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] \fIaction\fR ...
26 treats the Debian archive as a version control system, and
27 bidirectionally gateways between the archive and git. The git view of
28 the package can contain the usual upstream git history, and will be
29 augmented by commits representing uploads done by other developers not
30 using dgit. This git history is stored in a canonical location known
33 which lives outside the Debian archive (currently, on Alioth).
35 The usual workflow is: 1. clone or fetch; 2. make and commit changes
36 in git as desired; 3. run dgit build, dgit sbuild or dgit
37 build-source, or generate the source and binary packages for upload
38 some other way; 4. do pre-upload tests of the proposed upload; 5. run
41 \fBdgit clone\fR \fIpackage\fP [\fIsuite\fP] [\fB./\fP\fIdir|\fB/\fP\fIdir\fR]
42 Consults the archive and dgit-repos to construct the git view of
49 in a new directory (named
52 also, downloads any necessary orig tarballs.
54 The suite's git tip is
55 left on the local branch
57 ready for work, and on the corresponding dgit remote tracking branch.
60 remote will be set up to point to the package's dgit-repos tree
61 for the distro to which
65 \fBdgit fetch\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
66 Consults the archive and git-repos to update the git view of
67 history for a specific suite (and downloads any necessary orig
68 tarballs), and updates the remote tracking branch
69 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
70 If the current branch is
72 then dgit fetch defaults to
74 otherwise it parses debian/changelog and uses the suite specified
77 \fBdgit pull\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
78 Does dgit fetch, and then merges the new head of the remote tracking
80 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
81 into the current branch.
86 with some suitable options. Options and argumments after build
87 will be passed on to dpkg-buildpackage. It is not necessary to use
88 dgit build when using dgit; it is OK to use any approach which ensures
89 that the generated source package corresponds to the relevant git
92 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
94 \fBdgit build-source\fR ...
95 Builds the source package, and a changes file for a prospective
96 source-only upload, using
99 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB.dsc\fR
101 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_source.changes\fR.
103 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
106 Print a usage summary.
108 \fBdgit sbuild\fR ...
109 Constructs the source package, uses
111 to do a binary build, and uses mergechanges to merge the source and
112 binary changes files. Options and argumments after sbuild will be
113 passed on to sbuild. Changes files matching
114 .IB package _ version _*.changes
115 in the parent directory will be removed; the output is left in
116 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_multi.changes\fR.
118 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
120 \fBdgit git-build\fR ...
123 with some suitable options. Options and argumments after git-build
124 will be passed on to git-buildpackage.
126 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
128 \fBdgit push\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
129 Does an `upload', pushing the current HEAD to the archive (as a source
130 package) and to dgit-repos (as git commits). The package must already
131 have been built ready for upload, with the .dsc and .changes
132 left in the parent directory.
134 In more detail: dgit push checks that the current HEAD corresponds to
135 the .dsc. It then pushes the HEAD to the suite's dgit-repos branch,
136 makes a signed git tag, edits the .dsc to contain the dgit metadata
137 field, runs debsign to sign the upload (.dsc and .changes), pushes the
138 signed tag, and finally uses dput to upload the .changes to the
141 dgit push always uses the package, suite and version specified in the
142 debian/changelog and the .dsc, which must agree. If the command line
143 specifies a suite then that must match too.
145 If dgit push fails while uploading, it is fine to simply retry the
146 dput on the .changes file at your leisure.
149 Looks to see if the tree is one which dpkg-source cannot properly
150 represent. If it isn't, dgit will fix it up for you (in quilt terms,
151 by making a new debian/ patch containing your unquilty changes) and
152 make a commit of the changes it has made.
154 This is normally done automatically by dgit build and dgit push.
157 Prints version information and exits.
161 Go through the motions, fetching all information needed, but do not
162 actually update the output(s). For push, dgit does
163 the required checks and leaves the new .dsc in a temporary file,
164 but does not sign, tag, push or upload.
169 for signing the tag and the upload.
172 does not sign tags or uploads (meaningful only with push).
176 Specifies that we should process source package
178 rather than looking in debian/control or debian/changelog.
179 Valid with dgit fetch and dgit pull, only.
181 .BR --clean=git | -wg
182 The source tree should be cleaned, before building a source package
183 with one of the build options, using
184 .BR "git clean -xdf" .
185 This will delete all files which are not tracked by git.
187 .BR --clean=none | -wn
188 Do not clean the tree before building a source package. If there are
189 files which are not in git, a subsequent dgit push will fail.
191 .BR --clean=dpkg-source | -wd
192 Use dpkg-buildpackage to do the build, so that the source package
193 is cleaned by dpkg-source running the package's clean target.
194 This is the default. It requires the package's build dependencies.
197 The package may be new in this suite. Without this, dgit will
201 Do not complain if the working tree does not match your git HEAD.
202 This can be useful with build, if you plan to commit later. (dgit
203 push will still ensure that the .dsc you upload and the git tree
204 you push are identical, so this option won't make broken pushes.)
206 This option may not work properly on `3.0 (quilt)' packages, as in
207 that case dgit needs to use and perhaps commit parts of your working
211 Do not fix up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata. If you use this
212 option and the package did in fact need fixing up, dgit push will
216 Prints debugging information to stderr. Repeating the option produces
217 more output (currently, up to -DD is meaningfully different).
220 Specifies a git configuration option. dgit itself is also controlled
221 by git configuration options.
223 .RI \fB-v\fR version |\fB-m\fR maintaineraddress
224 Passed to dpkg-genchanges (eventually).
226 .RI \fB--ch:\fR option
227 Specifies a single additional option to pass, eventually, to
230 .RI \fB--dget=\fR program |\fB--dput=\fR program |...
231 Specifies alternative programs to use instead of
236 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
237 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
241 This applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
243 .RI \fB--dget:\fR option |\fB--dput:\fR option |...
244 Specifies a single additional option to pass to
249 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
250 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
254 Can be repeated as necessary.
255 This applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
256 Usually, for passing options to dpkg-genchanges, use
257 .BR --ch: \fIoption\fR.
259 .BR -d "\fIdistro\fR | " --distro= \fIdistro\fR
260 Specifies that the suite to be operated on is part of distro
262 This overrides the default value found from the git config option
263 .BR dgit-suite. \fIsuite\fR .distro .
264 The only effect is that other configuration variables (used
265 for accessing the archive and dgit-repos) used are
266 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .* .
268 If your suite is part of a distro that dgit already knows about, you
269 can use this option to make dgit work even if your dgit doesn't know
270 about the suite. For example, specifying
272 will work when the suite is an unknown suite in the Debian archive.
274 To define a new distro it is necessary to define methods and URLs
275 for fetching (and, for dgit push, altering) a variety of information both
276 in the archive and in dgit-repos. How to do this is not yet
277 documented, and currently the arrangements are unpleasant. See
281 Specifies the .changes file which is to be uploaded. By default
282 dgit push looks for single .changes file in the parent directory whose
283 filename suggests it is for the right package and version - or,
284 if there is a _multi.changes file, dgit uses that.
286 .BI --existing-package= package
287 dgit push needs to canonicalise the suite name. But currently
288 there is no way to ask the archive to do this without knowing the
289 name of an existing package. Without --new we can just use the
290 package we are trying to push. But with --new that will not work, so
293 or use the value of this option.
296 Print a usage summary.
297 .SH WORKFLOW - SIMPLE
298 It is always possible with dgit to clone or fetch a package, make
299 changes in git (using git-commit) on the suite branch
300 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
301 and then dgit push. You can use whatever gitish techniques you like
302 to construct the commit to push; the only requirement is that it is a
303 descendant of the state of the archive, as provided by dgit in the
304 remote tracking branch
305 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
307 If you are lucky the other uploaders have also used dgit and
308 integrated the other relevant git history; if not you can fetch it
309 into your tree and cherry-pick etc. as you wish.
310 .SH WORKFLOW - INTEGRATING BETWEEN DGIT AND OTHER GIT HISTORY
311 If you are the maintainer of a package dealing with uploads made
312 without dgit, you will probably want to merge the synthetic commits
313 (made by dgit to represent the uploads) into your git history.
314 Normally you can just merge the dgit branch into your own master, or
315 indeed if you do your work on the dgit local suite branch
317 you can just use dgit pull.
319 However the first time dgit is used it will generate a new origin
320 commit from the archive which won't be linked into the rest of your
321 git history. You will need to merge this.
323 If last upload was in fact made with git, you should usually proceed
324 as follows: identify the commit which was actually used to build the
325 package. (Hopefully you have a tag for this.) Check out the dgit
327 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
328 and merge that other commit
329 .RB ( "git merge debian/" \fIversion\fR).
330 Hopefully this merge will be trivial because the two trees should
331 be the same. The resulting branch head can be merged into your
333 .RB ( "git checkout master && git merge dgit/" \fIsuite\fR).
335 If last upload was not made with git, a different approach is required
336 to start using dgit. First, do
338 (or clone) to obtain a git history representation of what's in the
339 archive and record it in the
340 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
341 tracking branch. Then somehow, using your other git history
342 plus appropriate diffs and cherry picks from the dgit remote tracking
343 branch, construct a git commit whose tree corresponds to the tree to use for the
344 next upload. If that commit-to-be-uploaded is not a descendant of the
345 dig remote tracking branch, check it out and say
346 .BR "git merge -s ours remotes/dgit/dgit/" \fIsuite\fR;
347 that tells git that we are deliberately throwing away any differences
348 between what's in the archive and what you intend to upload.
351 to actually upload the result.
353 You may use any suitable git workflow with dgit, provided you
354 satisfy dgit's requirements:
356 dgit maintains a pseudo-remote called
358 with one branch per suite. This remote cannot be used with
363 repository for each package contains one ref per suite named
364 \fBrefs/dgit/\fR\fIsuite\fR. These should be pushed to only by
365 dgit. They are fast forwarding. Each push on this branch
366 corresponds to an upload (or attempted upload).
368 However, it is perfectly fine to have other branches in dgit-repos;
369 normally the dgit-repos repo for the package will be accessible via
370 the remote name `origin'.
372 dgit push will also (by default) make signed tags called
374 and push them to dgit-repos, but nothing depends on these tags
377 dgit push can operate on any commit which is a descendant of the
378 current dgit/suite tip in dgit-repos.
380 Uploads made by dgit contain an additional field
382 in the source package .dsc. (This is added by dgit push.)
383 This specifies a commit (an ancestor of the dgit/suite
384 branch) whose tree is identical to the unpacked source upload.
386 Uploads not made by dgit are represented in git by commits which are
387 synthesised by dgit. The tree of each such commit corresponds to the
388 unpacked source; there is an origin commit with the contents, and a
389 psuedo-merge from last known upload - that is, from the contents of
390 the dgit/suite branch.
392 dgit expects repos that it works with to have a
394 remote. This refers to the well-known dgit-repos location
395 (currently, the dgit-repos project on Alioth). dgit fetch updates
396 the remote tracking branch for dgit/suite.
398 dgit does not (currently) represent the orig tarball(s) in git; nor
399 does it represent the patch statck of a `3.0 (quilt)' package. The
400 orig tarballs are downloaded and kept in the parent directory, as with
401 a traditional (non-gitish) dpkg-source workflow.
403 To a user looking at the archive, changes pushed using dgit look like
404 changes made in an NMU: in a `3.0 (quilt)' package the delta from the
405 previous upload is recorded in a new patch constructed by dpkg-source.
406 .SH PACKAGE SOURCE FORMATS
407 If you are not the maintainer, you do not need to worry about the
408 source format of the package. You can just make changes as you like
409 in git. If the package is a `3.0 (quilt)' package, the patch stack
410 will usually not be represented in the git history.
412 If you are the maintainer of a non-native package, you currently have
413 two sensible options:
415 Firstly, you can regard your git history as primary, and the archive
416 as an export format. For example, you could maintain topic branches
417 in git and a fast-forwarding release branch; or you could do your work
418 directly in a merging way on the
420 branches. If you do this you should probably use a `1.0' format
421 source package if you can. In the archive, the delta between upstream
422 will be represented in the single Debian patch.
424 Secondly, you can use `3.0 (quilt)', and regard your quiltish patch
425 stack in the archive as primary. You will have to use other tools
426 besides dgit to import and export this patch stack. But see below:
427 .SH FORMAT 3.0 (QUILT)
428 For a format `3.0 (quilt)' source package, dgit may have to make a
429 commit on your current branch to contain metadata used by quilt and
432 This is because (i) the `3.0 (quilt)' source format cannot represent
433 certain trees, and (ii) packing up a tree in `3.0 (quilt)' and then
434 unpacking it does not always yield the same tree. Instead,
435 dpkg-source insists on the trees having extra quilty metadata and
436 patch files in the debian/ and .pc/ directories, which dpkg-source
439 dgit will automatically work around this braindamage for you when
440 building and pushing. The only thing you need to know is that dgit
441 build, sbuild, etc., may make a new commit on your HEAD. If you're
442 not a quilt user this commit won't contain any changes to files you
445 You can explicitly request that dgit do just this fixup, by running
448 We recommend against the use of `3.0 (quilt)'.
449 .SH FILES IN THE SOURCE PACKAGE BUT NOT IN GIT
450 This section is mainly of interest to maintainers who want to use dgit
451 with their existing git history for the Debian package.
453 Some developers like to have an extra-clean git tree which lacks files
454 which are normally found in source tarballs and therefore in Debian
455 source packages. For example, it is conventional to ship ./configure
456 in the source tarball, but some people prefer not to have it present
457 in the git view of their project.
459 dgit requires that the source package unpacks to exactly the same
460 files as are in the git commit on which dgit push operates. So if you
461 just try to dgit push directly from one of these extra-clean git
462 branches, it will fail.
464 As the maintainer you therefore have the following options:
467 Persuade upstream that the source code in their git history and the
468 source they ship as tarballs should be identical. Of course simply
469 removing the files from the tarball may make the tarball hard for
472 One answer is to commit the (maybe autogenerated)
473 files, perhaps with some simple automation to deal with conflicts and
474 spurious changes. This has the advantage that someone who clones
475 the git repository finds the program just as easy to build as someone
476 who uses the tarball.
479 Have separate git branches which do contain the extra files, and after
480 regenerating the extra files (whenever you would have to anyway),
481 commit the result onto those branches.
484 Provide source packages which lack the files you don't want
485 in git, and arrange for your package build to create them as needed.
486 This may mean not using upstream source tarballs and makes the Debian
487 source package less useful for people without Debian build
490 Of course it may also be that the differences are due to build system
491 bugs, which cause unintended files to end up in the source package.
492 dgit will notice this and complain. You may have to fix these bugs
493 before you can unify your existing git history with dgit's.
495 dgit looks at the following git config keys to control its behaviour.
496 You may set them with git-config (either in system-global or per-tree
497 configuration), or provide
499 on the dgit command line.
501 .BI dgit-suite. suite .distro
503 .BI dgit.default.distro
505 .BI dgit-distro. distro .username
507 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-url
509 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-user
511 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-host
513 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-proto
515 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-path
517 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-check
519 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-create
521 .BI dgit-distro. distro .upload-host
523 .BI dgit-distro. distro .mirror
525 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query
527 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query-default-component
529 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshdakls-user
531 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshdakls-host
533 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshdakls-dir
535 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
537 .BI dgit-distro. distro .keyid
541 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR . *
543 We should be using some kind of vhost/vpath setup for the git repos on
544 alioth, so that they can be moved later if and when this turns out to
547 Debian Policy needs to be updated to describe the new Dgit .dsc
548 field (and to specify that it is an RC bug for that field to refer
549 to an unavailable commit).
551 The method of canonicalising suite names is bizarre. See the
552 .B --existing-package
553 option for one of the implications.
555 dgit push should perhaps do `git push origin', or something similar,
558 Debian does not have a working rmadison server, so to find out what
559 version of a package is in the archive, or to canonicalise suite
560 names, we ssh directly into the ftpmaster server.
562 The mechanism for checking for and creating per-package repos on
563 alioth is a hideous bodge. One consequence is that dgit currently
564 only works for people with push access.
566 Debian Maintainers are currently not able to push, as there is not
567 currently any mechanism for determining and honouring the archive's
568 ideas about access control. Currently only DDs can push.
570 dgit's representation of format `3.0 (quilt)' source packages does not
571 represent the patch stack. Currently the patch series representation
572 cannot round trip through the archive. Ideally dgit would represent a
573 quilty package with an origin commit of some kind followed by the
574 patch stack as a series of commits followed by a pseudo-merge (to make
575 the branch fast-forwarding). This would also mean a new `dgit
576 rebase-prep' command or some such to turn such a fast-forwarding
577 branch back into a rebasing patch stack, and a `force' option to dgit
578 push (perhaps enabled automatically by a note left by rebase-prep)
579 which will make the required pseudo-merge.
581 If the dgit push fails halfway through, it should be restartable and
582 idempotent. However this is not true for the git tag operation.
583 Also, it would be good to check that the proposed signing key is
584 available before starting work.
586 dgit's handling of .orig.tar.gz is not very sophisticated. Ideally
587 the .orig.tar.gz could be transported via the git repo as git tags.
588 Doing this is made more complicated by the possibility of a `3.0
589 (quilt)' package with multiple .orig tarballs.
591 dgit's build functions, and dgit push, should not make any changes to
592 your current HEAD. Sadly this is necessary for packages in the `3.0
593 (quilt)' source format. This is ultimately due to design problems in
594 quilt and dpkg-source.
596 There should be an option which arranges for the `3.0 (quilt)'
597 autocommit to not appear on your HEAD, but instead only in the
598 remote tracking suite branch.
600 There should at the very least be some advice in the manpage about how
601 to use dgit when the signing key is not available on the same machine
604 The option parser requires values to be cuddled to the option name.
606 dgit assumes knowledge of the archive layout. There appears to be no
607 sane way to find the path in the archive pool of the .dsc for a
608 particular suite. I'm assured that the archive layout is a
609 `well known algorithm' by now.
611 --dry-run does not always work properly, as not doing some of the git
612 fetches may result in subsequent actions being different. Doing a
613 non-dry-run dgit fetch first will help.
619 \fBgit-buildpackage\fP(1),
620 \fBdpkg-buildpackage\fP(1),
622 https://wiki.debian.org/Alioth