NAME
dpkg-source - Debian source package (.dsc) manipulation tool
SYNOPSIS
dpkg-source [options] command
DESCRIPTION
dpkg-source packs and unpacks Debian source archives.
None of these commands allow multiple options to be combined into one,
and they do not allow the value for an option to be specified in a
separate argument.
COMMANDS
-x filename.dsc [output-directory]
Extract a source package. One non-option argument must be
supplied, the name of the Debian source control file (.dsc). An
optional second non-option argument may be supplied to specify
the directory to extract the source package to, this must not
exist. If no output directory is specified, the source package
is extracted into a directory named source-version under the
current working directory.
dpkg-source will read the names of the other file(s) making up
the source package from the control file; they are assumed to be
in the same directory as the .dsc.
The files in the extracted package will have their permissions
and ownerships set to those which would have been expected if
the files and directories had simply been created - directories
and executable files will be 0777 and plain files will be 0666,
both modified by the extractors' umask; if the parent directory
is setgid then the extracted directories will be too, and all
the files and directories will inherit its group ownership.
If the source package uses a non-standard format (currently this
means all formats except "1.0"), its name will be stored in
debian/source/format so that the following builds of the source
package use the same format by default.
-b directory [format-specific-parameters]
Build a source package. The first non-option argument is taken
as the name of the directory containing the debianized source
tree (i.e. with a debian sub-directory and maybe changes to the
original files). Depending on the source package format used to
build the package, additional parameters might be accepted.
dpkg-source will build the source package with the first format
found in this ordered list: the format indicated with the
--format command-line option, the format indicated in
debian/source/format, "1.0". The fallback to "1.0" is deprecated
and will be removed at some point in the future, you should
always document the desired source format in
debian/source/format. See section SOURCE PACKAGE FORMATS for an
extensive description of the various source package formats.
--print-format directory
Print the source format that would be used to build the source
package if dpkg-source -b directory was called (in the same
conditions and with the same parameters).
--before-build directory
This command should be called before any build of the package
(dpkg-buildpackage calls it very early even before debian/rules
clean). This command should be idempotent and can be called
multiple times. Not all source formats implement something in
this hook, and those that do usually prepare the source tree for
the build for example by ensuring that the Debian patches are
applied.
--after-build directory
This command should be called after any build of the package
(dpkg-buildpackage calls it last). This command should be
idempotent and can be called multiple times. Not all source
formats implement something in this hook, and those that do
usually use it to undo what --before-build has done.
-h, --help
Show the usage message and exit.
--version
Show the version and exit.
GENERIC BUILD OPTIONS
-ccontrolfile
Specifies the main source control file to read information from.
The default is debian/control. If given with relative pathname
this is interpreted starting at the source tree's top level
directory.
-lchangelogfile
Specifies the change log file to read information from. The
default is debian/changelog. If given with relative pathname
this is interpreted starting at the source tree's top level
directory.
-Fchangelogformat
Specifies the format of the changelog. By default the format is
read from a special line near the bottom of the changelog or
failing that defaults to the debian standard format.
--format=value
Use the given format for building the source package. It does
override any format given in debian/source/format.
-Vname=value
Set an output substitution variable. See deb-substvars(5) for a
discussion of output substitution.
-Tsubstvarsfile
Read substitution variables in substvarsfile; the default is to
not read any file. This option can be used multiple times to
read substitution variables from multiple files.
-Dfield=value
Override or add an output control file field.
-Ufield
Remove an output control file field.
-Zcompression, --compression=compression
Specify the compression to use for created files (tarballs and
diffs). Note that this option will not cause existing tarballs
to be recompressed, it only affects new files. Supported values
are: gzip, bzip2, lzma and xz. gzip is the default. xz is only
supported since dpkg-dev 1.15.5.
-zlevel, --compression-level=level
Compression level to use. As with -Z it only affects newly
created files. Supported values are: 1 to 9, best, and fast. 9
is the default.
-i[regexp], --diff-ignore[=regexp]
You may specify a perl regular expression to match files you
want filtered out of the list of files for the diff. (This list
is generated by a find command.) (If the source package is being
built as a version 3 source package using a VCS, this can be
used to ignore uncommited changes on specific files. Using -i.*
will ignore all of them.) -i by itself enables the option, with
a default regexp that will filter out control files and
directories of the most common revision control systems, backup
and swap files and Libtool build output directories. There can
only be one active regexp, of multiple -i options only the last
one will take effect.
This is very helpful in cutting out extraneous files that get
included in the diff, e.g. if you maintain your source in a
revision control system and want to use a checkout to build a
source package without including the additional files and
directories that it will usually contain (e.g. CVS/, .cvsignore,
.svn/). The default regexp is already very exhaustive, but if
you need to replace it, please note that by default it can match
any part of a path, so if you want to match the begin of a
filename or only full filenames, you will need to provide the
necessary anchors (e.g. '(^|/)', '($|/)') yourself.
--extend-diff-ignore=regexp
The perl regular expression specified will extend the default
regular expression associated to -i by concatenating "|regexp"
to the default regexp. This option is convenient to use in
debian/source/options to exclude some auto-generated files from
the automatic patch generation.
-I[file-pattern], --tar-ignore[=file-pattern]
If this option is specified, the pattern will be passed to
tar(1)'s --exclude option when it is called to generate a
.orig.tar or .tar file. For example, -ICVS will make tar skip
over CVS directories when generating a .tar.gz file. The option
may be repeated multiple times to list multiple patterns to
exclude.
-I by itself adds default --exclude options that will filter out
control files and directories of the most common revision
control systems, backup and swap files and Libtool build output
directories.
Note: While they have similar purposes, -i and -I have very different
syntax and semantics. -i can only be specified once and takes a perl
compatible regular expression which is matched against the full
relative path of each file. -I can specified multiple times and takes a
filename pattern with shell wildcards. The pattern is applied to the
full relative path but also to each part of the path individually. The
exact semantic of tar's --exclude option is somewhat complicated, see
http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/tar.html#wildcards for a full
documentation.
The default regexp and patterns for both options can be seen in the
output of the --help command.
GENERIC EXTRACT OPTIONS
--no-copy
Do not copy original tarballs near the extracted source package.
--no-check
Do not check signatures and checksums before unpacking.
--require-valid-signature
Refuse to unpack the source package if it doesn't contain an
OpenPGP signature that can be verified either with the user's
trustedkeys.gpg keyring, one of the vendor-specific keyrings, or
one of the official Debian keyrings (/usr/share/keyrings/debian-
keyring.gpg and /usr/share/keyrings/debian-maintainers.gpg).
SOURCE PACKAGE FORMATS
If you don't know what source format to use, you should probably pick
either "3.0 (quilt)" or "3.0 (native)". See
http://wiki.debian.org/Projects/DebSrc3.0 for information on the
deployment of those formats within Debian.
Format: 1.0
A source package in this format consists either of a .orig.tar.gz
associated to a .diff.gz or a single .tar.gz (in that case the package
is said to be native).
Extracting
Extracting a native package is a simple extraction of the single
tarball in the target directory. Extracting a non-native package is
done by first unpacking the .orig.tar.gz and then applying the patch
contained in the .diff.gz file. The timestamp of all patched files is
reset to the extraction time of the source package (this avoids
timestamp skews leading to problems when autogenerated files are
patched). The diff can create new files (the whole debian directory is
created that way) but can't remove files (empty files will be left
over).
Building
Building a native package is just creating a single tarball with the
source directory. Building a non-native package involves extracting the
original tarball in a separate ".orig" directory and regenerating the
.diff.gz by comparing the source package directory with the .orig
directory.
Build options (with -b):
If a second non-option argument is supplied it should be the name of
the original source directory or tarfile or the empty string if the
package is a Debian-specific one and so has no Debianisation diffs. If
no second argument is supplied then dpkg-source will look for the
original source tarfile package_upstream-version.orig.tar.gz or the
original source directory directory.orig depending on the -sX
arguments.
-sa, -sp, -sk, -su and -sr will not overwrite existing tarfiles or
directories. If this is desired then -sA, -sP, -sK, -sU and -sR should
be used instead.
-sk Specifies to expect the original source as a tarfile, by default
package_upstream-version.orig.tar.extension. It will leave this
original source in place as a tarfile, or copy it to the current
directory if it isn't already there. The tarball will be
unpacked into directory.orig for the generation of the diff.
-sp Like -sk but will remove the directory again afterwards.
-su Specifies that the original source is expected as a directory,
by default package-upstream-version.orig and dpkg-source will
create a new original source archive from it.
-sr Like -su but will remove that directory after it has been used.
-ss Specifies that the original source is available both as a
directory and as a tarfile. dpkg-source will use the directory
to create the diff, but the tarfile to create the .dsc. This
option must be used with care - if the directory and tarfile do
not match a bad source archive will be generated.
-sn Specifies to not look for any original source, and to not
generate a diff. The second argument, if supplied, must be the
empty string. This is used for Debian-specific packages which do
not have a separate upstream source and therefore have no
debianisation diffs.
-sa or -sA
Specifies to look for the original source archive as a tarfile
or as a directory - the second argument, if any, may be either,
or the empty string (this is equivalent to using -sn). If a
tarfile is found it will unpack it to create the diff and remove
it afterwards (this is equivalent to -sp); if a directory is
found it will pack it to create the original source and remove
it afterwards (this is equivalent to -sr); if neither is found
it will assume that the package has no debianisation diffs, only
a straightforward source archive (this is equivalent to -sn).
If both are found then dpkg-source will ignore the directory,
overwriting it, if -sA was specified (this is equivalent to -sP)
or raise an error if -sa was specified. -sA is the default.
--abort-on-upstream-changes
The process fails if the generated diff contains changes to
files outside of the debian sub-directory. This option is not
allowed in debian/source/options but can be used in
debian/source/local-options.
Extract options (with -x):
In all cases any existing original source tree will be removed.
-sp Used when extracting then the original source (if any) will be
left as a tarfile. If it is not already located in the current
directory or if an existing but different file is there it will
be copied there. (This is the default).
-su Unpacks the original source tree.
-sn Ensures that the original source is neither copied to the
current directory nor unpacked. Any original source tree that
was in the current directory is still removed.
All the -sX options are mutually exclusive. If you specify more than
one only the last one will be used.
--skip-debianization
Skips application of the debian diff on top of the upstream
sources.
Format: 2.0
Also known as wig&pen. This format is not recommended for wide-spread
usage, the format "3.0 (quilt)" replaces it. Wig&pen was the first
specification of a new-generation source package format.
The behaviour of this format is the same as the "3.0 (quilt)" format
except that it doesn't use an explicit list of patches. All files in
debian/patches/ matching the perl regular expression [\w-]+ must be
valid patches: they are applied at extraction time.
When building a new source package, any change to the upstream source
is stored in a patch named zz_debian-diff-auto.
Format: 3.0 (native)
This format is an extension of the native package format as defined in
the 1.0 format. It supports all compression methods and will ignore by
default any VCS specific files and directories as well as many
temporary files (see default value associated to -I option in the
--help output).
Format: 3.0 (quilt)
A source package in this format contains at least an original tarball
(.orig.tar.ext where ext can be gz, bz2, lzma and xz) and a debian
tarball (.debian.tar.ext). It can also contain additional original
tarballs (.orig-component.tar.ext). component can only contain
alphanumeric characters and dashes ("-").
Extracting
The main original tarball is extracted first, then all additional
original tarballs are extracted in subdirectories named after the
component part of their filename (any pre-existing directory is
replaced). The debian tarball is extracted on top of the source
directory after prior removal of any pre-existing debian directory.
Note that the debian tarball must contain a debian sub-directory but it
can also contain binary files outside of that directory (see
--include-binaries option).
All patches listed in debian/patches/debian.series or
debian/patches/series are then applied. If the former file is used and
the latter one doesn't exist (or is a symlink), then the latter is
replaced with a symlink to the former. This is meant to simplify usage
of quilt to manage the set of patches. Note however that while
dpkg-source parses correctly series files with explicit options used
for patch application (stored on each line after the patch filename and
one or more spaces), it does ignore those options and always expect
patches that can be applied with the -p1 option of patch. It will thus
emit a warning when it encounters such options, and the build is likely
to fail.
Similarly to quilt's default behaviour, the patches can remove files
too.
The file .pc/applied-patches is created if some patches have been
applied during the extraction.
Building
All original tarballs found in the current directory are extracted in a
temporary directory by following the same logic as for the unpack, the
debian directory is copied over in the temporary directory, and all
patches except the automatic patch (debian-changes-version or debian-
changes, depending on --single-debian-patch) are applied. The temporary
directory is compared to the source package directory and the diff (if
non-empty) is stored in the automatic patch. If the automatic patch is
created/deleted, it's added/removed from the series file and from the
quilt metadata.
Any change on a binary file is not representable in a diff and will
thus lead to a failure unless the maintainer deliberately decided to
include that modified binary file in the debian tarball (by listing it
in debian/source/include-binaries). The build will also fail if it
finds binary files in the debian sub-directory unless they have been
whitelisted through debian/source/include-binaries.
The updated debian directory and the list of modified binaries is then
used to generate the debian tarball.
The automatically generated diff doesn't include changes on VCS
specific files as well as many temporary files (see default value
associated to -i option in the --help output). In particular, the .pc
directory used by quilt is ignored during generation of the automatic
patch.
Note: dpkg-source expects the source tree to have all patches listed in
the series file applied when you generate the source package. This is
not the case when the source tree has been obtained by unpacking a
source package using the Format: 1.0 for instance. To mitigate the
problem, dpkg-source will apply the patches by itself if it believes
that they have not yet been applied. To detect this situation, it uses
the following heuristic: it finds the list of supposedly unapplied
patches (they are listed in the series file but not in .pc/applied-
patches), and if the first patch in that set can be applied without
errors, it will apply them all. The option --no-preparation can be
used to disable this behaviour. This operation is usually done as part
of the --prepare-build command.
Build options
--allow-version-of-quilt-db=version
Allow dpkg-source to build the source package if the version of
the quilt metadata is the one specified, even if dpkg-source
doesn't know about it. Effectively this says that the given
version of the quilt metadata is compatible with the version 2
that dpkg-source currently supports. The version of the quilt
metadata is stored in .pc/.version.
--include-removal
Do not ignore removed files and include them in the
automatically generated patch.
--include-timestamp
Include timestamp in the automatically generated patch.
--include-binaries
Add all modified binaries in the debian tarball. Also add them
to debian/source/include-binaries: they will be added by default
in subsequent builds and this option is thus no more needed.
--no-preparation
Do not try to prepare the build tree by applying patches which
are apparently unapplied.
--single-debian-patch
Use debian/patches/debian-changes instead of
debian/patches/debian-changes-version for the name of the
automatic patch generated during build. This option is
particularly useful when the package is maintained in a VCS and
a patch set can't reliably be generated. Instead the current
diff with upstream should be stored in a single patch. When
using this option, it is recommended to create a
debian/source/patch-header file explaining how the Debian
changes can be best reviewed, for example in the VCS that is
used.
--create-empty-orig
Automatically create the main original tarball as empty if it's
missing and if there are supplementary original tarballs. This
option is meant to be used when the source package is just a
bundle of multiple upstream software and where there's no "main"
software.
--unapply-patches
Unapply the patches in the --after-build hook. This is mainly
useful when you build your package directly in a VCS that
contains unpatched upstream source and where you want to keep
the tree unpatched even after a package build. This option is
usually put in debian/source/local-options (it's not allowed in
debian/source/options so that all generated source packages have
the same behaviour by default).
--abort-on-upstream-changes
The process fails if an automatic patch has been generated. This
option can be used to ensure that all changes were properly
recorded in separate quilt patches prior to the source package
build. This option is not allowed in debian/source/options but
can be used in debian/source/local-options.
Extract options
--skip-debianization
Skips extraction of the debian tarball on top of the upstream
sources.
--skip-patches
Do not apply patches at the end of the extraction.
Format: 3.0 (custom)
This format is particular. It doesn't represent a real source package
format but can be used to create source packages with arbitrary files.
Build options
All non-option arguments are taken as files to integrate in the
generated source package. They must exist and are preferrably in the
current directory. At least one file must be given.
--target-format=value
Required. Defines the real format of the generated source
package. The generated .dsc file will contain this value in its
Format field and not "3.0 (custom)".
Format: 3.0 (git)
This format is experimental. It uses a bundle of a git repository to
hold the source of a package.
Extracting
The bundle is cloned to a new git repository.
Note that by default the new repository will have the same branch
checked out that was checked out in the original source. (Typically
"master", but it could be anything.) Any other branches will be
available, under as `remotes/origin/`
Building
Before going any further, some checks are done to ensure that we don't
have any non-ignored uncommitted changes.
git-bundle(1) is used to generate a bundle of the git repository. By
default, all branches and tags in the repository are included in the
bundle.
Build options
--git-ref=ref
Allows specifying a git ref to include in the git bundle. Use
disables the default behavior of including all branches and
tags. May be specified multiple times. The ref can be the name
of a branch or tag to include. It may also be any parameter that
can be passed to git-rev-list(1). For example, to include only
the master branch, use --git-ref=master. To include all tags and
branches, except for the private branch, use --git-ref=--all
--git-ref=^private
--git-depth=number
Creates a shallow clone with a history truncated to the
specified number of revisions.
Format: 3.0 (bzr)
This format is experimental. It generates a single tarball containing
the bzr repository.
Extracting
The tarball is unpacked and then bzr is used to checkout the current
branch.
Building
Before going any further, some checks are done to ensure that we don't
have any non-ignored uncommitted changes.
Then the VCS specific part of the source directory is copied over to a
temporary directory. Before this temporary directory is packed in a
tarball, various cleanup are done to save space.
WARNINGS AND ERRORS
no source format specified in debian/source/format
The file debian/source/format should always exist and indicate the
desired source format. For backwards compatibility, format "1.0" is
assumed when the file doesn't exist but you should not rely on this: at
some point in the future dpkg-source will be modified to fail when that
file doesn't exist.
The rationale is that format "1.0" is no longer the recommended format,
you should usually pick one of the newer formats ("3.0 (quilt)", "3.0
(native)") but dpkg-source will not do this automatically for you. If
you want to continue using the old format, you should be explicit about
it and put "1.0" in debian/source/format.
the diff modifies the following upstream files
When using source format "1.0" it is usually a bad idea to modify
upstream files directly as the changes end up hidden and mostly
undocumented in the .diff.gz file. Instead you should store your
changes as patches in the debian directory and apply them at build-
time. To avoid this complexity you can also use the format "3.0
(quilt)" that offers this natively.
cannot represent change to file
Changes to upstream sources are usually stored with patch files, but
not all changes can be represented with patches: they can only alter
the content of plain text files. If you try replacing a file with
something of a different type (for example replacing a plain file with
a symlink or a directory), you will get this error message.
newly created empty file file will not be represented in diff
Empty files can't be created with patch files. Thus this change is not
recorded in the source package and you are warned about it.
executable mode perms of file will not be represented in diff
special mode perms of file will not be represented in diff
Patch files do not record permissions of files and thus modified
permissions are not stored in the source package. This warning reminds
you of that fact.
FILE FORMATS
debian/source/format
This file contains on a single line the format that should be used to
build the source package (possible formats are described above). No
leading or trailing spaces are allowed.
debian/source/include-binaries
This file contains a list of binary files (one per line) that should be
included in the debian tarball. Leading and trailing spaces are
stripped. Lines starting with "#" are comments and are skipped. Empty
lines are ignored.
debian/source/options
This file contains a list of long options that should be automatically
prepended to the set of command line options of a dpkg-source -b or
dpkg-source --print-format call. Options like --compression and
--compression-level are well suited for this file.
Each option should be put on a separate line. Empty lines and lines
starting with "#" are ignored. The leading "--" should be stripped and
short options are not allowed. Optional spaces are allowed around the
"=" symbol and optional quotes are allowed around the value. Here's an
example of such a file:
# let dpkg-source create a debian.tar.bz2 with maximal compression
compression = "bzip2"
compression-level = 9
# use debian/patches/debian-changes as automatic patch
single-debian-patch
Note: format options are not accepted in this file, you should use
debian/source/format instead.
debian/source/local-options
Exactly like debian/source/options except that the file is not included
in the generated source package. It can be useful to store a preference
tied to the maintainer or to the VCS repository where the source
package is maintained.
debian/source/patch-header
Free form text that is put on top of the automatic patch generated in
formats "2.0" or "3.0 (quilt)".
debian/patches/series
This file lists all patches that have to be applied (in the given
order) on top of the upstream source package. Leading and trailing
spaces are stripped. Lines starting with "#" are comments and are
skipped. Empty lines are ignored. Remaining lines start with a patch
filename (relative to the debian/patches/ directory) up to the first
space character or the end of line. Optional quilt options can follow
up to the end of line or the first "#" preceded by one or more spaces
(which marks the start of a comment up to the end of line).
BUGS
The point at which field overriding occurs compared to certain standard
output field settings is rather confused.
SEE ALSO
dpkg-deb(1), dpkg(1), dselect(1).
AUTHORS
Copyright (C) 1995-1996 Ian Jackson
Copyright (C) 2000 Wichert Akkerman
Copyright (C) 2008-2010 Raphael Hertzog
This is free software; see the GNU General Public Licence version 2 or
later for copying conditions. There is NO WARRANTY.