checks whether this has been done; if not, dgit will make appropriate
patches in debian/patches and also commit the resulting changes to
git.

This is normally done automatically by dgit build and dgit push.

dgit will try to turn each relevant commit in your git history into a
new quilt patch.  dgit cannot convert nontrivial merges, or certain
other kinds of more exotic history.  If dgit can't find a suitable
linearisation of your history, by default it will fail, but you can
ask it to generate a single squashed patch instead.
.TP
.B dgit version
Prints version information and exits.
.TP
.BI "dgit clone-dgit-repos-server" " destdir"
Tries to fetch a copy of the source code for the dgit-repos-server,
as actually being used on the dgit git server, as a git tree.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BR --dry-run " | " -n
Go through the motions, fetching all information needed, but do not
actually update the output(s).  For push, dgit does
the required checks and leaves the new .dsc in a temporary file,
but does not sign, tag, push or upload.
.TP
.BR --damp-run " | " -L
Go through many more of the motions: do everything that doesn't
involve either signing things, or making changes on the public
servers.
.TP
.BI -k keyid
Use
.I keyid
for signing the tag and the upload.  The default comes from the
distro's
.B keyid
config setting (see CONFIGURATION, below), or failing that, the
uploader trailer line in debian/changelog.
.TP
.BR --no-sign
does not sign tags or uploads (meaningful only with push).
.TP
.TP
.BI -p package
Specifies that we should process source package
.I package
rather than looking in debian/control or debian/changelog.
Valid with dgit fetch and dgit pull, only.
.TP
.BR --clean=git " | " -wg
Use
.BR "git clean -xdf"
to clean the working tree,
rather than running the package's rules clean target.

This will delete all files which are not tracked by git.
(Including any files you forgot to git add.)

.BI --clean= ...
options other than dpkg-source
are useful when the package's clean target is troublesome, or
to avoid needing the build-dependencies.
.TP
.BR --clean=git-ff " | " -wgf
Use
.BR "git clean -xdff"
to clean the working tree.
Like
git clean -xdf
but it also removes any subdirectories containing different git
trees (which only unusual packages are likely to create).
.TP
.BR --clean=check " | " -wc
Merely check that the tree is clean (does not contain uncommitted
files).
Avoids running rules clean,
and can avoid needing the build-dependencies.
.TP
.BR --clean=none " | " -wn
Do not clean the tree, nor check that it is clean.
Avoids running rules clean,
and can avoid needing the build-dependencies.
If there are
files which are not in git, or if the build creates such files, a
subsequent dgit push will fail.
.TP
.BR --clean=dpkg-source " | " -wd
Use dpkg-buildpackage to do the clean, so that the source package
is cleaned by dpkg-source running the package's clean target.
This is the default.
Requires the package's build dependencies.
.TP
.BR --clean=dpkg-source-d " | " -wdd
Use
.B dpkg-buildpackage -d
to do the clean,
so that the source package
is cleaned by dpkg-source running the package's clean target.
The build-dependencies are not checked (due to
.BR -d ),
which violates policy, but may work in practice.
.TP
.BR -N " | " --new
The package is or may be new in this suite.  Without this, dgit will
refuse to push.  It may (for Debian, will) be unable to access the git
history for any packages which have been newly pushed and have not yet
been published.
.TP
.BR --ignore-dirty
Do not complain if the working tree does not match your git HEAD.
This can be useful with build, if you plan to commit later.  (dgit
push will still ensure that the .dsc you upload and the git tree
you push are identical, so this option won't make broken pushes.)
.TP
.BR --overwrite =\fIprevious-version\fR
Declare that even though your git branch is not a descendant
of the version in the archive
according to the revision history,
it really does contain
all the (wanted) changes from that version.

This option is useful if you are the maintainer, and you have
incorporated NMU changes into your own git workflow in a way that
doesn't make your branch a fast forward from the NMU.

.I previous-version
ought to be the version currently in the archive.  If
.I previous-version
is not
specified, dgit will check that the version in the archive is
mentioned in your debian/changelog.
(This will avoid losing
changes unless someone committed to git a finalised changelog
entry, and then made later changes to that version.)

dgit push --overwrite
will make a
pseudo-merge (that is, something that looks like the result
of git merge -s ours) to stitch the archive's version into your own
git history, so that your push is a fast forward from the archive.

(In quilt mode
.BR gbp ", " dpm " or " unpatched ,
implying a split between the dgit view and the
maintainer view, the pseudo-merge will appear only in the dgit view.)
.TP
.BI --deliberately- something
Declare that you are deliberately doing
.IR something .
This can be used to override safety catches, including safety catches
which relate to distro-specific policies.
The use of --deliberately is declared and published in the signed tags
generated for you by dgit,
so that the archive software can give effect to your intent,
and
for the benefit humans looking at the history.
The meanings of
.IR something s
understood in the context of Debian are discussed below:
.TP
.BR --deliberately-not-fast-forward
Declare that you are deliberately rewinding history.  When pushing to
Debian, use this when you are making a renewed upload of an entirely
new source package whose previous version was not accepted for release
from NEW because of problems with copyright or redistributibility.
.TP
.BR --deliberately-include-questionable-history
Declare that you are deliberately including, in the git history of
your current push, history which contains a previously-submitted
version of this package which was not approved (or has not yet been
approved) by the ftpmasters.  When pushing to Debian, only use this
option after verifying that: none of the rejected-from-NEW (or
never-accepted) versions in the git history of your current push, were
rejected by ftpmaster for copyright or redistributability reasons.
.TP
.BR --deliberately-fresh-repo
Declare that you are deliberately rewinding history and want to
throw away the existing repo.  Not relevant when pushing to Debian,
as the Debian server will do this automatically when necessary.
.TP
.BR --quilt=linear
When fixing up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata, insist on
generating a linear patch stack: one new patch for each relevant
commit.
If such a stack cannot be generated, fail.
This is the default for Debian.

HEAD should be a series of plain commits
(not touching debian/patches/),
and pseudomerges,
with as ancestor a patches-applied branch.
.TP
.BR --quilt=auto
When fixing up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata, prefer to
generate a linear patch stack
(as with --quilt=auto)
but if that doesn't seem possible,
try to generate a single squashed patch for all the changes made in git
(as with --quilt=smash).
This is not a good idea for an NMU in Debian.
.TP
.BR --quilt=smash
When fixing up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata,
generate a single additional patch for all the changes made in git.
This is not a good idea for an NMU in Debian.

(If HEAD has any in-tree patches already, they must apply cleanly.
This will be the case for any trees produced by dgit fetch or clone;
if you do not change the upstream version
nor make changes in debian/patches,
it will remain true.)
.TP
.BR --quilt=nofix
Check whether source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata would need fixing
up, but, if it does, fail.  You must then fix the metadata yourself
somehow before pushing.  (NB that dpkg-source --commit will not work
because the dgit git tree does not have a
.B .pc
directory.)
.TP
.BR --quilt=nocheck " | " --no-quilt-fixup
Do not check whether up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata needs
fixing up.  If you use this option and the metadata did in fact need
fixing up, dgit push will fail.
.TP
.BR -- [ quilt= ] gbp " | " -- [ quilt= ] dpm " | " --quilt=unapplied
Tell dgit that you are using a nearly-dgit-compatible git branch,
aka a
.BR "maintainer view" ,
and
do not want your branch changed by dgit.

.B --gbp
(short for
.BR --quilt=gbp )
is for use with git-buildpackage.
Your HEAD is expected to be
a patches-unapplied git branch, except that it might contain changes
to upstream .gitignore files.  This is the default for dgit gbp-build.

.B --dpm
(short for
.BR --quilt=dpm )
is for use with git-dpm.
Your HEAD is expected to be
a patches-applied git branch,
except that it might contain changes to upstream .gitignore files.

.B --quilt=unapplied
specifies that your HEAD is a patches-unapplied git branch (and
that any changes to upstream .gitignore files are represented as
patches in debian/patches).

With --quilt=gbp|dpm|unapplied,
dgit push (or precursors like quilt-fixup and build) will automatically
generate a conversion of your git branch into the right form.
dgit push will push the
dgit-compatible form (the
.BR "dgit view" )
to the dgit git server.
The dgit view will be visible to you
in the dgit remote tracking branches, but your own branch will
not be modified.
dgit push will create a tag
.BI debian/ version
for the maintainer view, and the dgit tag
.BI archive/debian/ version
for the dgit view.
dgit quilt-fixup will merely do some checks,
and cache the maintainer view.

.B If you have a branch like this it is essential to specify the appropriate --quilt= option!
This is because it is not always possible to tell: a patches-unapplied
git branch of a package with one patch, for example, looks very like
a patches-applied branch where the user has used git revert to
undo the patch, expecting to actually revert it.
However, if you fail to specify the right \-\-quilt option,
and you aren't too lucky, dgit will notice the problem and stop,
with a useful hint. 
.TP
.BR -d "\fIdistro\fR | " --distro= \fIdistro\fR
Specifies that the suite to be operated on is part of distro
.IR distro .
This overrides the default value found from the git config option
.BR dgit-suite. \fIsuite\fR .distro .
The only effect is that other configuration variables (used
for accessing the archive and dgit-repos) used are
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .* .

If your suite is part of a distro that dgit already knows about, you
can use this option to make dgit work even if your dgit doesn't know
about the suite.  For example, specifying
.B -ddebian
will work when the suite is an unknown suite in the Debian archive.

To define a new distro it is necessary to define methods and URLs
for fetching (and, for dgit push, altering) a variety of information both
in the archive and in dgit-repos.
How to set this up is not yet documented.
.TP
.BI -C changesfile
Specifies the .changes file which is to be uploaded.  By default
dgit push looks for single .changes file in the parent directory whose
filename suggests it is for the right package and version.

If the specified
.I changesfile
pathname contains slashes, the directory part is also used as
the value for
.BR --build-products-dir ;
otherwise, the changes file is expected in that directory (by
default, in
.BR .. ).
.TP
.B --rm-old-changes
When doing a build, delete any changes files matching
.IB package _ version _*.changes
before starting.  This ensures that
dgit push (and dgit sbuild) will be able to unambigously
identify the relevant changes files from the most recent build, even
if there have been previous builds with different tools or options.
The default is not to remove, but
.B \-\-no-rm-old-changes
can be used to override a previous \-\-rm-old-changes
or the .rm-old-changes configuration setting.
.TP
.BI --build-products-dir= directory
Specifies where to find the built files to be uploaded.
By default, dgit looks in the parent directory
.RB ( .. ).
.TP
.BI --no-rm-on-error
Do not delete the destination directory if clone fails.
.TP
.BI -D
Prints debugging information to stderr.  Repeating the option produces
more output (currently, up to -DDDD is meaningfully different).
.TP
.BI -c name = value
Specifies a git configuration option, to be used for this run.
dgit itself is also controlled by git configuration options.
.TP
.RI \fB-v\fR version "|\fB_\fR | " \fB--since-version=\fR version |\fB_\fR
Specifies the
.BI -v version
option to pass to dpkg-genchanges, during builds.  Changes (from
debian/changelog) since this version will be included in the built
changes file, and hence in the upload.  If this option is not
specified, dgit will query the archive and use the latest version
uploaded to the intended suite.

Specifying
.B _
inhibits this, so that no -v option will be passed to dpkg-genchanges
(and as a result, only the last stanza from debian/changelog will
be used for the build and upload).
.TP
.RI \fB-m\fR maintaineraddress
Passed to dpkg-genchanges (eventually).
.TP
.RI \fB--ch:\fR option
Specifies a single additional option to pass, eventually, to
dpkg-genchanges.

Options which are safe to pass include
.BR "-si -sa -sd -C" .

For other options the caveat below applies.
.TP
.RI \fB--curl:\fR option " | \fB--dput:\fR" option " |..."
Specifies a single additional option to pass to
.BR curl ,
.BR dput ,
.BR debsign ,
.BR dpkg-source ,
.BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
.BR dpkg-genchanges ,
.BR sbuild ,
.BR ssh ,
.BR dgit ,
.BR gbp-pq ,
.BR gbp-build ,
or
.BR mergechanges .
Can be repeated as necessary.

Use of this ability should not normally be necessary.
It is provided for working around bugs,
or other unusual situations.
If you use these options,
you may violate dgit's assumptions
about the behaviour of its subprograms
and cause lossage.

For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
the option applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
Usually, for passing options to dpkg-genchanges, you should use
.BR --ch: \fIoption\fR.

Specifying --git is not effective for some lower-level read-only git
operations performed by dgit, and also not when git is invoked by
another program run by dgit.

See notes below regarding ssh and dgit.

NB that --gpg:option is not supported (because debsign does not
have that facility).
But see
.B -k
and the
.B keyid
distro config setting.
.TP
.RI \fB--curl=\fR program " | \fB--dput=\fR" program  " |..."
Specifies alternative programs to use instead of
.BR curl ,
.BR dput ,
.BR debsign ,
.BR dpkg-source ,
.BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
.BR dpkg-genchanges ,
.BR sbuild ,
.BR gpg ,
.BR ssh ,
.BR dgit ,
.BR git ,
.BR gbp-pq ,
.BR gbp-build ,
or
.BR mergechanges .

For
.BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
.BR dpkg-genchanges ,
.B mergechanges
and
.BR sbuild ,
this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.

For
.BR dgit ,
specifies the command to run on the remote host when dgit
rpush needs to invoke a remote copy of itself.  (dgit also reinvokes
itself as the EDITOR for dpkg-source --commit; this is done using
argv[0], and is not affected by --dgit=).

.BR gbp-build 's
value
is used instead of gbp build or git-buildpackage.  (The default is
the latter unless the former exists on PATH.)
.BR gbp-pq 's
value
is used instead of gbp pq.
In both cases,
unusually, the specified value is split on whitespace
to produce a command and possibly some options and/or arguments.

For
.BR ssh ,
the default value is taken from the
.B DGIT_SSH
or
.B GIT_SSH
environment variables, if set (see below).  And, for ssh, when accessing the
archive and dgit-repos, this command line setting is overridden by the
git config variables
.BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
and
.B .dgit.default.ssh
(which can in turn be overridden with -c).  Also, when dgit is using
git to access dgit-repos, only git's idea of what ssh to use (eg,
.BR GIT_SSH )
is relevant.
.TP
.BI --existing-package= package
dgit push needs to canonicalise the suite name.  Sometimes, dgit
lacks a way to ask the archive to do this without knowing the
name of an existing package.  Without --new we can just use the
package we are trying to push.  But with --new that will not work, so
we guess
.B dpkg
or use the value of this option.  This option is not needed with the
default mechanisms for accessing the archive.
.TP
.BR -h | --help
Print a usage summary.
.TP
.BI --initiator-tempdir= directory
dgit rpush uses a temporary directory on the invoking (signing) host.
This option causes dgit to use
.I directory
instead.  Furthermore, the specified directory will be emptied,
removed and recreated before dgit starts, rather than removed
after dgit finishes.  The directory specified must be an absolute
pathname.
.SH WORKFLOW - SIMPLE
It is always possible with dgit to clone or fetch a package, make
changes in git (using git-commit) on the suite branch
.RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
and then dgit push.  You can use whatever gitish techniques you like
to construct the commits to push;
the only requirement is that what you push is a
descendant of the state of the archive, as provided by dgit in the
remote tracking branch
.BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.

If you are using dgit to do an NMU (in Debian),
and don't know about the
maintainers' preferred packaging workflows, you should make your
changes as a linear series of (logicially separated) commits on top of
what's already in the archive.

If you are lucky the other uploaders have also used dgit and
integrated the other relevant git history; if not you can fetch it
into your tree and cherry-pick etc. as you wish.
.SH WORKFLOW - INTEGRATING BETWEEN DGIT AND OTHER GIT HISTORY
If you are the maintainer of a package dealing with uploads made
without dgit, you will probably want to merge the synthetic commits
(made by dgit to represent the uploads) into your git history.
Normally you can just merge the dgit branch into your own master, or
indeed if you do your work on the dgit local suite branch
.BI dgit/ suite
you can just use dgit pull.

However the first time dgit is used it will generate a new origin
commit from the archive which won't be linked into the rest of your
git history.  You will need to merge this.

If last upload was in fact made with git, you should usually proceed
as follows: identify the commit which was actually used to build the
package.  (Hopefully you have a tag for this.)  Check out the dgit
branch
.RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
and merge that other commit
.RB ( "git merge debian/" \fIversion\fR).
Hopefully this merge will be trivial because the two trees should
be very similar.  The resulting branch head can be merged into your
working branches
.RB ( "git checkout master && git merge dgit/" \fIsuite\fR).

If last upload was not made with git, a different approach is required
to start using dgit.  First, do
.B dgit fetch
(or clone) to obtain a git history representation of what's in the
archive and record it in the
.BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
tracking branch.  Then somehow, using your other git history
plus appropriate diffs and cherry picks from the dgit remote tracking
branch, construct a git commit whose tree corresponds to the tree to use for the
next upload. 

between what's in the archive and what you intend to upload.
Then run
.BR "dgit push"
to actually upload the result.

If the commit-to-be-uploaded is not a descendant of the
dgit remote tracking branch, you will need to pass
.B --overwrite
to dgit.
.SH CONFIGURATION
dgit can be configured via the git config system.
You may set keys with git-config (either in system-global or per-tree
configuration), or provide
.BI -c key = value
on the dgit command line.
.LP
Settings likely to be useful for an end user include:
.TP
.BR dgit-suite. \fIsuite\fR .distro " \fIdistro\fR"
Specifies the distro for a suite.  dgit keys off the suite name (which
appears in changelogs etc.), and uses that to determine the distro
which is involved.  The config used is thereafter that for the distro.
.TP
.BI dgit.default.distro " distro"
The default distro for an unknown suite.
.TP
.BR dgit.default. *
for each
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR . *,
the default value used if there is no distro-specific setting.
.TP
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .clean-mode
One of the values for the command line --clean= option; used if
--clean is not specified.
.TP
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .quilt-mode
One of the values for the command line --quilt= option; used if
--quilt is not specified.
.TP
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .rm-old-changes
Boolean, used if neither \-\-rm-old-changes nor \-\-no-rm-old-changes
is specified.  The default is not to remove.
.TP
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .readonly " " auto | a " | " true | t | y | 1 " | " false | f | n | 0
Whether you have push access to the distro.
For Debian, it is OK to use auto, which uses readonly mode if you are
not pushing right now;
but, setting this to false will avoid relying on the mirror of the dgit
git repository server.
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .keyid
See also
.BR -k .
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .mirror " url"
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .username
Not relevant for Debian.
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .upload-host
Might be useful if you have an intermediate queue server.
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .user-name " " dgit-distro. distro .user-email
Values to configure for user.name and user.email in new git trees.  If
not specified, the DEBFULLNAME and DEBEMAIL environment variables are
used, respectively.  Only used if .setup-usermail is not disabled.
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .setup-useremail
Whether to set user.name and user.email in new git trees.
True by default.  Ignored for dgit setup-setup-useremail, which does it anyway.
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .setup-mergechangelogs
Whether to setup a merge driver which uses dpkg-mergechangelogs for
debian/changelog.  True by default.  Ignored for dgit
setup-mergechangelogs, which does it anyway.
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .cmd- cmd
Program to use instead of
.IR cmd .
Works like
.BR -- \fIcmd\fR = "... ."
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .opts- cmd
Extra options to pass to
.IR cmd .
Works like
.BR -- \fIcmd\fR : "... ."
To pass several options, configure multiple values in git config
(with git config --add).  The options for
.BI dgit.default.opts- cmd
.BI dgit-distro. distro /push.opts- cmd
and are all used, followed by options from dgit's command line.
.SH ACCESS CONFIGURATION
There are many other settings which specify how a particular distro's
services (archive and git) are provided.  These should not normally be
adjusted, but are documented for the benefit of distros who wish to
adopt dgit.
.TP
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR /push. *
If set, overrides corresponding non \fB/push\fR config when
.BR readonly=false ,
or when pushing and
.BR readonly=auto .
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .git-url
.TP
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .git-url [ -suffix ]
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .git-proto
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .git-path
.TP
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .git-check " " true | false | url | ssh-cmd
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .git-check-suffix
.TP
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .diverts.divert " " new-distro | / \fIdistro-suffix\fR
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .git-create " " ssh-cmd | true
.TP
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .archive-query " " ftpmasterapi: " | " madison: "\fIdistro\fR | " dummycat: "\fI/path\fR  | " sshpsql: \fIuser\fR @ \fIhost\fR : \fIdbname\fR
.TP
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .archive-query- ( url | tls-key | curl-ca-args )
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .madison-distro
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query-default-component
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .dgit-tag-format
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-dbname
.TP
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR . ( git | sshpsql ) - ( user | host | user-force )
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .backports-quirk
.SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
.TP
.BR DGIT_SSH ", " GIT_SSH
specify an alternative default program (and perhaps arguments) to use
instead of ssh.  DGIT_SSH is consulted first and may contain arguments;
if it contains any whitespace will be passed to the shell.  GIT_SSH
specifies just the program; no arguments can be specified, so dgit
interprets it the same way as git does.
See
also the --ssh= and --ssh: options.
.TP
.BR DEBEMAIL ", " DEBFULLNAME
Default git user.email and user.name for new trees.  See
.BR "dgit setup-new-tree" .
.TP
.BR gpg ", " dpkg- "..., " debsign ", " git ", " curl ", " dput ", " LWP::UserAgent
and other subprograms and modules used by dgit are affected by various
environment variables.  Consult the documentaton for those programs
for details.
.SH BUGS
dgit's git representation of format `3.0 (quilt)' source packages does
not represent the patch stack as git commits.  Currently the patch
series representation cannot round trip between git and the archive.
Ideally dgit would represent a quilty package with an origin commit of
some kind followed by the patch stack as a series of commits followed
by a pseudo-merge (to make the branch fast-forwarding).  This would
also mean a new `dgit rebase-prep' command or some such to turn such a
fast-forwarding branch back into a rebasing patch stack, and a `force'
option to dgit push (perhaps enabled automatically by a note left by
rebase-prep) which will make the required pseudo-merge.

If the dgit push fails halfway through, it should be restartable and
idempotent.  However this is not true for the git tag operation.
Also, it would be good to check that the proposed signing key is
available before starting work.

dgit's handling of .orig.tar.gz is not very sophisticated.  Ideally
the .orig.tar.gz could be transported via the git repo as git tags.
Doing this is made more complicated by the possibility of a `3.0
(quilt)' package with multiple .orig tarballs.

dgit's build functions, and dgit push, should not make any changes to
your current HEAD.  Sadly this is necessary for packages in the `3.0
(quilt)' source format.  This is ultimately due to what I consider
design problems in quilt and dpkg-source.

There should be an option which arranges for the `3.0 (quilt)'
autocommit(s) to not appear on your HEAD, but instead only in the
remote tracking suite branch.

--dry-run does not always work properly, as not doing some of the git
fetches may result in subsequent actions being different.  Doing a
non-dry-run dgit fetch first will help.
.SH SEE ALSO
\fBdgit\fP(7),
\fBdgit-maint-merge\fP(7),
\fBcurl\fP(1),
\fBdput\fP(1),
\fBdebsign\fP(1),
\fBgit-config\fP(1),
\fBgit-buildpackage\fP(1),
\fBdpkg-buildpackage\fP(1),
.br
https://browse.dgit.debian.org/