3 git-debrebase - delta queue rebase tool for Debian packaging
7 git-debrebase [<options...>] [-- <git-rebase options...>]
8 git-debrebase [<options...>] <operation> [<operation options...>
12 git-debrebase is a tool for representing in git,
14 Debian packages based on upstream source code.
16 This is the command line reference.
17 Please read the tutorial
18 L<dgit-maint-debrebase(5)>.
19 For background, theory of operation,
20 and definitions see L<git-debrebase(5)>.
22 You should read this manpage in conjunction with
23 L<git-debrebase(5)/TERMINOLOGY>,
24 which defines many important terms used here.
26 =head1 PRINCIPAL OPERATIONS
30 =item git-debrebase [-- <git-rebase options...>]
32 =item git-debrebase [-i <further git-rebase options...>]
34 Unstitches and launders the branch.
35 (See L</UNSTITCHING AND LAUNDERING> below.)
37 Then, if any git-rebase options were supplied,
38 edits the Debian delta queue,
39 using git-rebase, by running
41 git rebase <git-rebase options> <breakwater-tip>
43 Do not pass a base branch argument:
44 git-debrebase will supply that.
45 Do not use --onto, or --fork-point.
46 Useful git-rebase options include -i and --autosquash.
48 If git-rebase stops for any reason,
49 you may git-rebase --abort, --continue, or --skip, as usual.
50 If you abort the git-rebase,
51 the branch will still have been laundered,
52 but everything in the rebase will be undone.
54 The options for git-rebase must either start with C<-i>,
55 or be prececded by C<-->,
56 to distinguish them from options for git-debrebase.
58 =item git-debrebase quick
60 Unconditionally launders and restitches the branch,
61 consuming any ffq-prev
62 and making a new pseudomerge.
64 If the branch is already laundered and stitched, does nothing.
66 =item git-debrebase stitch [--prose=<for commit message>]
71 If there is no ffq-prev, it is an error, unless --noop-ok.
73 It is a snag (see B<-f>) if the branch is not laundered.
75 =item git-debrebase new-upstream-v0 <new-version> [<upstream-details>...]
77 Rebases the delta queue
78 onto a new upstream version. In detail:
80 Firstly, checks that the proposed rebase seems to make sense:
81 It is a snag unless the new upstream(s)
82 are fast forward from the previous upstream(s)
83 as found in the current breakwater anchor.
84 And, in the case of a multi-piece upstream
85 (a multi-component upstream, in dpkg-source terminology),
86 if the pieces are not in the same order, with the same names.
88 If all seems well, unstitches and launders the branch.
92 (in a private working area)
93 a new anchor merge commit,
94 on top of the breakwater tip,
95 and on top of that a commit to
96 update the version number in debian/changelog.
100 of the delta queue onto these new commits.
102 That git-rebase may complete successfully,
103 or it may require your assistance,
104 just like a normal git-rebase.
106 If you git-rebase --abort,
107 the whole new upstream operation is aborted,
108 except for the laundering.
110 The <upstream-details> are, optionally, in order:
114 =item <upstream-commit-ish>
116 The new upstream branch (or commit-ish).
117 Default is C<upstream>.
119 It is a snag if the upstream contains a debian/ directory;
120 if forced to proceed,
121 git-debrebase will disregard the upstream's debian/ and
122 take (only) the packaging from the current breakwater.
124 =item <piece-name> <piece-upstream-commit-ish>
126 Specifies that this is a multi-piece upstream.
129 When such a pair is specified,
130 git-debrebase will first combine the pieces of the upstream
132 and then use the result as the combined new upstream.
134 For each <piece-name>,
135 the tree of the <piece-upstream-commit-ish>
136 becomes the subdirectory <piece-name>
137 in the combined new upstream
138 (supplanting any subdirectory that might be there in
139 the main upstream branch).
141 <piece-name> has a restricted syntax:
142 it may contain only ASCII alphanumerics and hyphens.
144 The combined upstream is itself recorded as a commit,
145 with each of the upstream pieces' commits as parents.
146 The combined commit contains an annotation
147 to allow a future git-debrebase new upstream operation
148 to make the coherency checks described above.
150 =item <git-rebase options>
152 These will be passed to git rebase.
154 If the upstream rebase is troublesome, -i may be helpful.
155 As with plain git-debrebase,
156 do not specify a base, or --onto, or --fork-point.
160 If you are planning to generate a .dsc,
161 you will also need to have, or generate,
162 actual orig tarball(s),
163 which must be identical to the rev-spec(s)
164 passed to git-debrebase.
165 git-debrebase does not concern itself with source packages
166 so neither helps with this, nor checks it.
168 L<git-archive(1)>, L<dgit(1)> and
169 L<gbp-import-orig(1)> may be able to help.
171 This subcommand has -v0 in its name because we are not yet sure
172 that its command line syntax is optimal.
173 We may want to introduce an incompatible replacement syntax
174 under the name C<new-upstream>.
176 =item git-debrebase convert-from-gbp [<upstream-commit-ish>]
178 Cnnverts a gbp patches-unapplied branch
179 (not a gbp pq patch queue branch)
180 into a git-debrebase interchange branch.
182 This is done by generating a new anchor merge,
183 converting the quilt patches as a delta queue,
184 and dropping the patches from the tree.
186 The upstream commit-ish should correspond to
187 the gbp upstream branch, if there is one.
188 It is a snag if it is not an ancestor of HEAD,
189 or if the history between the upstream and HEAD
190 contains commits which make changes to upstream files.
192 It is also a snag if the specified upstream
193 has a debian/ subdirectory.
194 This check exists to detect certain likely user errors,
195 but if this situation is true and expected,
198 The result is a well-formed git-debrebase interchange branch.
199 The result is also fast-forward from the gbp branch.
201 Note that it is dangerous not to know whether you are
202 dealing with a gbp patches-unappled branch containing quilt patches,
203 or a git-debrebase interchange branch.
205 using the wrong tool for the branch format might result in
206 a dropped patch queue!
210 =head1 UNDERLYING AND SUPPLEMENTARY OPERATIONS
214 =item git-debrebase breakwater
216 Prints the breakwater tip commitid.
217 If your HEAD branch is not fully laundered,
218 prints the tip of the so-far-laundered breakwater.
220 =item git-debrebase anchor
222 Prints the breakwater anchor commitid.
224 =item git-debrebase analyse
226 Walks the history of the current branch,
227 most recent commit first,
228 back until the most recent anchor,
229 printing the commit object id,
230 and commit type and info
231 (ie the semantics in the git-debrebase model)
234 =item git-debrebase record-ffq-prev
236 Establishes the current branch's ffq-prev,
237 as discussed in L</UNSTITCHING AND LAUNDERING>,
238 but does not launder the branch or move HEAD.
240 It is an error if the ffq-prev could not be recorded.
241 It is also an error if an ffq-prev has already been recorded,
244 =item git-debrebase launder-v0
246 Launders the branch without recording anything in ffq-prev.
247 Then prints some information about the current branch.
248 Do not use this operation;
249 it will be withdrawn soon.
251 =item git-debrebase convert-to-gbp
253 Converts a laundered branch into a
254 gbp patches-unapplied branch containing quilt patches.
255 The result is not fast forward from the interchange branch,
256 and any ffq-prev is deleted.
258 This is provided mostly for the test suite
259 and for unusual situations.
260 It should only be used with a care and
261 with a proper understanding of the underlying theory.
263 Be sure to not accidentally treat the result as
264 a git-debrebase branch,
265 or you will drop all the patches!
271 This section documents the general options
273 (ie, the ones which immediately follow
277 on the command line).
278 Individual operations may have their own options which are
279 docuented under each operation.
285 Turns snag(s) with id <snag-id> into warnings.
287 Some troublesome things which git-debrebase encounters
289 (The specific instances are discussed
290 in the text for the relvant operation.)
292 When a snag is detected,
293 a message is printed to stderr containing the snag id
294 (in the form C<-f<snag-idE<gt>>),
295 along with some prose.
297 If snags are detected, git-debrebase does not continue,
298 unless the relevant -f<snag-id> is specified,
299 or --force is specified.
303 Turns all snags into warnings.
304 See the -f<snag-id> option.
306 Do not invoke git-debrebase --force in scripts and aliases;
307 instead, specify the particular -f<snag-id> for expected snags.
311 Suppresses the error in
312 some situations where git-debrebase does nothing,
313 because there is nothing to do.
315 The specific instances are discussed
316 in the text for the relvant operation.
318 =item --anchor=<commit-ish>
320 Treats <commit-ish> as an anchor.
321 This overrides the usual logic which automatically classifies
322 commits as anchors, pseudomerges, delta queue commits, etc.
324 It also disables some coherency checks
325 which depend on metadata extracted from its commit message,
327 it is a snag if <commit-ish> is the anchor
328 for the previous upstream version in
329 git-debrebase new-upstream operations.
333 Requests (more) debugging. May be repeated.
337 =head1 UNSTITCHING AND LAUNDERING
339 Several operations unstitch and launder the branch first.
340 In detail this means:
342 =head2 Establish the current branch's ffq-prev
344 If ffq-prev is not yet recorded,
345 git-debrebase checks that the current branch is ahead of relevant
346 remote tracking branches.
347 The relevant branches depend on
348 the current branch (and its
356 The branch that git would merge from
357 (remote.<branch>.merge, remote.<branch>.remote);
361 The branch git would push to, if different
362 (remote.<branch>.pushRemote etc.);
366 For local dgit suite branches,
367 the corresponding tracking remote;
371 If you are on C<master>,
372 remotes/dgit/dgit/sid.
376 The apparently relevant ref names to check are filtered through
377 branch.<branch>.ffq-ffrefs,
378 which is a semicolon-separated list of glob patterns,
379 each optionally preceded by !; first match wins.
381 In each case it is a snag if
382 the local HEAD is behind the checked remote,
383 or if local HEAD has diverged from it.
384 All the checks are done locally using the remote tracking refs:
385 git-debrebase does not fetch anything from anywhere.
387 If these checks pass,
389 git-debrebse then records the current tip as ffq-prev.
391 =head2 Examine the branch
394 analyses the current HEAD's history to find the anchor
396 and the most recent breakwater tip.
398 =head2 Rewrite the commits into laundered form
400 Mixed debian+upstream commits are split into two commits each.
401 Delta queue (upstream files) commits bubble to the top.
403 and quilt patch additions,
406 This rewrite will always succeed, by construction.
407 The result is the laundered branch.
412 dgit-maint-rebase(7),