--- name: "debmake" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "debmake" version: "4.5.1-2" release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/debmake" --- # debmake(1) program to make a Debian source package ## NAME debmake - program to make a Debian source package ## SYNOPSIS **debmake** \[**-h**\] \[**-c** \| **-k**\] \[**-n** \| **-a** *package-version***.orig.tar.gz** \| **-d** \| **-t** \] \[**-p** *package*\] \[**-u** *version*\] \[**-r** *revision*\] \[**-z** *extension*\] \[**-b** "*binarypackage\[:type\], ...*\]" \[**-e** *foo@example.org*\] \[**-f** "*firstname lastname*"\] \[**-i** "*buildtool*" \| **-j**\] \[**-l** *license\_file*\] \[**-m**\] \[**-o** *file*\] \[**-q**\] \[**-s**\] \[**-v**\] \[**-w** "*addon, ...*"\] \[**-x** \[*01234*\]\] \[**-y**\] \[**-L**\] \[**-P**\] \[**-T**\] ## DESCRIPTION **debmake** helps to build a Debian package from the upstream source. Normally, this is done as follows: • The upstream tarball is downloaded as the *package-version***.tar.gz** file. • It is untarred to create many files under the *package-version/* directory. • debmake is invoked in the *package-version/* directory, possibly without any arguments. • Files in the *package-version***/debian/** directory are manually adjusted. • **dpkg-buildpackage** (usually from its wrapper **debuild** or **sbuild**) is invoked in the *package-version/* directory to make Debian packages. Make sure to protect the arguments of the **-b**, **-f**, **-l**, and **-w** options from shell interference by quoting them properly. ### optional arguments: - **-h**, **--help** show this help message and exit. - **-c**, **--copyright** scan source for copyright+license text and exit. • **-c**: simple output style • **-cc**: normal output style (similar to the **debian/copyright** file) • **-ccc**: debug output style - **-k**, **--kludge** compare the **debian/copyright** file with the source and exit. The **debian/copyright** file must be organized to list the generic file patterns before the specific exceptions. • **-k**: basic output style • **-kk**: verbose output style - **-n**, **--native** make a native Debian source package without **.orig.tar.gz**. This makes a “**3.0 (native)**” format package. If you are thinking of packaging a Debian-specific source tree with **debian/** in it into a native Debian package, please think otherwise. You can use the “**debmake -d -i debuild**” or “**debmake -t -i debuild**” commands to make a “**3.0 (quilt)**” format non-native Debian package. The only difference is that the **debian/changelog** file must use the non-native version scheme: *version-revision*. The non-native package is more friendly to downstream distributions. - **-a** *package-version***.tar.gz**, **--archive** *package-version***.tar.gz** use the upstream source tarball directly. (**-p**, **-u**, **-z**: overridden) The upstream tarball may be specified as *package\_version***.orig.tar.gz** and **tar.gz**. For other cases, it may be **tar.bz2**, or **tar.xz**. If the specified upstream tarball name contains uppercase letters, the Debian package name is generated by converting them to lowercase letters. If the specified argument is the URL (`http://`, `https://`, or `ftp://`) to the upstream tarball, the upstream tarball is downloaded from the URL using **wget** or **curl**. - **-d**, **--dist** run the “**make dist**” command equivalents first to generate the upstream tarball and use it. The “**debmake -d**” command is designed to run in the *package/* directory hosting the upstream VCS with the build system supporting the “**make dist**” command equivalents. (`automake`/`autoconf`, ...) - **-t**, **--tar** run the “**tar**” command to generate the upstream tarball and use it. The “**debmake -t**” command is designed to run in the *package/* directory hosting the upstream VCS. Unless you provide the upstream version with the **-u** option or with the **debian/changelog** file, a snapshot upstream version is generated in the **0\\~%y%m%d%H%M** format, e.g., *0~1403012359*, from the UTC date and time. The generated tarball excludes the **debian/** directory found in the upstream VCS. (It also excludes typical VCS directories: **.git/**, **.hg/**, **.svn/**, **.CVS/**.) - **-p** *package*, **--package** *package* set the Debian package name. - **-u** *version*, **--upstreamversion** *version* set the upstream package version. - **-r** *revision*, **--revision** *revision* set the Debian package revision. - **-z** *extension*, **--targz** *extension* set the tarball type, *extension*=(**tar.gz**\|**tar.bz2**\|**tar.xz**). (alias: **z**, **b**, **x**) - **-b** "*binarypackage\[:type\],...*", **--binaryspec** "*binarypackage\[:type\],...*" set the binary package specs by a comma separated list of *binarypackage:type* pairs. Here, *binarypackage* is the binary package name, and the optional *type* is chosen from the following *type* values: • **bin**: C/C++ compiled ELF binary code package (any, foreign) (default, alias: **""**, i.e., **null-string**) • **data**: Data (fonts, graphics, ...) package (all, foreign) (alias: **da**) • **dev**: Library development package (any, same) (alias: **de**) • **doc**: Documentation package (all, foreign) (alias: **do**) • **lib**: Library package (any, same) (alias: **l**) • **perl**: Perl script package (all, foreign) (alias: **pl**) • **python3**: Python (version 3) script package (all, foreign) (alias: **py3**, **python**, **py**) • **ruby**: Ruby script package (all, foreign) (alias: **rb**) • **nodejs**: Node.js based JavaScript package (all, foreign) (alias: **js**) • **script**: Shell and other interpreted language script package (all, foreign) (alias: **sh**) The pair values in the parentheses, such as (any, foreign), are the **Architecture** and **Multi-Arch** stanza values set in the **debian/control** file. In many cases, the **debmake** command makes good guesses for *type* from *binarypackage*. If *type* is not obvious, *type* is set to **bin**. Here are examples for typical binary package split scenarios where the upstream Debian source package name is **foo**: • Generating an executable binary package **foo**: • “**-b’foo:bin'**”, or its short form \`**-b'-'**\`", or no **-b** option • Generating an executable (python3) binary package **python3-foo**: • “**-b’python3-foo:py'**”, or its short form “**-b’python3-foo'**” • Generating a data package **foo**: • “**-b’foo:data'**”, or its short form “**-b'-:data'**” • Generating a executable binary package **foo** and a documentation one **foo-doc**: • “**-b’foo:bin,foo-doc:doc'**”, or its short form “**-b'-:-doc'**” • Generating a executable binary package **foo**, a library package **libfoo1**, and a library development package **libfoo-dev**: • “**-b’foo:bin,libfoo1:lib,libfoo-dev:dev'**” or its short form “**-b'-,libfoo1,libfoo-dev'**” If the source tree contents do not match settings for *type*, the **debmake** command warns you. - **-e** *foo@example.org*, **--email** *foo@example.org* set e-mail address. The default is taken from the value of the environment variable **$DEBEMAIL**. **-f** "*firstname lastname*", **--fullname** "*firstname lastname*" set the fullname. The default is taken from the value of the environment variable **$DEBFULLNAME**. - **-i** "*buildtool*", **--invoke** "*buildtool*" invoke "*buildtool*" at the end of execution. *buildtool* may be “**dpkg-buildpackage**”, “**debuild**”, “**sbuild**”, etc. The default is not to execute any program. Setting this option automatically sets the **--local** option. - **-j**, **--judge** run **dpkg-depcheck** to judge build dependencies and identify file paths. Log files are in the parent directory. • *package***.build-dep.log**: Log file for **dpkg-depcheck**. • *package***.install.log**: Log file recording files in the **debian/tmp** directory. - **-l** "*license\_file,...*", **--license** "*license\_file,...*" add formatted license text to the end of the **debian/copyright** file holding license scan results. The default is to add **COPYING** and **LICENSE**, and *license\_file* needs to list only the additional file names all separated by “**,**”. - **-m**, **--monoarch** force packages to be non-multiarch. - **-o** *file*, **--option** *file* read optional parameters from *file*. (This is not for everyday use.) The content of *file* is sourced as the Python code at the end of **para.py**. For example, the package description can be specified by the following file. ``` para['desc'] = 'program short description' para['desc_long'] = '''\ program long description which you wish to include. . Empty line is space + . You keep going on ... ''' ``` - **-q**, **--quitearly** quit early before creating files in the **debian/** directory. - **-s**, **--spec** use upstream spec (**pyproject.py** for Python, etc.) for the package description. - **-v**, **--version** show version information. - **-w** "*addon,...*", **--with** "*addon,...*" add extra arguments to the **--with** option of the [**dh**(1)](/dh/1.md) command as *addon* in **debian/rules**. The *addon* values are listed all separated by “**,**”, e.g., “**-w "python3,autoreconf"**”. For Autotools based packages, **autoreconf** as *addon* to run “**autoreconf -i -v -f**” for every package building is default behavior of the [**dh**(1)](/dh/1.md) command. For Autotools based packages, if they install Python (version 3) programs, setting **python3** as *addon* to the **debmake** command argument is needed since this is non-obvious. But for **pyproject.toml** based Python packages, setting **python3** as *addon* to the **debmake** command argument is not needed since this is obvious and the **debmake** command automatically set it to the [**dh**(1)](/dh/1.md) command. - **-x** *n*, **--extra** *n* generate configuration files as templates. (Please note **debian/changelog**, **debian/control**, **debian/copyright**, and **debian/rules** are bare minimum configuration files to build a Debian binary package.) The number *n* determines which configuration templates are generated. • **-x0**: all required configuration template files. (selected option if any of these files already exist) • **-x1**: all **-x0** files + desirable configuration template files with binary package type supports. • **-x2**: all **-x1** files + normal configuration template files with maintainer script supports. • **-x3**: all **-x2** files + optional configuration template files. (default optuin) • **-x4**: all **-x3** files + deprecated configuration template files. Some configuration template files are generated with the extra **.ex** suffix to ease their removal. To activate these, rename their file names to the ones without the **.ex** suffix and edit their contents. Existing configuration files are never overwritten. If you wish to update some of the existing configuration files, please rename them before running the **debmake** command and manually merge the generated configuration files with the old renamed ones. - **-y**, **--yes** “force yes” for all prompts. (without option: “ask \[Y/n\]”; doubled option: “force no”) - **-L**, **--local** generate configuration files for the local package to fool [**lintian**(1)](/lintian/1.md) checks. - **-P**, **--pedantic** pedantically check auto-generated files. - **-T**, **--tutorial** output tutorial comment lines in template files. default when **-x3** or **-x4** is set. ## EXAMPLES For a well behaving source, you can build a good-for-local-use installable single Debian binary package easily with one command. Test install of such a package generated in this way offers a good alternative to the traditional “**make install**” command installing into the **/usr/local** directory since the Debian package can be removed cleanly by the “**dpkg -P** '...'” command. Here are some examples of how to build such test packages. (These should work in most cases. If the **-d** option does not work, try the **-t** option instead.) For a typical C program source tree packaged with **autoconf**/**automake**: • **debmake -d -i debuild** For a typical Python (version 3) module source tree: • **debmake -s -d -b":python3" -i debuild** For a typical Python (version 3) module in the *package-version***.tar.gz** archive: • **debmake -s -a** *package-version***.tar.gz -b":python3" -i debuild** For a typical Perl module in the *package-version***.tar.gz** archive: • **debmake -a** *package-version***.tar.gz -b":perl" -i debuild** ## HELPER PACKAGES Packaging may require installation of some additional specialty helper packages. • Python (version 3) programs may require the **pybuild-plugin-pyproject** package. • The Autotools (**autoconf** + **automake**) build system may require **autotools-dev** or **dh-autoreconf** package. • Ruby programs may require the **gem2deb** package. • Node.js based JavaScript programs may require the **pkg-js-tools** package. • Java programs may require the **javahelper** package. • Gnome programs may require the **gobject-introspection** package. • etc. ## CAVEAT Although **debmake** is meant to provide template files for the package maintainer to work on, actual packaging activities are often performed without using **debmake** while referencing only existing similar packages and “*Debian Policy Manual* \”. All template files generated by **debmake** are required to be modified manually. There are 2 positive points for **debmake**: • **debmake** helps to write terse packaging tutorial “*Guide for Debian Maintainers* \” (**debmake-doc** package). • **debmake** provides short extracted license texts as **debian/copyright** in decent accuracy to help license review. For license review, it is highly recommended to use other tools such as **licensecheck** from the **licensecheck** package. There are some limitations for what characters may be used as a part of the Debian package. The most notable limitation is the prohibition of uppercase letters in the package name. Here is a summary as a set of regular expressions: • Upstream package name (**-p**): `[-+.a-z0-9]{2,}` • Binary package name (**-b**): `[-+.a-z0-9]{2,}` • Upstream version (**-u**): `[0-9][-+.:~a-z0-9A-Z]*` • Debian revision (**-r**): `[0-9][+.~a-z0-9A-Z]*` See the exact definition in “*Chapter 5 - Control files and their fields* \” in the “Debian Policy Manual”. **debmake** assumes relatively simple packaging cases. So all programs related to the interpreter are assumed to be “**Architecture: all**”. This is not always true. ## DEBUG Please report bugs to the **debmake** package using the **reportbug** command. The character set in the environment variable **$DEBUG** determines the logging output level. • **i**: `main.py` logging • **p**: `para.py` logging • **s**: `checkdep5.py` `check_format_style()` logging • **y**: `checkdep5.py` `split_years_name()` logging • **b**: `checkdep5.py` `parse_lines()` 1 logging — content\_state scan loop: begin-loop • **m**: `checkdep5.py` `parse_lines()` 2 logging — content\_state scan loop: after regex match • **e**: `checkdep5.py` `parse_lines()` 3 logging — content\_state scan loop: end-loop • **a**: `checkdep5.py` `parse_lines()` 4 logging — print author/translator section text • **f**: `checkdep5.py` `check_all_license()` 1 logging — input filename for the copyright scan • **l**: `checkdep5.py` `check_all_license()` 2 logging — print license section text • **c**: `checkdep5.py` `check_all_license()` 3 logging — print copyright section text • **k**: `checkdep5.py` `check_all_license()` 4 logging — sort key for debian/copyright stanza • **r**: `sed.py` logging • **w**: `cat.py` logging • **n**: `kludge.py` logging (“**debmake -k**”) Use this feature as: ``` $ DEBUG=ipsybmeaflckrwn debmake ... ``` See **README.developer** in the source for more. ## AUTHOR Copyright © 2014-2024 Osamu Aoki \ ## LICENSE Expat License ## SEE ALSO The **debmake-doc** package provides the “*Guide for Debian Maintainers* \” in plain text, HTML and PDF formats under the **/usr/share/doc/debmake-doc/** directory. See also [**dpkg-source**(1)](/dpkg-source/1.md), [**deb-control**(5)](/deb-control/5.md), [**debhelper**(7)](/debhelper/7.md), [**dh**(1)](/dh/1.md), [**dpkg-buildpackage**(1)](/dpkg-buildpackage/1.md), [**debuild**(1)](/debuild/1.md), [**quilt**(1)](/quilt/1.md), [**dpkg-depcheck**(1)](/dpkg-depcheck/1.md), [**sbuild**(1)](/sbuild/1.md), [**gbp-buildpackage**(1)](/gbp-buildpackage/1.md), and [**gbp-pq**(1)](/gbp-pq/1.md) manpages.