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 ,
243 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
244 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
246 .RI \fB--dget:\fR option |\fB--dput:\fR option |...
247 Specifies a single additional option to pass to
252 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
253 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
257 Can be repeated as necessary.
259 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
260 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
261 Usually, for passing options to dpkg-genchanges, you should use
262 .BR --ch: \fIoption\fR.
264 NB that --gpg:option is not supported (because debsign does not
265 have that facility). But see -k.
267 .BR -d "\fIdistro\fR | " --distro= \fIdistro\fR
268 Specifies that the suite to be operated on is part of distro
270 This overrides the default value found from the git config option
271 .BR dgit-suite. \fIsuite\fR .distro .
272 The only effect is that other configuration variables (used
273 for accessing the archive and dgit-repos) used are
274 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .* .
276 If your suite is part of a distro that dgit already knows about, you
277 can use this option to make dgit work even if your dgit doesn't know
278 about the suite. For example, specifying
280 will work when the suite is an unknown suite in the Debian archive.
282 To define a new distro it is necessary to define methods and URLs
283 for fetching (and, for dgit push, altering) a variety of information both
284 in the archive and in dgit-repos. How to do this is not yet
285 documented, and currently the arrangements are unpleasant. See
289 Specifies the .changes file which is to be uploaded. By default
290 dgit push looks for single .changes file in the parent directory whose
291 filename suggests it is for the right package and version - or,
292 if there is a _multi.changes file, dgit uses that.
294 .BI --existing-package= package
295 dgit push needs to canonicalise the suite name. But currently
296 there is no way to ask the archive to do this without knowing the
297 name of an existing package. Without --new we can just use the
298 package we are trying to push. But with --new that will not work, so
301 or use the value of this option.
304 Print a usage summary.
305 .SH WORKFLOW - SIMPLE
306 It is always possible with dgit to clone or fetch a package, make
307 changes in git (using git-commit) on the suite branch
308 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
309 and then dgit push. You can use whatever gitish techniques you like
310 to construct the commit to push; the only requirement is that it is a
311 descendant of the state of the archive, as provided by dgit in the
312 remote tracking branch
313 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
315 If you are lucky the other uploaders have also used dgit and
316 integrated the other relevant git history; if not you can fetch it
317 into your tree and cherry-pick etc. as you wish.
318 .SH WORKFLOW - INTEGRATING BETWEEN DGIT AND OTHER GIT HISTORY
319 If you are the maintainer of a package dealing with uploads made
320 without dgit, you will probably want to merge the synthetic commits
321 (made by dgit to represent the uploads) into your git history.
322 Normally you can just merge the dgit branch into your own master, or
323 indeed if you do your work on the dgit local suite branch
325 you can just use dgit pull.
327 However the first time dgit is used it will generate a new origin
328 commit from the archive which won't be linked into the rest of your
329 git history. You will need to merge this.
331 If last upload was in fact made with git, you should usually proceed
332 as follows: identify the commit which was actually used to build the
333 package. (Hopefully you have a tag for this.) Check out the dgit
335 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
336 and merge that other commit
337 .RB ( "git merge debian/" \fIversion\fR).
338 Hopefully this merge will be trivial because the two trees should
339 be the same. The resulting branch head can be merged into your
341 .RB ( "git checkout master && git merge dgit/" \fIsuite\fR).
343 If last upload was not made with git, a different approach is required
344 to start using dgit. First, do
346 (or clone) to obtain a git history representation of what's in the
347 archive and record it in the
348 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
349 tracking branch. Then somehow, using your other git history
350 plus appropriate diffs and cherry picks from the dgit remote tracking
351 branch, construct a git commit whose tree corresponds to the tree to use for the
352 next upload. If that commit-to-be-uploaded is not a descendant of the
353 dig remote tracking branch, check it out and say
354 .BR "git merge -s ours remotes/dgit/dgit/" \fIsuite\fR;
355 that tells git that we are deliberately throwing away any differences
356 between what's in the archive and what you intend to upload.
359 to actually upload the result.
361 You may use any suitable git workflow with dgit, provided you
362 satisfy dgit's requirements:
364 dgit maintains a pseudo-remote called
366 with one branch per suite. This remote cannot be used with
371 repository for each package contains one ref per suite named
372 \fBrefs/dgit/\fR\fIsuite\fR. These should be pushed to only by
373 dgit. They are fast forwarding. Each push on this branch
374 corresponds to an upload (or attempted upload).
376 However, it is perfectly fine to have other branches in dgit-repos;
377 normally the dgit-repos repo for the package will be accessible via
378 the remote name `origin'.
380 dgit push will also (by default) make signed tags called
382 and push them to dgit-repos, but nothing depends on these tags
385 dgit push can operate on any commit which is a descendant of the
386 current dgit/suite tip in dgit-repos.
388 Uploads made by dgit contain an additional field
390 in the source package .dsc. (This is added by dgit push.)
391 This specifies a commit (an ancestor of the dgit/suite
392 branch) whose tree is identical to the unpacked source upload.
394 Uploads not made by dgit are represented in git by commits which are
395 synthesised by dgit. The tree of each such commit corresponds to the
396 unpacked source; there is an origin commit with the contents, and a
397 psuedo-merge from last known upload - that is, from the contents of
398 the dgit/suite branch.
400 dgit expects repos that it works with to have a
402 remote. This refers to the well-known dgit-repos location
403 (currently, the dgit-repos project on Alioth). dgit fetch updates
404 the remote tracking branch for dgit/suite.
406 dgit does not (currently) represent the orig tarball(s) in git; nor
407 does it represent the patch statck of a `3.0 (quilt)' package. The
408 orig tarballs are downloaded and kept in the parent directory, as with
409 a traditional (non-gitish) dpkg-source workflow.
411 To a user looking at the archive, changes pushed using dgit look like
412 changes made in an NMU: in a `3.0 (quilt)' package the delta from the
413 previous upload is recorded in a new patch constructed by dpkg-source.
414 .SH PACKAGE SOURCE FORMATS
415 If you are not the maintainer, you do not need to worry about the
416 source format of the package. You can just make changes as you like
417 in git. If the package is a `3.0 (quilt)' package, the patch stack
418 will usually not be represented in the git history.
420 If you are the maintainer of a non-native package, you currently have
421 two sensible options:
423 Firstly, you can regard your git history as primary, and the archive
424 as an export format. For example, you could maintain topic branches
425 in git and a fast-forwarding release branch; or you could do your work
426 directly in a merging way on the
428 branches. If you do this you should probably use a `1.0' format
429 source package if you can. In the archive, the delta between upstream
430 will be represented in the single Debian patch.
432 Secondly, you can use `3.0 (quilt)', and regard your quiltish patch
433 stack in the archive as primary. You will have to use other tools
434 besides dgit to import and export this patch stack. But see below:
435 .SH FORMAT 3.0 (QUILT)
436 For a format `3.0 (quilt)' source package, dgit may have to make a
437 commit on your current branch to contain metadata used by quilt and
440 This is because (i) the `3.0 (quilt)' source format cannot represent
441 certain trees, and (ii) packing up a tree in `3.0 (quilt)' and then
442 unpacking it does not always yield the same tree. Instead,
443 dpkg-source insists on the trees having extra quilty metadata and
444 patch files in the debian/ and .pc/ directories, which dpkg-source
447 dgit will automatically work around this braindamage for you when
448 building and pushing. The only thing you need to know is that dgit
449 build, sbuild, etc., may make a new commit on your HEAD. If you're
450 not a quilt user this commit won't contain any changes to files you
453 You can explicitly request that dgit do just this fixup, by running
456 We recommend against the use of `3.0 (quilt)'.
457 .SH FILES IN THE SOURCE PACKAGE BUT NOT IN GIT
458 This section is mainly of interest to maintainers who want to use dgit
459 with their existing git history for the Debian package.
461 Some developers like to have an extra-clean git tree which lacks files
462 which are normally found in source tarballs and therefore in Debian
463 source packages. For example, it is conventional to ship ./configure
464 in the source tarball, but some people prefer not to have it present
465 in the git view of their project.
467 dgit requires that the source package unpacks to exactly the same
468 files as are in the git commit on which dgit push operates. So if you
469 just try to dgit push directly from one of these extra-clean git
470 branches, it will fail.
472 As the maintainer you therefore have the following options:
475 Persuade upstream that the source code in their git history and the
476 source they ship as tarballs should be identical. Of course simply
477 removing the files from the tarball may make the tarball hard for
480 One answer is to commit the (maybe autogenerated)
481 files, perhaps with some simple automation to deal with conflicts and
482 spurious changes. This has the advantage that someone who clones
483 the git repository finds the program just as easy to build as someone
484 who uses the tarball.
487 Have separate git branches which do contain the extra files, and after
488 regenerating the extra files (whenever you would have to anyway),
489 commit the result onto those branches.
492 Provide source packages which lack the files you don't want
493 in git, and arrange for your package build to create them as needed.
494 This may mean not using upstream source tarballs and makes the Debian
495 source package less useful for people without Debian build
498 Of course it may also be that the differences are due to build system
499 bugs, which cause unintended files to end up in the source package.
500 dgit will notice this and complain. You may have to fix these bugs
501 before you can unify your existing git history with dgit's.
503 dgit looks at the following git config keys to control its behaviour.
504 You may set them with git-config (either in system-global or per-tree
505 configuration), or provide
507 on the dgit command line.
509 .BI dgit-suite. suite .distro
511 .BI dgit.default.distro
513 .BI dgit-distro. distro .username
515 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-url
517 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-user
519 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-host
521 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-proto
523 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-path
525 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-check
527 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-create
529 .BI dgit-distro. distro .upload-host
531 .BI dgit-distro. distro .mirror
533 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query
535 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query-default-component
537 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshdakls-user
539 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshdakls-host
541 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshdakls-dir
543 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
545 .BI dgit-distro. distro .keyid
549 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR . *
551 We should be using some kind of vhost/vpath setup for the git repos on
552 alioth, so that they can be moved later if and when this turns out to
555 Debian Policy needs to be updated to describe the new Dgit .dsc
556 field (and to specify that it is an RC bug for that field to refer
557 to an unavailable commit).
559 The method of canonicalising suite names is bizarre. See the
560 .B --existing-package
561 option for one of the implications.
563 dgit push should perhaps do `git push origin', or something similar,
566 Debian does not have a working rmadison server, so to find out what
567 version of a package is in the archive, or to canonicalise suite
568 names, we ssh directly into the ftpmaster server.
570 The mechanism for checking for and creating per-package repos on
571 alioth is a hideous bodge. One consequence is that dgit currently
572 only works for people with push access.
574 Debian Maintainers are currently not able to push, as there is not
575 currently any mechanism for determining and honouring the archive's
576 ideas about access control. Currently only DDs can push.
578 dgit's representation of format `3.0 (quilt)' source packages does not
579 represent the patch stack. Currently the patch series representation
580 cannot round trip through the archive. Ideally dgit would represent a
581 quilty package with an origin commit of some kind followed by the
582 patch stack as a series of commits followed by a pseudo-merge (to make
583 the branch fast-forwarding). This would also mean a new `dgit
584 rebase-prep' command or some such to turn such a fast-forwarding
585 branch back into a rebasing patch stack, and a `force' option to dgit
586 push (perhaps enabled automatically by a note left by rebase-prep)
587 which will make the required pseudo-merge.
589 If the dgit push fails halfway through, it should be restartable and
590 idempotent. However this is not true for the git tag operation.
591 Also, it would be good to check that the proposed signing key is
592 available before starting work.
594 dgit's handling of .orig.tar.gz is not very sophisticated. Ideally
595 the .orig.tar.gz could be transported via the git repo as git tags.
596 Doing this is made more complicated by the possibility of a `3.0
597 (quilt)' package with multiple .orig tarballs.
599 dgit's build functions, and dgit push, should not make any changes to
600 your current HEAD. Sadly this is necessary for packages in the `3.0
601 (quilt)' source format. This is ultimately due to design problems in
602 quilt and dpkg-source.
604 There should be an option which arranges for the `3.0 (quilt)'
605 autocommit to not appear on your HEAD, but instead only in the
606 remote tracking suite branch.
608 There should at the very least be some advice in the manpage about how
609 to use dgit when the signing key is not available on the same machine
612 The option parser requires values to be cuddled to the option name.
614 dgit assumes knowledge of the archive layout. There appears to be no
615 sane way to find the path in the archive pool of the .dsc for a
616 particular suite. I'm assured that the archive layout is a
617 `well known algorithm' by now.
619 --dry-run does not always work properly, as not doing some of the git
620 fetches may result in subsequent actions being different. Doing a
621 non-dry-run dgit fetch first will help.
627 \fBgit-buildpackage\fP(1),
628 \fBdpkg-buildpackage\fP(1),
630 https://wiki.debian.org/Alioth
~ianmdlvl / dgit.git / blob