---
name: "dh_installchangelogs"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "debhelper"
version: "13.24.2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/dh_installchangelogs"
---

# dh\_installchangelogs(1)

install changelogs into package build directories

## NAME

dh\_installchangelogs - install changelogs into package build directories

## SYNOPSIS

**dh\_installchangelogs** \[*debhelper options*\] \[**-k**\] \[**-X***item*\] \[**--no-trim**\] \[*upstream*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**dh\_installchangelogs** is a debhelper program that is responsible for installing changelogs into package build directories.

An upstream *changelog* file may be specified as an option. If none is specified, **dh\_installchangelogs** may look for files with names that seem likely to be changelogs as described in the next paragraphs.

In non-native packages, **dh\_installchangelogs** will first look for changelog files installed by the upstream build system into *usr/share/doc/package* (of the package build directory) and rename the most likely candidate (if any) to *usr/share/doc/package/changelog*.  Note that **dh\_installchangelogs** does *not* look into any source directory (such as *debian/tmp*). Otherwise, **dh\_installchangelogs** (at compatibility level 7 or any later) will look for changelog files in the source directory (e.g. the root or the *docs* subdirectory).  It will look for *changelog*, *changes* and *history* optionally with common extensions (such as *.txt*, *.md*, *.rst*, *.org*, etc.)

If a changelog file is specified and is an *html* file (determined by file extension), it will be installed as *usr/share/doc/package/changelog.html* instead. If the html changelog is converted to plain text, that variant can be specified as a second parameter. When no plain text variant is specified, a short *usr/share/doc/package/changelog* is generated, pointing readers at the html changelog file.

The **debchange**-style Debian changelogs are trimmed to include only entries more recent than the release date of *oldstable*. No trimming will be performed if the **--no-trim** option is passed or if the **DEB\_BUILD\_OPTIONS** environment variable contains **notrimdch**.

## FILES

- *debian/changelog*

  - *debian/NEWS*

  - debian/*package*.changelog

  - debian/*package*.NEWS

  Automatically installed into usr/share/doc/*package*/ in the package build directory.

  Use the package specific name if *package* needs a different *NEWS* or *changelog* file.

  The *changelog* file is installed with a name of changelog for native packages, and *changelog.Debian* for non-native packages. The *NEWS* file is always installed with a name of *NEWS.Debian*.

## OPTIONS

- **-k**, **--keep**

  Keep the original name of the upstream changelog. This will be accomplished by installing the upstream changelog as *changelog*, and making a symlink from that to the original name of the *changelog* file. This can be useful if the upstream changelog has an unusual name, or if other documentation in the package refers to the *changelog* file.

- **-X***item*, **--exclude=***item*

  Exclude upstream *changelog* files that contain *item* anywhere in their filename from being installed.

  Note that directory name of the changelog is also part of the match.

- **--no-trim**

  Install the full changelog, not its trimmed version that includes only recent entries.

- *upstream*

  Install this file as the upstream changelog.

## SEE ALSO

[**debhelper**(7)](/debhelper/7.md)

This program is a part of debhelper.

## AUTHOR

Joey Hess \<joeyh@debian.org\>