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
32 model, common problems likely to arise with certain kinds of package,
35 The usual workflow is:
37 1. dgit clone or fetch
39 2. make, dev test and commit changes in git as desired
41 3. run dgit build, dgit sbuild or
42 dgit build-source, or generate the source and binary packages for upload
45 4. do pre-upload tests of the proposed upload
50 \fBdgit clone\fR \fIpackage\fP [\fIsuite\fP] [\fB./\fP\fIdir|\fB/\fP\fIdir\fR]
51 Consults the archive and dgit-repos to construct the git view of
58 in a new directory (named
61 also, downloads any necessary orig tarballs.
63 The suite's git tip is
64 left on the local branch
66 ready for work, and on the corresponding dgit remote tracking branch.
69 remote will be set up to point to the package's dgit-repos tree
70 for the distro to which
74 For your convenience, the
76 remote will be set up from the package's Vcs-Git field, if there is
77 one - but note that in the general case the history found there may be
78 different to or even disjoint from dgit's view.
80 \fBdgit fetch\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
81 Consults the archive and git-repos to update the git view of
82 history for a specific suite (and downloads any necessary orig
83 tarballs), and updates the remote tracking branch
84 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
85 If the current branch is
87 then dgit fetch defaults to
89 otherwise it parses debian/changelog and uses the suite specified
92 \fBdgit pull\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
93 Does dgit fetch, and then merges the new head of the remote tracking
95 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
96 into the current branch.
101 with some suitable options. Options and argumments after build
102 will be passed on to dpkg-buildpackage. It is not necessary to use
103 dgit build when using dgit; it is OK to use any approach which ensures
104 that the generated source package corresponds to the relevant git
107 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
109 \fBdgit build-source\fR ...
110 Builds the source package, and a changes file for a prospective
111 source-only upload, using
113 The output is left in
114 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB.dsc\fR
116 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_source.changes\fR.
118 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
121 Cleans the current working tree (according to the --clean= option in
125 Print a usage summary.
127 \fBdgit sbuild\fR ...
128 Constructs the source package, uses
130 to do a binary build, and uses mergechanges to merge the source and
131 binary changes files. Options and argumments after sbuild will be
132 passed on to sbuild. Changes files matching
133 .IB package _ version _*.changes
134 in the parent directory will be removed; the output is left in
135 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_multi.changes\fR.
137 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
139 \fBdgit git-build\fR ...
142 with some suitable options. Options and argumments after git-build
143 will be passed on to git-buildpackage.
145 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
147 \fBdgit push\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
148 Does an `upload', pushing the current HEAD to the archive (as a source
149 package) and to dgit-repos (as git commits). The package must already
150 have been built ready for upload, with the .dsc and .changes
151 left in the parent directory. It is normally best to do the build
152 with dgit too (eg with dgit sbuild): some existing build tools pass
153 unhelpful options to dpkg-source et al by default, which can result in
154 the built source package not being identical to the git tree.
156 In more detail: dgit push checks that the current HEAD corresponds to
157 the .dsc. It then pushes the HEAD to the suite's dgit-repos branch,
158 makes a signed git tag, edits the .dsc to contain the dgit metadata
159 field, runs debsign to sign the upload (.dsc and .changes), pushes the
160 signed tag, and finally uses dput to upload the .changes to the
163 dgit push always uses the package, suite and version specified in the
164 debian/changelog and the .dsc, which must agree. If the command line
165 specifies a suite then that must match too.
167 If dgit push fails while uploading, it is fine to simply retry the
168 dput on the .changes file at your leisure.
170 \fBdgit rpush\fR \fIbuild-host\fR\fB:\fR\fIbuild-dir\fR [\fIpush args...\fR]
171 Pushes the contents of the specified directory on a remote machine.
172 This is like running dgit push on build-host with build-dir as the
173 current directory; however, signing operations are done on the
174 invoking host. This allows you to do a push when the system which has
175 the source code and the build outputs has no access to the key:
177 1. Clone on build host (dgit clone)
179 2. Edit code on build host (edit, git commit)
181 3. Build package on build host (dgit build)
183 4. Test package on build host or elsewhere (dpkg -i, test)
185 5. Upload by invoking dgit rpush on host with your GPG key.
187 However, the build-host must be able to ssh to the dgit repos. If
188 this is not already the case, you must organise it separately, for
189 example by the use of ssh agent forwarding.
191 The remaining arguments are treated just as dgit push would handle
194 build-host and build\-dir can be passed as separate
195 arguments; this is assumed to be the case if the first argument
196 contains no : (except perhaps one in [ ], to support IPv6 address
199 You will need similar enough versions of dgit on the build-host and
200 the invocation host. The build-host needs gnupg installed, with your
201 public key in its keyring (but not your private key, obviously).
204 `3.0 (quilt)' format source packages need changes representing not
205 only in-tree but also as patches in debian/patches. dgit quilt-fixup
206 checks whether this has been done; if not, dgit will make appropriate
207 patches in debian/patches and also commit the resulting changes to
210 This is normally done automatically by dgit build and dgit push.
212 dgit will try to turn each relevant commit in your git history into a
213 new quilt patch. dgit cannot convert nontrivial merges, or certain
214 other kinds of more exotic history. If dgit can't find a suitable
215 linearisation of your history, by default it will fail, but you can
216 ask it to generate a single squashed patch instead.
219 Prints version information and exits.
221 .BI "dgit clone-dgit-repos-server" " destdir"
222 Tries to fetch a copy of the source code for the dgit-repos-server,
223 as actually being used on the dgit git server, as a git tree.
226 .BR --dry-run " | " -n
227 Go through the motions, fetching all information needed, but do not
228 actually update the output(s). For push, dgit does
229 the required checks and leaves the new .dsc in a temporary file,
230 but does not sign, tag, push or upload.
232 .BR --damp-run " | " -L
233 Go through many more of the motions: do everything that doesn't
234 involve either signing things, or making changes on the public
240 for signing the tag and the upload.
243 does not sign tags or uploads (meaningful only with push).
247 Specifies that we should process source package
249 rather than looking in debian/control or debian/changelog.
250 Valid with dgit fetch and dgit pull, only.
252 .BR --clean=git " | " -wg
253 The source tree should be cleaned, before building a source package
254 with one of the build options, using
255 .BR "git clean -xdf" .
256 This will delete all files which are not tracked by git. Also, -wg
259 to dpkg-buildpackage, which prevents the package's own clean target
262 --clean=git is useful when the package's clean target is troublesome;
263 the downside is simply that git clean may delete files you forgot to
266 .BR --clean=none " | " -wn
267 Do not clean the tree before building a source package. If there are
268 files which are not in git, or if the build creates such files, a
269 subsequent dgit push will fail.
271 .BR --clean=dpkg-source " | " -wd
272 Use dpkg-buildpackage to do the clean, so that the source package
273 is cleaned by dpkg-source running the package's clean target.
274 This is the default. It requires the package's build dependencies.
277 The package may be new in this suite. Without this, dgit will
281 Do not complain if the working tree does not match your git HEAD.
282 This can be useful with build, if you plan to commit later. (dgit
283 push will still ensure that the .dsc you upload and the git tree
284 you push are identical, so this option won't make broken pushes.)
286 .BI --deliberately- something
287 Declare that you are deliberately doing
289 This can be used to override safety catches, including safety catches
290 which relate to distro-specific policies. The meanings of
292 understood in the context of Debian are discussed below:
294 .BR --deliberately-not-fast-forward
295 Declare that you are deliberately rewinding history. When pushing to
296 Debian, use this when you are making a renewed upload of an entirely
297 new source package whose previous version was not accepted for release
298 from NEW because of problems with copyright or redistributibility.
300 .BR --deliberately-include-questionable-history
301 Declare that you are deliberately including, in the git history of
302 your current push, history which contains a previously-submitted
303 version of this package which was not approved (or has not yet been
304 approved) by the ftpmasters. When pushing to Debian, only use this
305 option after verifying that: none of the rejected-from-NEW (or
306 never-accepted) versions in the git history of your current push, were
307 rejected by ftpmaster for copyright or redistributability reasons.
309 .BR --deliberately-fresh-repo
310 Declare that you are deliberately rewinding history and want to
311 throw away the existing repo. Not relevant when pushing to Debian,
312 as the Debian server will do this automatically when necessary.
315 When fixing up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata, insist on
316 generating a linear patch stack. If such a stack cannot be generated,
320 When fixing up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata, prefer to
321 generate a linear patch stack, but if that doesn't seem possible,
322 generate a single squashed patch for all the changes made in git.
323 This is not a good idea for an NMU in Debian.
326 When fixing up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata,
327 generate a single squashed patch for all the changes made in git.
328 This is not a good idea for an NMU in Debian.
331 Check whether source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata would need fixing
332 up, but, if it does, fail. You must then fix the metadata yourself
333 somehow before pushing. (NB that dpkg-source --commit will not work
334 because the dgit git tree does not have a
338 .BR --quilt=nocheck " | " --no-quilt-fixup
339 Do not check whether up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata needs
340 fixing up. If you use this option and the metadata did in fact need
341 fixing up, dgit push will fail.
344 Prints debugging information to stderr. Repeating the option produces
345 more output (currently, up to -DD is meaningfully different).
348 Specifies a git configuration option. dgit itself is also controlled
349 by git configuration options.
351 .RI \fB-v\fR version "|\fB_\fR | " \fB--since-version=\fR version |\fB_\fR
354 option to pass to dpkg-genchanges, during builds. Changes (from
355 debian/changelog) since this version will be included in the built
356 changes file, and hence in the upload. If this option is not
357 specified, dgit will query the archive and use the latest version
358 uploaded to the intended suite.
362 inhibits this, so that no -v option will be passed to dpkg-genchanges
363 (and as a result, only the last stanza from debian/changelog will
364 be used for the build and upload).
366 .RI \fB-m\fR maintaineraddress
367 Passed to dpkg-genchanges (eventually).
369 .RI \fB--ch:\fR option
370 Specifies a single additional option to pass, eventually, to
373 .RI \fB--curl=\fR program " | \fB--dput=\fR" program " |..."
374 Specifies alternative programs to use instead of
379 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
380 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
388 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
389 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
391 For dgit, specifies the command to run on the remote host when dgit
392 rpush needs to invoke a remote copy of itself. (dgit also reinvokes
393 itself as the EDITOR for dpkg-source --commit; this is done using
394 argv[0], and is not affected by --dgit=).
396 For ssh, the default value is taken from the
400 environment variables, if set (see below). And, for ssh, when accessing the
401 archive and dgit-repos, this command line setting is overridden by the
403 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
406 (which can in turn be overridden with -c). Also, when dgit is using
407 git to access dgit-repos, only git's idea of what ssh to use (eg,
411 .RI \fB--curl:\fR option " | \fB--dput:\fR" option " |..."
412 Specifies a single additional option to pass to
417 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
418 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
424 Can be repeated as necessary.
426 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
427 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
428 Usually, for passing options to dpkg-genchanges, you should use
429 .BR --ch: \fIoption\fR.
431 See notes above regarding ssh and dgit.
433 NB that --gpg:option is not supported (because debsign does not
434 have that facility). But see -k.
436 .BR -d "\fIdistro\fR | " --distro= \fIdistro\fR
437 Specifies that the suite to be operated on is part of distro
439 This overrides the default value found from the git config option
440 .BR dgit-suite. \fIsuite\fR .distro .
441 The only effect is that other configuration variables (used
442 for accessing the archive and dgit-repos) used are
443 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .* .
445 If your suite is part of a distro that dgit already knows about, you
446 can use this option to make dgit work even if your dgit doesn't know
447 about the suite. For example, specifying
449 will work when the suite is an unknown suite in the Debian archive.
451 To define a new distro it is necessary to define methods and URLs
452 for fetching (and, for dgit push, altering) a variety of information both
453 in the archive and in dgit-repos. How to do this is not yet
454 documented, and currently the arrangements are unpleasant. See
458 Specifies the .changes file which is to be uploaded. By default
459 dgit push looks for single .changes file in the parent directory whose
460 filename suggests it is for the right package and version - or,
461 if there is a _multi.changes file, dgit uses that.
465 pathname contains slashes, the directory part is also used as
467 .BR --build-products-dir ;
468 otherwise, the changes file is expected in that directory (by
472 .BI --build-products-dir= directory
473 Specifies where to find the built files to be uploaded.
474 By default, dgit looks in the parent directory
477 .BI --existing-package= package
478 dgit push needs to canonicalise the suite name. Sometimes, dgit
479 lacks a way to ask the archive to do this without knowing the
480 name of an existing package. Without --new we can just use the
481 package we are trying to push. But with --new that will not work, so
484 or use the value of this option. This option is not needed with the
485 default mechanisms for accessing the archive.
488 Print a usage summary.
490 .BI --initiator-tempdir= directory
491 dgit rpush uses a temporary directory on the invoking (signing) host.
492 This option causes dgit to use
494 instead. Furthermore, the specified directory will be emptied,
495 removed and recreated before dgit starts, rather than removed
496 after dgit finishes. The directory specified must be an absolute
500 Do not delete the destination directory if clone fails.
501 .SH WORKFLOW - SIMPLE
502 It is always possible with dgit to clone or fetch a package, make
503 changes in git (using git-commit) on the suite branch
504 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
505 and then dgit push. You can use whatever gitish techniques you like
506 to construct the commit to push; the only requirement is that it is a
507 descendant of the state of the archive, as provided by dgit in the
508 remote tracking branch
509 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
511 If you are using dgit to do an NMU, and don't know about the
512 maintainers' preferred packaging workflows, you should make your
513 changes as a linear series of (logicially separated) commits on top of
514 what's already in the archive.
516 If you are lucky the other uploaders have also used dgit and
517 integrated the other relevant git history; if not you can fetch it
518 into your tree and cherry-pick etc. as you wish.
519 .SH WORKFLOW - INTEGRATING BETWEEN DGIT AND OTHER GIT HISTORY
520 If you are the maintainer of a package dealing with uploads made
521 without dgit, you will probably want to merge the synthetic commits
522 (made by dgit to represent the uploads) into your git history.
523 Normally you can just merge the dgit branch into your own master, or
524 indeed if you do your work on the dgit local suite branch
526 you can just use dgit pull.
528 However the first time dgit is used it will generate a new origin
529 commit from the archive which won't be linked into the rest of your
530 git history. You will need to merge this.
532 If last upload was in fact made with git, you should usually proceed
533 as follows: identify the commit which was actually used to build the
534 package. (Hopefully you have a tag for this.) Check out the dgit
536 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
537 and merge that other commit
538 .RB ( "git merge debian/" \fIversion\fR).
539 Hopefully this merge will be trivial because the two trees should
540 be the same. The resulting branch head can be merged into your
542 .RB ( "git checkout master && git merge dgit/" \fIsuite\fR).
544 If last upload was not made with git, a different approach is required
545 to start using dgit. First, do
547 (or clone) to obtain a git history representation of what's in the
548 archive and record it in the
549 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
550 tracking branch. Then somehow, using your other git history
551 plus appropriate diffs and cherry picks from the dgit remote tracking
552 branch, construct a git commit whose tree corresponds to the tree to use for the
553 next upload. If that commit-to-be-uploaded is not a descendant of the
554 dig remote tracking branch, check it out and say
555 .BR "git merge -s ours remotes/dgit/dgit/" \fIsuite\fR;
556 that tells git that we are deliberately throwing away any differences
557 between what's in the archive and what you intend to upload.
560 to actually upload the result.
562 dgit looks at the following git config keys to control its behaviour.
563 You may set them with git-config (either in system-global or per-tree
564 configuration), or provide
566 on the dgit command line.
568 .BI dgit-suite. suite .distro
570 .BI dgit.default.distro
572 .BI dgit-distro. distro .username
574 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-url
576 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-user
578 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-host
580 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-proto
582 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-path
584 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-check
586 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-create
588 .BI dgit-distro. distro .upload-host
590 .BI dgit-distro. distro .mirror
592 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query
594 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query-default-component
596 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-user
598 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-host
600 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-dbname
602 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
604 .BI dgit-distro. distro .keyid
608 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR . *
609 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
611 .BR DGIT_SSH ", " GIT_SSH
612 specify an alternative default program (and perhaps arguments) to use
613 instead of ssh. DGIT_SSH is consulted first and may contain arguments;
614 if it contains any whitespace will be passed to the shell. GIT_SSH
615 specifies just the program; no arguments can be specified, so dgit
616 interprets it the same way as git does.
618 also the --ssh= and --ssh: options.
620 .BR gpg ", " dpkg- "..., " debsign ", " git ", " curl ", " dput ", " LWP::UserAgent
621 and other subprograms and modules used by dgit are affected by various
622 environment variables. Consult the documentaton for those programs
625 We should be using some kind of vhost/vpath setup for the git repos on
626 alioth, so that they can be moved later if and when this turns out to
629 dgit push should perhaps do `git push origin', or something similar,
632 Debian does not have a working rmadison server, so to find out what
633 version of a package is in the archive, or to canonicalise suite
634 names, we ssh directly into the ftpmaster server and run psql there to
637 The mechanism for checking for and creating per-package repos on
638 alioth is a hideous bodge. One consequence is that dgit currently
639 only works for people with push access.
641 Debian Maintainers are currently not able to push, as there is not
642 currently any mechanism for determining and honouring the archive's
643 ideas about access control. Currently only DDs can push.
645 dgit's git representation of format `3.0 (quilt)' source packages does
646 not represent the patch stack as git commits. Currently the patch
647 series representation cannot round trip between git and the archive.
648 Ideally dgit would represent a quilty package with an origin commit of
649 some kind followed by the patch stack as a series of commits followed
650 by a pseudo-merge (to make the branch fast-forwarding). This would
651 also mean a new `dgit rebase-prep' command or some such to turn such a
652 fast-forwarding branch back into a rebasing patch stack, and a `force'
653 option to dgit push (perhaps enabled automatically by a note left by
654 rebase-prep) which will make the required pseudo-merge.
656 If the dgit push fails halfway through, it should be restartable and
657 idempotent. However this is not true for the git tag operation.
658 Also, it would be good to check that the proposed signing key is
659 available before starting work.
661 dgit's handling of .orig.tar.gz is not very sophisticated. Ideally
662 the .orig.tar.gz could be transported via the git repo as git tags.
663 Doing this is made more complicated by the possibility of a `3.0
664 (quilt)' package with multiple .orig tarballs.
666 dgit's build functions, and dgit push, should not make any changes to
667 your current HEAD. Sadly this is necessary for packages in the `3.0
668 (quilt)' source format. This is ultimately due to what I consider
669 design problems in quilt and dpkg-source.
671 There should be an option which arranges for the `3.0 (quilt)'
672 autocommit(s) to not appear on your HEAD, but instead only in the
673 remote tracking suite branch.
675 The option parser requires values to be cuddled to the option name.
677 dgit assumes knowledge of the archive database. (The information dgit
678 needs is not currently available via any public online service with a
679 well-defined interface, let alone a secure one.)
681 --dry-run does not always work properly, as not doing some of the git
682 fetches may result in subsequent actions being different. Doing a
683 non-dry-run dgit fetch first will help.
690 \fBgit-buildpackage\fP(1),
691 \fBdpkg-buildpackage\fP(1),
693 https://wiki.debian.org/Alioth