---
name: "mk-origtargz"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "devscripts"
version: "2.25.15+deb13u1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mk-origtargz"
---

# mk-origtargz(1)

rename upstream tarball, optionally changing the compression and removing unwanted files

## NAME

mk-origtargz - rename upstream tarball, optionally changing the compression and removing unwanted files

## SYNOPSIS

- **mk-origtargz** \[*options*\] *foo-1.0.tar.gz*

  - **mk-origtargz** **--help**

  ## DESCRIPTION

**mk-origtargz** renames the given file to match what is expected by **dpkg-buildpackage**, based on the source package name and version in *debian/changelog*. It can convert **zip** to **tar**, optionally change the compression scheme and remove files according to **Files-Excluded** and **Files-Excluded-***component* in *debian/copyright*. The resulting file is placed in *debian/../..*. (In *debian/copyright*, the **Files-Excluded** and **Files-Excluded-***component* stanzas are a part of the first paragraph and there is a blank line before the following paragraphs which contain **Files** and other stanzas. The **Files-Included** stanza may be used to ignore parts of subdirectories specified by the **Files-Excluded** stanza See [**uscan**(1)](/uscan/1.md) "COPYRIGHT FILE EXAMPLE".)

The archive type for **zip** is detected by "**file --dereference --brief** **--mime-type**" command.  So any **zip** type archives such as **jar** and **xpi** are treated in the same way.

If the package name is given via the **--package** option, no information is read from *debian/*, and the result file is placed in the current directory.

**mk-origtargz** is commonly called via **uscan**, which first obtains the upstream tarball.

## OPTIONS

### Metadata options

The following options extend or replace information taken from *debian/*.

- **--package** *package*

  Use *package* as the name of the Debian source package, and do not require or use a *debian/* directory. This option can only be used together with **--version**.

  The default is to use the package name of the first entry in *debian/changelog*.

- **-v**, **--version** *version*

  Use *version* as the version of the package. This needs to be the upstream version portion of a full Debian version, i.e. no Debian revision, no epoch.

  The default is to use the upstream portion of the version of the first entry in *debian/changelog*.

- **--exclude-file** *glob*

  Remove files matching the given *glob* from the tarball, as if it was listed in **Files-Excluded**.

- **--copyright-file** *filename*

  Remove files matching the patterns found in *filename*, which should have the format of a Debian *copyright* file (**Format: https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/** to be precise). Errors parsing that file are silently ignored, exactly as is the case with *debian/copyright*.

  Unmatched patterns will emit a warning so the user can verify whether it is correct.  If there are multiple patterns which match a file, only the last one will count as being matched.

  Both the **--exclude-file** and **--copyright-file** options amend the list of patterns found in *debian/copyright*. If you do not want to read that file, you will have to use **--package**.

- **--signature** *signature-mode*

  Set *signature-mode*:

  - 0 for no signature

    - 1 for normal detached signature

    - 2 for signature on decompressed

    - 3 for self signature

    - **--signature-file** *signature-file*

  Use *signature-file* as the signature file corresponding to the Debian source package to create a **dpkg-source** (post-stretch) compatible signature file. (optional)

### Action options

These options specify what exactly **mk-origtargz** should do. The options **--copy**, **--rename** and **--symlink** are mutually exclusive.

- **--symlink**

  Make the resulting file a symlink to the given original file. (This is the default behaviour.)

  If the file has to be modified (because it is a **zip**, **xpi** or **zst** file, because of **--repack** or **Files-Excluded**), this option behaves like **--copy**.

- **--copy**

  Make the resulting file a copy of the original file (unless it has to be modified, of course).

- **--rename**

  Rename the original file.

  If the file has to be modified (because it is a **zip**, **xpi**, **zst** file, because of **--repack** or **Files-Excluded**), this implies that the original file is deleted afterwards.

- **--repack**

  If the given file is not compressed using the desired format (see **--compression**), recompress it.

- **-S**, **--repack-suffix** *suffix*

  If the file has to be modified, because of **Files-Excluded**, append *suffix* to the upstream version.

- **--force-repack**

  Recompress even if file is compressed using the desired format and no files were deleted.

- **-c**, **--component** *componentname*

  Use \<componentname\> as the component name for the secondary upstream tarball. Set *componentname* as the component name.  This is used only for the secondary upstream tarball of the Debian source package. Then *packagename\_version.orig-componentname.tar.gz* is created.

- **--compression** \[ **gzip** \| **bzip2** \| **lzma** \| **xz** \| **default** \]

  The default method is **xz**. When mk-origtargz is launched in a debian source repository which format is "1.0" or undefined, the method switches to **gzip**.

- **-C**, **--directory** *directory*

  Put the resulting file in the given directory.

- **--unzipopt** *options*

  Add the extra options to use with the **unzip** command such as **-a**, **-aa**, and **-b**.

## SEE ALSO

[**uscan**(1)](/uscan/1.md), [**uupdate**(1)](/uupdate/1.md)

## AUTHOR

**mk-origtargz** and this manpage have been written by Joachim Breitner \<*nomeata@debian.org*\>.