dpkg-source(1) dpkg suite dpkg-source(1)
NAME
dpkg-source - Debian source package (.dsc) manipulation tool
SYNOPSIS
dpkg-source [option...] 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, --extract filename.dsc [output-directory]
Extract a source package (--extract since dpkg 1.17.14). 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, --build directory [format-specific-parameters]
Build a source package (--build since dpkg 1.17.14). 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 --build directory was called (in the same
conditions and with the same parameters; since dpkg 1.15.5).
--before-build directory
Run the corresponding hook of the source package format (since dpkg
1.15.8). This hook is called before any build of the package (dpkg-
buildpackage calls it very early even before debian/rules clean).
This command is 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
Run the corresponding hook of the source package format (since dpkg
1.15.8). This hook is called after any build of the package (dpkg-
buildpackage calls it last). This command is 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.
--commit [directory] ...
Record changes in the source tree unpacked in directory (since dpkg
1.16.1). This command can take supplementary parameters depending
on the source format. It will error out for formats where this
operation doesn't mean anything.
-?, --help
Show the usage message and exit. The format specific build and
extract options can be shown by using the --format option.
--version
Show the version and exit.
OPTIONS
Generic build options
-ccontrol-file
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.
-lchangelog-file
Specifies the changelog 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.
-Fchangelog-format
Specifies the format of the changelog. See dpkg-parsechangelog(1)
for information about alternative formats.
--format=value
Use the given format for building the source package (since dpkg
1.14.17). 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.
-Tsubstvars-file
Read substitution variables in substvars-file; the default is to not
read any file. This option can be used multiple times to read
substitution variables from multiple files (since dpkg 1.15.6).
-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 tarballs and diff files
(--compression since dpkg 1.15.5). 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. The default
is xz for formats 2.0 and newer, and gzip for format 1.0. xz is
only supported since dpkg 1.15.5.
-zlevel, --compression-level=level
Compression level to use (--compression-level since dpkg 1.15.5).
As with -Z it only affects newly created files. Supported values
are: 1 to 9, best, and fast. The default is 9 for gzip and bzip2, 6
for xz and lzma.
-i[regex], --diff-ignore[=regex]
You may specify a perl regular expression to match files you want
filtered out of the list of files for the diff (--diff-ignore since
dpkg 1.15.6). (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 uncommitted changes on specific
files. Using -i.* will ignore all of them.)
The -i option by itself enables this setting with a default regex
(preserving any modification to the default regex done by a previous
use of --extend-diff-ignore) 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 regex, 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, for example 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
regex 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=regex
The perl regular expression specified will extend the default value
used by --diff-ignore and its current value, if set (since dpkg
1.15.6). It does this by concatenating “|regex” to the existing
value. 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 (--tar-ignore since dpkg 1.15.6). 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
<https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/tar.html#wildcards> for a full
documentation.
The default regex 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
(since dpkg 1.14.17).
--no-check
Do not check signatures and checksums before unpacking (since dpkg
1.14.17).
--no-overwrite-dir
Do not overwrite the extraction directory if it already exists
(since dpkg 1.18.8).
--require-valid-signature
Refuse to unpack the source package if it doesn't contain an OpenPGP
signature that can be verified (since dpkg 1.15.0) 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,
/usr/share/keyrings/debian-nonupload.gpg and
/usr/share/keyrings/debian-maintainers.gpg).
--require-strong-checksums
Refuse to unpack the source package if it does not contain any
strong checksums (since dpkg 1.18.7). Currently the only known
checksum considered strong is SHA-256.
--ignore-bad-version
Turns the bad source package version check into a non-fatal warning
(since dpkg 1.17.7). This option should only be necessary when
extracting ancient source packages with broken versions, just for
backwards compatibility.
Generic general options
--threads-max=threads
Sets the maximum number of threads allowed for compressors that
support multi-threaded operations (since dpkg 1.21.14).
-q Sets quiet mode to suppress warnings.
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
<https://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). Optionally the original tarball might be
accompanied by a detached upstream signature .orig.tar.gz.asc,
extraction supported since dpkg 1.18.5.
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
cannot remove files (empty files will be left over) and cannot create or
change symlinks.
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 --build):
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 debianization 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 debianization 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 debianization 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 (since dpkg 1.15.8). This
option is not allowed in debian/source/options but can be used in
debian/source/local-options.
Extract options (with --extract):
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
(since dpkg 1.15.1).
Format: 2.0
Extraction supported since dpkg 1.13.9, building supported since dpkg
1.14.8. 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 behavior 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)
Supported since dpkg 1.14.17. 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)
Supported since dpkg 1.14.17. 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 (‘a-zA-Z0-9’) characters and
hyphens (‘-’). Optionally each original tarball can be accompanied by a
detached upstream signature (.orig.tar.ext.asc and
.orig-component.tar.ext.asc), extraction supported since dpkg 1.17.20,
building supported since dpkg 1.18.5.
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/vendor.series or
debian/patches/series are then applied, where vendor will be the
lowercase name of the current vendor, or debian if there is no vendor
defined. 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. Vendor-specific series files are intended to make it possible
to serialize multiple development branches based on the vendor, in a
declarative way, in preference to open-coding this handling in
debian/rules. This is particularly useful when the source would need to
be patched conditionally because the affected files do not have built-in
conditional occlusion support. 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 expects 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.
Note that lintian(1) will emit unconditional warnings when using vendor
series due to a controversial Debian specific ruling, which should not
affect any external usage; to silence these, the dpkg lintian profile
can be used by passing «--profile dpkg» to lintian(1).
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).
Contrary to quilt's default behavior, patches are expected to apply
without any fuzz. When that is not the case, you should refresh such
patches with quilt, or dpkg-source will error out while trying to apply
them.
Similarly to quilt's default behavior, 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. When the diff is
non-empty, the build fails unless --single-debian-patch or --auto-commit
has been used, in which case the diff 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 allowed
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 --before-build (and --build) will ensure that all
patches listed in the series file are applied so that a package build
always has all patches applied. It does this by finding 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 behavior.
Recording changes
--commit [directory] [patch-name] [patch-file]
Generates a patch corresponding to the local changes that are not
managed by the quilt patch system and integrates it in the patch
system under the name patch-name. If the name is missing, it will
be asked interactively. If patch-file is given, it is used as the
patch corresponding to the local changes to integrate. Once
integrated, an editor (the first one found from sensible-editor,
$VISUAL, $EDITOR, vi) is launched so that you can edit the meta-
information in the patch header.
Passing patch-file is mainly useful after a build failure that pre-
generated this file, and on this ground the given file is removed
after integration. Note also that the changes contained in the
patch file must already be applied on the tree and that the files
modified by the patch must not have supplementary unrecorded
changes.
If the patch generation detects modified binary files, they will be
automatically added to debian/source/include-binaries so that they
end up in the debian tarball (exactly like dpkg-source
--include-binaries --build would do).
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 (since dpkg 1.15.5.4). 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 (since dpkg 1.14.18).
--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 (since dpkg 1.15.5.4). 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. The option would
be put in debian/source/local-options and would be accompanied by a
debian/source/local-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 (since dpkg
1.15.6). 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.
--no-unapply-patches, --unapply-patches
By default, dpkg-source will automatically unapply the patches in
the --after-build hook if it did apply them during --before-build
(--unapply-patches since dpkg 1.15.8, --no-unapply-patches since
dpkg 1.16.5). Those options allow you to forcefully disable or
enable the patch unapplication process. Those options are only
allowed in debian/source/local-options so that all generated source
packages have the same behavior by default.
--abort-on-upstream-changes
The process fails if an automatic patch has been generated (since
dpkg 1.15.8). 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.
--auto-commit
The process doesn't fail if an automatic patch has been generated,
instead it's immediately recorded in the quilt series.
Extract options
--skip-debianization
Skips extraction of the debian tarball on top of the upstream
sources (since dpkg 1.15.1).
--skip-patches
Do not apply patches at the end of the extraction (since dpkg
1.14.18).
Format: 3.0 (custom)
Supported since dpkg 1.14.17. This format is special. 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 preferably 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)
Supported since dpkg 1.14.17. This format is experimental.
A source package in this format consists of a single bundle of a git
repository .git to hold the source of a package. There may also be a
.gitshallow file listing revisions for a shallow git clone.
Extracting
The bundle is cloned as a git repository to the target directory. If
there is a gitshallow file, it is installed as .git/shallow inside the
cloned 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
“main”, but it could be anything.) Any other branches will be available
under 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 main
branch, use --git-ref=main. 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)
Supported since dpkg 1.14.17. 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.
DIAGNOSTICS
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
Patch files do not record permissions of files and thus executable
permissions are not stored in the source package. This warning reminds
you of that fact.
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.
ENVIRONMENT
DPKG_COLORS
Sets the color mode (since dpkg 1.18.5). The currently accepted
values are: auto (default), always and never.
DPKG_NLS
If set, it will be used to decide whether to activate Native
Language Support, also known as internationalization (or i18n)
support (since dpkg 1.19.0). The accepted values are: 0 and 1
(default).
SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
If set, it will be used as the timestamp (as seconds since the
epoch) to clamp the mtime in the tar(5) file entries.
Since dpkg 1.18.11.
VISUAL
EDITOR
Used by the “2.0” and “3.0 (quilt)” source format modules.
GIT_DIR
GIT_INDEX_FILE
GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY
GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES
GIT_WORK_TREE
Used by the “3.0 (git)” source format modules.
FILES
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 pathnames of binary files (one per line)
relative to the source root directory 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 --build 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
# ignore changes on config.{sub,guess}
extend-diff-ignore = "(^|/)(config.sub|config.guess)$"
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/local-patch-header
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)”. local-patch-header is not included in
the generated source package while patch-header is.
debian/patches/vendor.series
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. The vendor will be the lowercase name of the current vendor,
or debian if there is no vendor defined. If the vendor-specific series
file does not exist, the vendor-less series file will be used. 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).
SECURITY
Examining untrusted source packages or extracting them into staging
directories should be considered a security boundary, and any breakage
of that boundary stemming from these operations should be considered a
security vulnerability. But handling untrusted source packages should
not be done lightly, as the surface area includes any compression
command supported, commands to handle specific data formats (such as
tar(1) or patch(1)) in addition to the source package formats and
control files themselves. Performing these operations over untrusted
data as root is strongly discouraged.
Building source packages should only be performed over trusted data.
BUGS
The point at which field overriding occurs compared to certain standard
output field settings is rather confused.
SEE ALSO
deb-src-control(5), deb-changelog(5), deb-substvars(5), dsc(5).
1.22.21 2025-06-30 dpkg-source(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 04:52:56 CET 2025.