[\fIsuite\fP]
.br
.B dgit
-[\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBbuild\fP
-[\fIgit\-buildpackage\-opts\fP|\fIdpkg\-buildpackage\-opts\fp]
+[\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBbuild\fP|\fBsbuild\fP
+[\fIbuild\-opts\fp]
.br
.B dgit
[\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBpush\fP [\fIdgit\-opts\fP]
[\fIsuite\fP]
+.br
+.B dgit
+[\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fIaction\fR ...
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B dgit
treats the Debian archive as a version control system, and
.B dgit-repos
which lives outside the Debian archive (currently, on Alioth).
-.B dgit clone
-and
-.B dgit fetch
-consult the archive and dgit-repos and fetch and/or construct the
-git view of the history. With clone, the destination directory (by
-default, the package name in the current directory) will be created,
-and the new directory's `origin' remote will be set up to point to
-the package's dgit-repos tree.
-
-.B dgit build
-runs
-.B git-buildpackage
-with some suitable options. Options after
-.B build
-will be passed on to git-buildpackage. It is not necessary to
-use dgit build; it is OK to use any approach which ensures that
-the generated source package corresponds to the relevant git commit.
-Tagging and signing should be left to dgit push.
+The usual workflow is: 1. clone or fetch; 2. make and commit changes
+in git as desired; 3. run dgit build or dgit sbuild, or generate the
+source and binary packages for upload some other way; 4. do
+pre-upload tests of the proposed upload; 5. run dgit push.
+.TP
+\fBdgit clone\fR \fIpackage\fP [\fIsuite\fP] [\fB./\fP\fIdir|\fB/\fP\fIdir]
+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.
+Also, 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.
+.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/ \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/ suite
+into the current branch.
+.TP
+\fBdgit build\fR ...
+Runs
+.B git-buildpackage
+with some suitable options. Options and argumments after build
+will be passed on to git-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 and signing should be left to dgit push.
+.TP
+\fBdgit sbuild\fR ...
+Constructs the source package, and uses sbuild to do a binary
+build, and uses mergechanges to merge the source and binary
+changes files. Options and argumments after sbuild will be passed on
+to sbuild. Changes files matching
+.IB package _ version _*.changes
+in the parent directory will be removed; the output is left in
+.IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_multi.changes\fR.
+.TP
.B dgit push
-does an `upload', pushing the current HEAD to the archive (as a source
-package) and to dgit-repos (as git commits). This also involves
-making a signed git tag, and signing the files to be uploaded to the
+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.
+
+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.
-.SH MODEL AND WORKFLOW
+
+For a format `3.0 (quilt)' source package, dgit push
+may also have to make a commit on your current branch to contain
+quilt metadata. It will do this automatically if necessary.
+You can explicitly request that dgit do just this
+dgit quilt-fixup.
+
+dgit push always uses the package, suite and version specified in the
+debian/changelog and the .dsc, which must agree.
+
+If dgit push fails while uploading, it is fine to simply retry the
+dput on the .changes file at your leisure.
+.TP
+.B dgit quilt-fixup
+Looks to see if there is quilt patch metadata left over by dpkg-source
+-b, and if so makes a git commit of it. This is normally done
+automatically by dgit push. dgit quilt-fixup takes no additional
+arguments. Note that it will only process a patch generated by
+dpkg-source for the most recent version (according to the
+debia/changelog).
+
+It is not normally necessary to run dgit quilt-fixup explicitly;
+where necessary it is done as part of dgit push.
+.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 commit to push; the only requirement is that it is a
+descendant of the state of the archive, as provided by dgit in the
+remote tracking branch
+.BR remotes/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
+
+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 the same. 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/ 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. If that commit-to-be-uploaded is not a descendant of the
+dig remote tracking branch, check it out and say
+.BR "git merge -s ours remotes/dgit/" \fIsuite\fR;
+that tells git that we are deliberately throwing away any differences
+between what's in the archive and what you intend to upload.
+Then run
+.BR "dgit push"
+to actually upload the result.
+.SH MODEL
You may use any suitable git workflow with dgit, provided you
satisfy dgit's requirements:
normally the dgit-repos repo for the package will be accessible via
the remote name `origin'.
+dgit push will also (by default) make signed tags called
+.BI debian/ version
+and push them to dgit-repos, but nothing depends on these tags
+existing.
+
dgit push can operate on any commit which is a descendant of the
current dgit/suite tip in dgit-repos.
Uploads not made by dgit are represented in git by commits which are
synthesised by dgit. The tree of each such commit corresponds to the
-unpacked source; the single parent is the last known upload - that is,
-the contents of the dgit/suite branch.
+unpacked source; there is an origin commit with the contents, and a
+psuedo-merge from last known upload - that is, from the contents of
+the dgit/suite branch.
dgit expects repos that it works with to have a
.B dgit
remote. This refers to the well-known dgit-repos location
(currently, the dgit-repos project on Alioth). dgit fetch updates
the remote tracking branch for dgit/suite.
+
+dgit does not (currently) represent the orig tarball(s) in git; nor
+does it represent the patch statck of a `3.0 (quilt)' package. The
+orig tarballs are downloaded and kept in the parent directory, as with
+a traditional (non-gitish) dpkg-source workflow.
+
+To a user looking at the archive, changes pushed using dgit look like
+changes made in an NMU: in a `3.0 (quilt)' package the delta from the
+previous upload is recorded in a new patch constructed by dpkg-source.
+.SH PACKAGE SOURCE FORMATS
+If you are not the maintainer, you do not need to worry about the
+source format of the package. You can just make changes as you like
+in git. If the package is a `3.0 (quilt)' package, the patch stack
+will usually not be represented in the git history.
+
+If you are the maintainer of a non-native package, you currently have
+two sensible options:
+
+Firstly, you can regard your git history as primary, and the archive
+as an export format. For example, you could maintain topic branches
+in git and a fast-forwarding release branch; or you could do your work
+directly in a merging way on the
+.BI dgit/ suite
+branches. If you do this you should probably use a `1.0' format
+source package. In the archive, the delta between upstream will be
+represented in the single Debian patch.
+
+Secondly, you can regard your quiltish patch stack in the archive as
+primary. You will have to use other tools besides dgit to import and
+export this patch stack. For `3.0 (quilt)' packages, dgit has to do
+more work to work around some braindamage in way dpkg-source handles
+changes made to this format. See also the BUGS section. We recommend
+against the use of `3.0 (quilt)'.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BR --dry-run | -n
Specifies a git configuration option. dgit itself is also controlled
by git configuration options.
.TP
-.RI \fB--dget=\fR program |\fB--dput=\fR program |\fB--debsign=\fR program
-Specifies alternative programs to use instead of dget, dput
-or debsign.
+.RI \fB--dget=\fR program |\fB--dput=\fR program |...
+Specifies alternative programs to use instead of
+.BR dget ,
+.BR dput ,
+.BR debsign ,
+.BR dpkg-buildpackage
+.BR sbuild ,
+or
+.BR mergechanges .
.TP
-.RI \fB--dget:\fR option |\fB--dput:\fR option |\fB--debsign:\fR option
-Specifies a single additional option to pass to dget, dput or
-debsign. Use repeatedly if multiple additional options are required.
+.RI \fB--dget:\fR option |\fB--dput:\fR option |...
+Specifies a single additional option to pass to
+.BR dget ,
+.BR dput ,
+.BR debsign ,
+.BR dpkg-buildpackage
+.BR sbuild ,
+or
+.BR mergechanges .
+Can be repeated as necessary.
+.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 do this is not yet
+documented, and currently the arrangements are unpleasant. See
+BUGS.
.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.
+filename suggests it is for the right package and version - or,
+if there is a _multi.changes file, dgit uses that.
+.TP
+.BI --existing-package= package
+dgit push needs to canonicalise the suite name. But currently
+there is no 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.
+.TP
+.BR -h | --help
+Print a usage summary.
+.SH SEE ALSO
+\fBdget\fP(1),
+\fBdput\fP(1),
+\fBdebsign\fP(1),
+\fBgit-config\fP(1),
+\fBgit-buildpackage\fP(1),
+\fBdpkg-buildpackage\fP(1),
+.br
+https://wiki.debian.org/Alioth
.SH CONFIGURATION
dgit looks at the following git config keys to control its behaviour.
You may set them with git-config (either in system-global or per-tree
.TP
.BI dgit.default.distro
.TP
-.BI dgit.default.username
+.BI dgit-distro. distro .username
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .git-url
.TP
+.BI dgit-distro. distro .git-user
+.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .git-host
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .git-proto
.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query-default-component
.TP
+.BI dgit-distro. distro .sshdakls-user
+.TP
+.BI dgit-distro. distro .sshdakls-host
+.TP
+.BI dgit-distro. distro .sshdakls-dir
+.TP
.BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
.TP
+.BI dgit-distro. distro .keyid
+.TP
.BR dgit.default. *
for each
.BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR . *
field (and to specify that it is an RC bug for that field to refer
to an unavailable commit).
-dgit cannot currently introduce a package into a suite.
+The method of canonicalising suite names is bizarre. See the
+.B --existing-package
+option for one of the implications.
dgit push should perhaps do `git push origin', or something similar,
by default.
+Debian does not have a working rmadison server, so to find out what
+version of a package is in the archive, or to canonicalise suite
+names, we ssh directly into the ftpmaster server.
+
The mechanism for checking for and creating per-package repos on
alioth is a hideous bodge. One consequence is that dgit currently
only works for people with push access.
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.
-The error messages are often unhelpfully terse and tend to refer to
-line numbers in dgit.
+`3.0 (quilt)' packages have an additional difficulty: if these are
+edited in the most normal way, and then fed to dpkg-buildpackage,
+dpkg-source will add extra quilt patch metadata to the source tree
+during the source package build. This extra metadata is then of
+course not included in the git history. So dgit push needs to commit
+it for you, to make sure that the git history and archive contents are
+identical. That this is necessary is a bug in the `3.0 (quilt)'
+format.
+
+There should be an option which arranges for the `3.0 (quilt)'
+autocommit to not appear on your HEAD, but instead only in the
+remote tracking suite branch.
+
+There should at the very least be some advice in the manpage about how
+to use dgit when the signing key is not available on the same machine
+as the build host.
The option parser requires values to be cuddled to the option name.