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 ,
244 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
245 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
247 For ssh, the default value is taken from the
251 environment variables, if set (see below). And, for ssh, when accessing the
252 archive and dgit-repos, this command line setting is overridden by the
254 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
257 (which can in turn be overridden with -c). Also, when dgit is using
258 git to access dgit-repos, only git's idea of what ssh to use (eg,
262 .RI \fB--dget:\fR option |\fB--dput:\fR option |...
263 Specifies a single additional option to pass to
268 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
269 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
274 Can be repeated as necessary.
276 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
277 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
278 Usually, for passing options to dpkg-genchanges, you should use
279 .BR --ch: \fIoption\fR.
281 See note above regarding ssh.
283 NB that --gpg:option is not supported (because debsign does not
284 have that facility). But see -k.
286 .BR -d "\fIdistro\fR | " --distro= \fIdistro\fR
287 Specifies that the suite to be operated on is part of distro
289 This overrides the default value found from the git config option
290 .BR dgit-suite. \fIsuite\fR .distro .
291 The only effect is that other configuration variables (used
292 for accessing the archive and dgit-repos) used are
293 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .* .
295 If your suite is part of a distro that dgit already knows about, you
296 can use this option to make dgit work even if your dgit doesn't know
297 about the suite. For example, specifying
299 will work when the suite is an unknown suite in the Debian archive.
301 To define a new distro it is necessary to define methods and URLs
302 for fetching (and, for dgit push, altering) a variety of information both
303 in the archive and in dgit-repos. How to do this is not yet
304 documented, and currently the arrangements are unpleasant. See
308 Specifies the .changes file which is to be uploaded. By default
309 dgit push looks for single .changes file in the parent directory whose
310 filename suggests it is for the right package and version - or,
311 if there is a _multi.changes file, dgit uses that.
313 .BI --existing-package= package
314 dgit push needs to canonicalise the suite name. But currently
315 there is no way to ask the archive to do this without knowing the
316 name of an existing package. Without --new we can just use the
317 package we are trying to push. But with --new that will not work, so
320 or use the value of this option.
323 Print a usage summary.
324 .SH WORKFLOW - SIMPLE
325 It is always possible with dgit to clone or fetch a package, make
326 changes in git (using git-commit) on the suite branch
327 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
328 and then dgit push. You can use whatever gitish techniques you like
329 to construct the commit to push; the only requirement is that it is a
330 descendant of the state of the archive, as provided by dgit in the
331 remote tracking branch
332 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
334 If you are lucky the other uploaders have also used dgit and
335 integrated the other relevant git history; if not you can fetch it
336 into your tree and cherry-pick etc. as you wish.
337 .SH WORKFLOW - INTEGRATING BETWEEN DGIT AND OTHER GIT HISTORY
338 If you are the maintainer of a package dealing with uploads made
339 without dgit, you will probably want to merge the synthetic commits
340 (made by dgit to represent the uploads) into your git history.
341 Normally you can just merge the dgit branch into your own master, or
342 indeed if you do your work on the dgit local suite branch
344 you can just use dgit pull.
346 However the first time dgit is used it will generate a new origin
347 commit from the archive which won't be linked into the rest of your
348 git history. You will need to merge this.
350 If last upload was in fact made with git, you should usually proceed
351 as follows: identify the commit which was actually used to build the
352 package. (Hopefully you have a tag for this.) Check out the dgit
354 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
355 and merge that other commit
356 .RB ( "git merge debian/" \fIversion\fR).
357 Hopefully this merge will be trivial because the two trees should
358 be the same. The resulting branch head can be merged into your
360 .RB ( "git checkout master && git merge dgit/" \fIsuite\fR).
362 If last upload was not made with git, a different approach is required
363 to start using dgit. First, do
365 (or clone) to obtain a git history representation of what's in the
366 archive and record it in the
367 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
368 tracking branch. Then somehow, using your other git history
369 plus appropriate diffs and cherry picks from the dgit remote tracking
370 branch, construct a git commit whose tree corresponds to the tree to use for the
371 next upload. If that commit-to-be-uploaded is not a descendant of the
372 dig remote tracking branch, check it out and say
373 .BR "git merge -s ours remotes/dgit/dgit/" \fIsuite\fR;
374 that tells git that we are deliberately throwing away any differences
375 between what's in the archive and what you intend to upload.
378 to actually upload the result.
380 You may use any suitable git workflow with dgit, provided you
381 satisfy dgit's requirements:
383 dgit maintains a pseudo-remote called
385 with one branch per suite. This remote cannot be used with
390 repository for each package contains one ref per suite named
391 \fBrefs/dgit/\fR\fIsuite\fR. These should be pushed to only by
392 dgit. They are fast forwarding. Each push on this branch
393 corresponds to an upload (or attempted upload).
395 However, it is perfectly fine to have other branches in dgit-repos;
396 normally the dgit-repos repo for the package will be accessible via
397 the remote name `origin'.
399 dgit push will also (by default) make signed tags called
401 and push them to dgit-repos, but nothing depends on these tags
404 dgit push can operate on any commit which is a descendant of the
405 current dgit/suite tip in dgit-repos.
407 Uploads made by dgit contain an additional field
409 in the source package .dsc. (This is added by dgit push.)
410 This specifies a commit (an ancestor of the dgit/suite
411 branch) whose tree is identical to the unpacked source upload.
413 Uploads not made by dgit are represented in git by commits which are
414 synthesised by dgit. The tree of each such commit corresponds to the
415 unpacked source; there is an origin commit with the contents, and a
416 psuedo-merge from last known upload - that is, from the contents of
417 the dgit/suite branch.
419 dgit expects repos that it works with to have a
421 remote. This refers to the well-known dgit-repos location
422 (currently, the dgit-repos project on Alioth). dgit fetch updates
423 the remote tracking branch for dgit/suite.
425 dgit does not (currently) represent the orig tarball(s) in git; nor
426 does it represent the patch statck of a `3.0 (quilt)' package. The
427 orig tarballs are downloaded and kept in the parent directory, as with
428 a traditional (non-gitish) dpkg-source workflow.
430 To a user looking at the archive, changes pushed using dgit look like
431 changes made in an NMU: in a `3.0 (quilt)' package the delta from the
432 previous upload is recorded in a new patch constructed by dpkg-source.
433 .SH PACKAGE SOURCE FORMATS
434 If you are not the maintainer, you do not need to worry about the
435 source format of the package. You can just make changes as you like
436 in git. If the package is a `3.0 (quilt)' package, the patch stack
437 will usually not be represented in the git history.
439 If you are the maintainer of a non-native package, you currently have
440 two sensible options:
442 Firstly, you can regard your git history as primary, and the archive
443 as an export format. For example, you could maintain topic branches
444 in git and a fast-forwarding release branch; or you could do your work
445 directly in a merging way on the
447 branches. If you do this you should probably use a `1.0' format
448 source package if you can. In the archive, the delta between upstream
449 will be represented in the single Debian patch.
451 Secondly, you can use `3.0 (quilt)', and regard your quiltish patch
452 stack in the archive as primary. You will have to use other tools
453 besides dgit to import and export this patch stack. But see below:
454 .SH FORMAT 3.0 (QUILT)
455 For a format `3.0 (quilt)' source package, dgit may have to make a
456 commit on your current branch to contain metadata used by quilt and
459 This is because (i) the `3.0 (quilt)' source format cannot represent
460 certain trees, and (ii) packing up a tree in `3.0 (quilt)' and then
461 unpacking it does not always yield the same tree. Instead,
462 dpkg-source insists on the trees having extra quilty metadata and
463 patch files in the debian/ and .pc/ directories, which dpkg-source
466 dgit will automatically work around this braindamage for you when
467 building and pushing. The only thing you need to know is that dgit
468 build, sbuild, etc., may make a new commit on your HEAD. If you're
469 not a quilt user this commit won't contain any changes to files you
472 You can explicitly request that dgit do just this fixup, by running
475 We recommend against the use of `3.0 (quilt)'.
476 .SH FILES IN THE SOURCE PACKAGE BUT NOT IN GIT
477 This section is mainly of interest to maintainers who want to use dgit
478 with their existing git history for the Debian package.
480 Some developers like to have an extra-clean git tree which lacks files
481 which are normally found in source tarballs and therefore in Debian
482 source packages. For example, it is conventional to ship ./configure
483 in the source tarball, but some people prefer not to have it present
484 in the git view of their project.
486 dgit requires that the source package unpacks to exactly the same
487 files as are in the git commit on which dgit push operates. So if you
488 just try to dgit push directly from one of these extra-clean git
489 branches, it will fail.
491 As the maintainer you therefore have the following options:
494 Persuade upstream that the source code in their git history and the
495 source they ship as tarballs should be identical. Of course simply
496 removing the files from the tarball may make the tarball hard for
499 One answer is to commit the (maybe autogenerated)
500 files, perhaps with some simple automation to deal with conflicts and
501 spurious changes. This has the advantage that someone who clones
502 the git repository finds the program just as easy to build as someone
503 who uses the tarball.
506 Have separate git branches which do contain the extra files, and after
507 regenerating the extra files (whenever you would have to anyway),
508 commit the result onto those branches.
511 Provide source packages which lack the files you don't want
512 in git, and arrange for your package build to create them as needed.
513 This may mean not using upstream source tarballs and makes the Debian
514 source package less useful for people without Debian build
517 Of course it may also be that the differences are due to build system
518 bugs, which cause unintended files to end up in the source package.
519 dgit will notice this and complain. You may have to fix these bugs
520 before you can unify your existing git history with dgit's.
522 dgit looks at the following git config keys to control its behaviour.
523 You may set them with git-config (either in system-global or per-tree
524 configuration), or provide
526 on the dgit command line.
528 .BI dgit-suite. suite .distro
530 .BI dgit.default.distro
532 .BI dgit-distro. distro .username
534 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-url
536 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-user
538 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-host
540 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-proto
542 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-path
544 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-check
546 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-create
548 .BI dgit-distro. distro .upload-host
550 .BI dgit-distro. distro .mirror
552 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query
554 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query-default-component
556 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshdakls-user
558 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshdakls-host
560 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshdakls-dir
562 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
564 .BI dgit-distro. distro .keyid
568 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR . *
569 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
571 .BR DGIT_SSH ", " GIT_SSH
572 specify an alternative default program (and perhaps arguments) to use
573 instead of ssh. DGIT_SSH is consulted first and may contain arguments;
574 if it contains any whitespace will be passed to the shell. GIT_SSH
575 specifies just the program; no arguments can be specified, so dgit
576 interprets it the same way as git does.
578 also the --ssh= and --ssh: options.
580 .BR gpg ", " dpkg- "..., " debsign ", " git ", " dget ", " dput ", " LWP::UserAgent
581 and other subprograms and modules used by dgit are affected by various
582 environment variables. Consult the documentaton for those programs
585 We should be using some kind of vhost/vpath setup for the git repos on
586 alioth, so that they can be moved later if and when this turns out to
589 Debian Policy needs to be updated to describe the new Dgit .dsc
590 field (and to specify that it is an RC bug for that field to refer
591 to an unavailable commit).
593 The method of canonicalising suite names is bizarre. See the
594 .B --existing-package
595 option for one of the implications.
597 dgit push should perhaps do `git push origin', or something similar,
600 Debian does not have a working rmadison server, so to find out what
601 version of a package is in the archive, or to canonicalise suite
602 names, we ssh directly into the ftpmaster server.
604 The mechanism for checking for and creating per-package repos on
605 alioth is a hideous bodge. One consequence is that dgit currently
606 only works for people with push access.
608 Debian Maintainers are currently not able to push, as there is not
609 currently any mechanism for determining and honouring the archive's
610 ideas about access control. Currently only DDs can push.
612 dgit's representation of format `3.0 (quilt)' source packages does not
613 represent the patch stack. Currently the patch series representation
614 cannot round trip through the archive. Ideally dgit would represent a
615 quilty package with an origin commit of some kind followed by the
616 patch stack as a series of commits followed by a pseudo-merge (to make
617 the branch fast-forwarding). This would also mean a new `dgit
618 rebase-prep' command or some such to turn such a fast-forwarding
619 branch back into a rebasing patch stack, and a `force' option to dgit
620 push (perhaps enabled automatically by a note left by rebase-prep)
621 which will make the required pseudo-merge.
623 If the dgit push fails halfway through, it should be restartable and
624 idempotent. However this is not true for the git tag operation.
625 Also, it would be good to check that the proposed signing key is
626 available before starting work.
628 dgit's handling of .orig.tar.gz is not very sophisticated. Ideally
629 the .orig.tar.gz could be transported via the git repo as git tags.
630 Doing this is made more complicated by the possibility of a `3.0
631 (quilt)' package with multiple .orig tarballs.
633 dgit's build functions, and dgit push, should not make any changes to
634 your current HEAD. Sadly this is necessary for packages in the `3.0
635 (quilt)' source format. This is ultimately due to design problems in
636 quilt and dpkg-source.
638 There should be an option which arranges for the `3.0 (quilt)'
639 autocommit to not appear on your HEAD, but instead only in the
640 remote tracking suite branch.
642 There should at the very least be some advice in the manpage about how
643 to use dgit when the signing key is not available on the same machine
646 The option parser requires values to be cuddled to the option name.
648 dgit assumes knowledge of the archive layout. There appears to be no
649 sane way to find the path in the archive pool of the .dsc for a
650 particular suite. I'm assured that the archive layout is a
651 `well known algorithm' by now.
653 --dry-run does not always work properly, as not doing some of the git
654 fetches may result in subsequent actions being different. Doing a
655 non-dry-run dgit fetch first will help.
661 \fBgit-buildpackage\fP(1),
662 \fBdpkg-buildpackage\fP(1),
664 https://wiki.debian.org/Alioth
~ianmdlvl / dgit.git / blob