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 treats the Debian archive as a version control system, and
31 bidirectionally gateways between the archive and git. The git view of
32 the package can contain the usual upstream git history, and will be
33 augmented by commits representing uploads done by other developers not
34 using dgit. This git history is stored in a canonical location known
37 which lives outside the Debian archive (currently, on Alioth).
39 The usual workflow is: 1. clone or fetch; 2. make and commit changes
40 in git as desired; 3. run dgit build, dgit sbuild or dgit
41 build-source, or generate the source and binary packages for upload
42 some other way; 4. do pre-upload tests of the proposed upload; 5. run
45 \fBdgit clone\fR \fIpackage\fP [\fIsuite\fP] [\fB./\fP\fIdir|\fB/\fP\fIdir\fR]
46 Consults the archive and dgit-repos to construct the git view of
53 in a new directory (named
56 also, downloads any necessary orig tarballs.
58 The suite's git tip is
59 left on the local branch
61 ready for work, and on the corresponding dgit remote tracking branch.
64 remote will be set up to point to the package's dgit-repos tree
65 for the distro to which
69 \fBdgit fetch\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
70 Consults the archive and git-repos to update the git view of
71 history for a specific suite (and downloads any necessary orig
72 tarballs), and updates the remote tracking branch
73 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
74 If the current branch is
76 then dgit fetch defaults to
78 otherwise it parses debian/changelog and uses the suite specified
81 \fBdgit pull\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
82 Does dgit fetch, and then merges the new head of the remote tracking
84 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
85 into the current branch.
90 with some suitable options. Options and argumments after build
91 will be passed on to dpkg-buildpackage. It is not necessary to use
92 dgit build when using dgit; it is OK to use any approach which ensures
93 that the generated source package corresponds to the relevant git
96 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
98 \fBdgit build-source\fR ...
99 Builds the source package, and a changes file for a prospective
100 source-only upload, using
102 The output is left in
103 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB.dsc\fR
105 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_source.changes\fR.
107 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
110 Print a usage summary.
112 \fBdgit sbuild\fR ...
113 Constructs the source package, uses
115 to do a binary build, and uses mergechanges to merge the source and
116 binary changes files. Options and argumments after sbuild will be
117 passed on to sbuild. Changes files matching
118 .IB package _ version _*.changes
119 in the parent directory will be removed; the output is left in
120 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_multi.changes\fR.
122 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
124 \fBdgit git-build\fR ...
127 with some suitable options. Options and argumments after git-build
128 will be passed on to git-buildpackage.
130 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
132 \fBdgit push\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
133 Does an `upload', pushing the current HEAD to the archive (as a source
134 package) and to dgit-repos (as git commits). The package must already
135 have been built ready for upload, with the .dsc and .changes
136 left in the parent directory.
138 In more detail: dgit push checks that the current HEAD corresponds to
139 the .dsc. It then pushes the HEAD to the suite's dgit-repos branch,
140 makes a signed git tag, edits the .dsc to contain the dgit metadata
141 field, runs debsign to sign the upload (.dsc and .changes), pushes the
142 signed tag, and finally uses dput to upload the .changes to the
145 dgit push always uses the package, suite and version specified in the
146 debian/changelog and the .dsc, which must agree. If the command line
147 specifies a suite then that must match too.
149 If dgit push fails while uploading, it is fine to simply retry the
150 dput on the .changes file at your leisure.
152 \fBdgit rpush\fR \fIbuild-host\fR\fB:\fR\fIbuild-dir\fR [\fIpush args...\fR]
153 Pushes the contents of the specified directory on a remote machine.
154 This is like running dgit push on build-host with build-dir as the
155 current directory; however, signing operations are done on the
156 invoking host. This allows you to do a push when the system which has
157 the source code and the build outputs has no access to the key.
159 However, the build-host must be able to ssh to the dgit repos. If
160 this is not already the case, you must organise it separately, for
161 example by the use of ssh agent forwarding.
163 The remaining arguments are treated just as dgit push would handle
166 build-host and build\-dir can be passed as separate
167 arguments; this is assumed to be the case if the first argument
168 contains no : (except perhaps on in [ ], to support IPv6 address
171 You will need similar enough versions of dgit on the build-host and
175 Looks to see if the tree is one which dpkg-source cannot properly
176 represent. If it isn't, dgit will fix it up for you (in quilt terms,
177 by making a new debian/ patch containing your unquilty changes) and
178 make a commit of the changes it has made.
180 This is normally done automatically by dgit build and dgit push.
183 Prints version information and exits.
187 Go through the motions, fetching all information needed, but do not
188 actually update the output(s). For push, dgit does
189 the required checks and leaves the new .dsc in a temporary file,
190 but does not sign, tag, push or upload.
193 Go through many more of the motions: do everything that doesn't
194 involve either signing things, or making changes on the public
200 for signing the tag and the upload.
203 does not sign tags or uploads (meaningful only with push).
207 Specifies that we should process source package
209 rather than looking in debian/control or debian/changelog.
210 Valid with dgit fetch and dgit pull, only.
212 .BR --clean=git | -wg
213 The source tree should be cleaned, before building a source package
214 with one of the build options, using
215 .BR "git clean -xdf" .
216 This will delete all files which are not tracked by git.
218 .BR --clean=none | -wn
219 Do not clean the tree before building a source package. If there are
220 files which are not in git, a subsequent dgit push will fail.
222 .BR --clean=dpkg-source | -wd
223 Use dpkg-buildpackage to do the clean, so that the source package
224 is cleaned by dpkg-source running the package's clean target.
225 This is the default. It requires the package's build dependencies.
228 The package may be new in this suite. Without this, dgit will
232 Do not complain if the working tree does not match your git HEAD.
233 This can be useful with build, if you plan to commit later. (dgit
234 push will still ensure that the .dsc you upload and the git tree
235 you push are identical, so this option won't make broken pushes.)
237 This option may not work properly on `3.0 (quilt)' packages, as in
238 that case dgit needs to use and perhaps commit parts of your working
242 Do not fix up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata. If you use this
243 option and the package did in fact need fixing up, dgit push will
247 Prints debugging information to stderr. Repeating the option produces
248 more output (currently, up to -DD is meaningfully different).
251 Specifies a git configuration option. dgit itself is also controlled
252 by git configuration options.
254 .RI \fB-v\fR version "|\fB_\fR | " \fB--since-version=\fR version |\fB_\fR
257 option to pass to dpkg-genchanges, during builds. Changes (from
258 debian/changelog) since this version will be included in the built
259 changes file, and hence in the upload. If this option is not
260 specified, dgit will query the archive and use the latest version
261 uploaded to the intended suite.
265 inhibits this, so that no -v option will be passed to dpkg-genchanges
266 (and as a result, only the last stanza from debian/changelog will
267 be used for the build and upload).
269 .RI \fB-m\fR maintaineraddress
270 Passed to dpkg-genchanges (eventually).
272 .RI \fB--ch:\fR option
273 Specifies a single additional option to pass, eventually, to
276 .RI \fB--dget=\fR program |\fB--dput=\fR program |...
277 Specifies alternative programs to use instead of
282 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
283 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
291 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
292 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
294 For dgit, specifies the command to run on the remote host when dgit
295 rpush needs to invoke a remote copy of itself. (dgit also reinvokes
296 itself as the EDITOR for dpkg-source --commit; this is done using
297 argv[0], and is not affected by --dget=).
299 For ssh, the default value is taken from the
303 environment variables, if set (see below). And, for ssh, when accessing the
304 archive and dgit-repos, this command line setting is overridden by the
306 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
309 (which can in turn be overridden with -c). Also, when dgit is using
310 git to access dgit-repos, only git's idea of what ssh to use (eg,
314 .RI \fB--dget:\fR option |\fB--dput:\fR option |...
315 Specifies a single additional option to pass to
320 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
321 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
327 Can be repeated as necessary.
329 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
330 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
331 Usually, for passing options to dpkg-genchanges, you should use
332 .BR --ch: \fIoption\fR.
334 See notes above regarding ssh and dgit.
336 NB that --gpg:option is not supported (because debsign does not
337 have that facility). But see -k.
339 .BR -d "\fIdistro\fR | " --distro= \fIdistro\fR
340 Specifies that the suite to be operated on is part of distro
342 This overrides the default value found from the git config option
343 .BR dgit-suite. \fIsuite\fR .distro .
344 The only effect is that other configuration variables (used
345 for accessing the archive and dgit-repos) used are
346 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .* .
348 If your suite is part of a distro that dgit already knows about, you
349 can use this option to make dgit work even if your dgit doesn't know
350 about the suite. For example, specifying
352 will work when the suite is an unknown suite in the Debian archive.
354 To define a new distro it is necessary to define methods and URLs
355 for fetching (and, for dgit push, altering) a variety of information both
356 in the archive and in dgit-repos. How to do this is not yet
357 documented, and currently the arrangements are unpleasant. See
361 Specifies the .changes file which is to be uploaded. By default
362 dgit push looks for single .changes file in the parent directory whose
363 filename suggests it is for the right package and version - or,
364 if there is a _multi.changes file, dgit uses that.
368 pathname contains slashes, the directory part is also used as
370 .BR --build-products-dir ;
371 otherwise, the changes file is expected in that directory (by
375 .BI --build-products-dir= directory
376 Specifies where to find the built files to be uploaded.
377 By default, dgit looks in the parent directory
380 .BI --existing-package= package
381 dgit push needs to canonicalise the suite name. Sometimes, dgit
382 lacks a way to ask the archive to do this without knowing the
383 name of an existing package. Without --new we can just use the
384 package we are trying to push. But with --new that will not work, so
387 or use the value of this option. This option is not needed with the
388 default mechanisms for accessing the archive.
391 Print a usage summary.
393 .BI --initiator-tempdir= directory
394 dgit rpush uses a temporary directory on the invoking (signing) host.
395 This option causes dgit to use
397 instead. Furthermore, the specified directory will be emptied,
398 removed and recreated before dgit starts, rather than removed
399 after dgit finishes. The directory specified must be an absolute
403 Do not delete the destination directory if clone fails.
404 .SH WORKFLOW - SIMPLE
405 It is always possible with dgit to clone or fetch a package, make
406 changes in git (using git-commit) on the suite branch
407 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
408 and then dgit push. You can use whatever gitish techniques you like
409 to construct the commit to push; the only requirement is that it is a
410 descendant of the state of the archive, as provided by dgit in the
411 remote tracking branch
412 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
414 If you are lucky the other uploaders have also used dgit and
415 integrated the other relevant git history; if not you can fetch it
416 into your tree and cherry-pick etc. as you wish.
417 .SH WORKFLOW - INTEGRATING BETWEEN DGIT AND OTHER GIT HISTORY
418 If you are the maintainer of a package dealing with uploads made
419 without dgit, you will probably want to merge the synthetic commits
420 (made by dgit to represent the uploads) into your git history.
421 Normally you can just merge the dgit branch into your own master, or
422 indeed if you do your work on the dgit local suite branch
424 you can just use dgit pull.
426 However the first time dgit is used it will generate a new origin
427 commit from the archive which won't be linked into the rest of your
428 git history. You will need to merge this.
430 If last upload was in fact made with git, you should usually proceed
431 as follows: identify the commit which was actually used to build the
432 package. (Hopefully you have a tag for this.) Check out the dgit
434 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
435 and merge that other commit
436 .RB ( "git merge debian/" \fIversion\fR).
437 Hopefully this merge will be trivial because the two trees should
438 be the same. The resulting branch head can be merged into your
440 .RB ( "git checkout master && git merge dgit/" \fIsuite\fR).
442 If last upload was not made with git, a different approach is required
443 to start using dgit. First, do
445 (or clone) to obtain a git history representation of what's in the
446 archive and record it in the
447 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
448 tracking branch. Then somehow, using your other git history
449 plus appropriate diffs and cherry picks from the dgit remote tracking
450 branch, construct a git commit whose tree corresponds to the tree to use for the
451 next upload. If that commit-to-be-uploaded is not a descendant of the
452 dig remote tracking branch, check it out and say
453 .BR "git merge -s ours remotes/dgit/dgit/" \fIsuite\fR;
454 that tells git that we are deliberately throwing away any differences
455 between what's in the archive and what you intend to upload.
458 to actually upload the result.
460 You may use any suitable git workflow with dgit, provided you
461 satisfy dgit's requirements:
463 dgit maintains a pseudo-remote called
465 with one branch per suite. This remote cannot be used with
470 repository for each package contains one ref per suite named
471 \fBrefs/dgit/\fR\fIsuite\fR. These should be pushed to only by
472 dgit. They are fast forwarding. Each push on this branch
473 corresponds to an upload (or attempted upload).
475 However, it is perfectly fine to have other branches in dgit-repos;
476 normally the dgit-repos repo for the package will be accessible via
477 the remote name `origin'.
479 dgit push will also (by default) make signed tags called
481 and push them to dgit-repos, but nothing depends on these tags
484 dgit push can operate on any commit which is a descendant of the
485 current dgit/suite tip in dgit-repos.
487 Uploads made by dgit contain an additional field
489 in the source package .dsc. (This is added by dgit push.)
490 This specifies a commit (an ancestor of the dgit/suite
491 branch) whose tree is identical to the unpacked source upload.
493 Uploads not made by dgit are represented in git by commits which are
494 synthesised by dgit. The tree of each such commit corresponds to the
495 unpacked source; there is an origin commit with the contents, and a
496 psuedo-merge from last known upload - that is, from the contents of
497 the dgit/suite branch.
499 dgit expects repos that it works with to have a
501 remote. This refers to the well-known dgit-repos location
502 (currently, the dgit-repos project on Alioth). dgit fetch updates
503 the remote tracking branch for dgit/suite.
505 dgit does not (currently) represent the orig tarball(s) in git. The
506 orig tarballs are downloaded (by dgit clone) into the parent
507 directory, as with a traditional (non-gitish) dpkg-source workflow.
508 You need to retain these tarballs in the parent directory for dgit
511 To a user looking at the archive, changes pushed using dgit look like
512 changes made in an NMU: in a `3.0 (quilt)' package the delta from the
513 previous upload is recorded in a new patch constructed by dpkg-source.
514 .SH PACKAGE SOURCE FORMATS
515 If you are not the maintainer, you do not need to worry about the
516 source format of the package. You can just make changes as you like
517 in git. If the package is a `3.0 (quilt)' package, the patch stack
518 will usually not be represented in the git history.
520 If you are the maintainer of a non-native package, you currently have
521 two sensible options:
523 Firstly, you can regard your git history as primary, and the archive
524 as an export format. For example, you could maintain topic branches
525 in git and a fast-forwarding release branch; or you could do your work
526 directly in a merging way on the
528 branches. If you do this you should probably use a `1.0' format
529 source package if you can. In the archive, the delta between upstream
530 will be represented in the single Debian patch.
532 Secondly, you can use `3.0 (quilt)', and regard your quiltish patch
533 stack in the archive as primary. You will have to use other tools
534 besides dgit to import and export this patch stack. But see below:
535 .SH FORMAT 3.0 (QUILT)
536 For a format `3.0 (quilt)' source package, dgit may have to make a
537 commit on your current branch to contain metadata used by quilt and
540 This is because (i) the `3.0 (quilt)' source format cannot represent
541 certain trees, and (ii) packing up a tree in `3.0 (quilt)' and then
542 unpacking it does not always yield the same tree. Instead,
543 dpkg-source insists on the trees having extra quilty metadata and
544 patch files in the debian/ and .pc/ directories, which dpkg-source
547 dgit will automatically work around this braindamage for you when
548 building and pushing. The only thing you need to know is that dgit
549 build, sbuild, etc., may make a new commit on your HEAD. If you're
550 not a quilt user this commit won't contain any changes to files you
553 You can explicitly request that dgit do just this fixup, by running
556 We recommend against the use of `3.0 (quilt)'.
557 .SH FILES IN THE SOURCE PACKAGE BUT NOT IN GIT
558 This section is mainly of interest to maintainers who want to use dgit
559 with their existing git history for the Debian package.
561 Some developers like to have an extra-clean git tree which lacks files
562 which are normally found in source tarballs and therefore in Debian
563 source packages. For example, it is conventional to ship ./configure
564 in the source tarball, but some people prefer not to have it present
565 in the git view of their project.
567 dgit requires that the source package unpacks to exactly the same
568 files as are in the git commit on which dgit push operates. So if you
569 just try to dgit push directly from one of these extra-clean git
570 branches, it will fail.
572 As the maintainer you therefore have the following options:
575 Persuade upstream that the source code in their git history and the
576 source they ship as tarballs should be identical. Of course simply
577 removing the files from the tarball may make the tarball hard for
580 One answer is to commit the (maybe autogenerated)
581 files, perhaps with some simple automation to deal with conflicts and
582 spurious changes. This has the advantage that someone who clones
583 the git repository finds the program just as easy to build as someone
584 who uses the tarball.
587 Have separate git branches which do contain the extra files, and after
588 regenerating the extra files (whenever you would have to anyway),
589 commit the result onto those branches.
592 Provide source packages which lack the files you don't want
593 in git, and arrange for your package build to create them as needed.
594 This may mean not using upstream source tarballs and makes the Debian
595 source package less useful for people without Debian build
598 Of course it may also be that the differences are due to build system
599 bugs, which cause unintended files to end up in the source package.
600 dgit will notice this and complain. You may have to fix these bugs
601 before you can unify your existing git history with dgit's.
603 dgit looks at the following git config keys to control its behaviour.
604 You may set them with git-config (either in system-global or per-tree
605 configuration), or provide
607 on the dgit command line.
609 .BI dgit-suite. suite .distro
611 .BI dgit.default.distro
613 .BI dgit-distro. distro .username
615 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-url
617 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-user
619 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-host
621 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-proto
623 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-path
625 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-check
627 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-create
629 .BI dgit-distro. distro .upload-host
631 .BI dgit-distro. distro .mirror
633 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query
635 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query-default-component
637 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-user
639 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-host
641 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-dbname
643 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
645 .BI dgit-distro. distro .keyid
649 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR . *
650 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
652 .BR DGIT_SSH ", " GIT_SSH
653 specify an alternative default program (and perhaps arguments) to use
654 instead of ssh. DGIT_SSH is consulted first and may contain arguments;
655 if it contains any whitespace will be passed to the shell. GIT_SSH
656 specifies just the program; no arguments can be specified, so dgit
657 interprets it the same way as git does.
659 also the --ssh= and --ssh: options.
661 .BR gpg ", " dpkg- "..., " debsign ", " git ", " dget ", " dput ", " LWP::UserAgent
662 and other subprograms and modules used by dgit are affected by various
663 environment variables. Consult the documentaton for those programs
666 We should be using some kind of vhost/vpath setup for the git repos on
667 alioth, so that they can be moved later if and when this turns out to
670 dgit push should perhaps do `git push origin', or something similar,
673 Debian does not have a working rmadison server, so to find out what
674 version of a package is in the archive, or to canonicalise suite
675 names, we ssh directly into the ftpmaster server and run psql there to
678 The mechanism for checking for and creating per-package repos on
679 alioth is a hideous bodge. One consequence is that dgit currently
680 only works for people with push access.
682 Debian Maintainers are currently not able to push, as there is not
683 currently any mechanism for determining and honouring the archive's
684 ideas about access control. Currently only DDs can push.
686 dgit's representation of format `3.0 (quilt)' source packages does not
687 represent the patch stack. Currently the patch series representation
688 cannot round trip through the archive. Ideally dgit would represent a
689 quilty package with an origin commit of some kind followed by the
690 patch stack as a series of commits followed by a pseudo-merge (to make
691 the branch fast-forwarding). This would also mean a new `dgit
692 rebase-prep' command or some such to turn such a fast-forwarding
693 branch back into a rebasing patch stack, and a `force' option to dgit
694 push (perhaps enabled automatically by a note left by rebase-prep)
695 which will make the required pseudo-merge.
697 If the dgit push fails halfway through, it should be restartable and
698 idempotent. However this is not true for the git tag operation.
699 Also, it would be good to check that the proposed signing key is
700 available before starting work.
702 dgit's handling of .orig.tar.gz is not very sophisticated. Ideally
703 the .orig.tar.gz could be transported via the git repo as git tags.
704 Doing this is made more complicated by the possibility of a `3.0
705 (quilt)' package with multiple .orig tarballs.
707 dgit's build functions, and dgit push, should not make any changes to
708 your current HEAD. Sadly this is necessary for packages in the `3.0
709 (quilt)' source format. This is ultimately due to design problems in
710 quilt and dpkg-source.
712 There should be an option which arranges for the `3.0 (quilt)'
713 autocommit to not appear on your HEAD, but instead only in the
714 remote tracking suite branch.
716 The option parser requires values to be cuddled to the option name.
718 dgit assumes knowledge of the archive database. (The information dgit
719 needs is not currently available via any public online service with a
720 well-defined interface, let alone a secure one.)
722 --dry-run does not always work properly, as not doing some of the git
723 fetches may result in subsequent actions being different. Doing a
724 non-dry-run dgit fetch first will help.
730 \fBgit-buildpackage\fP(1),
731 \fBdpkg-buildpackage\fP(1),
733 https://wiki.debian.org/Alioth
~ianmdlvl / dgit.git / blob