Ubuntu Manpage: gbp-dch - Generate the Debian changelog from git commit messages

NAME

       gbp-dch - Generate the Debian changelog from git commit messages

SYNOPSIS

       gbp  dch  [  --version  ]  [  --help  ] [ --verbose ] [ --color=[auto|on|off] ] [ --color-
       scheme=COLOR_SCHEME ]  [  --debian-branch=branch_name  ]  [  --debian-tag=tag-format  ]  [
       --upstream-branch=branch_name  ]  [  --upstream-tag=tag-format  ]  [  --ignore-branch  ] [
       --snapshot | --release ] [ --auto | --since=commitish ] [ --new-version=version ] [  --bpo
       |   --nmu  |  --qa  |  --team  ]  [  --distribution=name  ]  [  --force-distribution  ]  [
       --urgency=level ] [ --[no-]full ] [  --[no-]meta  ]  [  --meta-closes=bug-close-tags  ]  [
       --meta-closes-bugnum=bug-number-format   ]   [   --snapshot-number=expression  ]  [  --id-
       length=number ] [ --git-log=git-log-options ] [ --[no-]git-author ] [ --[no-]multimaint  ]
       [  --[no-]multimaint-merge  ]  [  --spawn-editor=[always|snapshot|release]  ]  [ --commit-
       msg=msg-format ] [ --commit ] [ --customizations=customization-file ] [path1 path2]

DESCRIPTION

       gbp dch reads git commit messages and generates  the  Debian  changelog  from  it.  If  no
       arguments  are given, gbp dch starts from the last tagged Debian package version up to the
       current tip of the  current  branch.  If  the  distribution  of  the  topmost  section  in
       debian/changelog  is UNRELEASED, the changelog entries will be inserted into this section.
       Otherwise, a new section will be created.

       If --auto is given gbp dch, tries to guess the last Git commit documented in the changelog
       -  this  only  works  in  snapshot mode. Otherwise, --since can be used to tell gbp dch at
       which point it should start in the Git history.

       The additional path arguments can be used to restrict the repository paths gbp  dch  looks
       at. Setting path to debian/ is a good choice if upstream uses Git and all Debian packaging
       changes  are  restricted  to  the  debian/  subdir.  In  more  sophisticated  cases  (like
       backports),  you  can  use  --git-log to restrict the generated changelog entries further,
       e.g. by using --git-log="--author=Foo Bar".

OPTIONS

--version
Print version of the program, i.e. version of the git-buildpackage suite

-v

--verbose
Verbose execution

-h

--help Print help and exit

--color=[auto|on|off]
Whether to use colored output.

--color-scheme=COLOR_SCHEME
Colors to use in output (when color is enabled). The format for COLOR_SCHEME is
'<debug>:<info>:<warning>:<error>'. Numerical values and color names are accepted,
empty fields imply the default color. For example, --git-color-scheme='cyan:34::'
would show debug messages in cyan, info messages in blue and other messages in
default (i.e. warning and error messages in red).

--debian-branch=branch_name
The branch in the Git repository the Debian package is being developed on, default
is master.

--upstream-branch=branch_name
Branch to determine the upstream version from. Default is upstream.

--git-upstream-tag=TAG-FORMAT
use this tag format when looking for tags of upstream versions, default is
upstream/%(version)s.

--ignore-branch
Don't check if the current branch matches debian-branch.

--debian-tag=tag-format
tag format used, when tagging debian versions, default is debian/%(version)s

--since=committish
Start reading commit messages at committish.

--auto, -a
Guess the last commit documented in the changelog from the snapshot banner (or from
the last tag if no snapshot banner exists).

--[no-]meta
Parse meta tags like Closes:, Thanks: and Gbp-Dch:. See META TAGS below.

--meta-closes=bug-close-tags
What meta tags to look for to generate bug-closing changelog entries. The default
is 'Closes|LP' to support Debian and Launchpad.

--meta-closes-bugnum=bug-number-format
What regular expression should be used to parse out the bug number. The default is
'(?:bug|issue)?\#?\s?\d+'. Note: the regex should suppress all portions of the bug
number that are not wanted using "(?:)", see Python regex manual for details.

Example: --meta-closes-bugnum="(?:bug)?\s*ex-\d+" would match all of the following:

Possible Txt Match? Result
------------ ------ ------
bug EX-12345 Y EX-12345
ex-01273 Y ex-01273
bug ex-1ab Y ex-1
EX--12345 N

--[no-]full
Include the full commit message in the changelog output.

--snapshot, -S
Create a snapshot release entry. This adds a snapshot release number and a warning
banner to the changelog entry. The release version number is being auto incremented
with every new snapshot release to avoid packages downgrades during snapshot
testing.

--snapshot-number=expression
Python expression that gets eval()ed to the new snapshot number.

--release, -R
Remove any snapshot release banners and version suffixes, set the current
distribution to unstable, and open the changelog for final tweaking.

--new-version=version, -N version
Add a new changelog section with version newversion. Together with --snapshot, the
snapshot number will be appended to newversion.

--team Create a Team upload changelog entry.

--bpo Increment the Debian release number for an upload to backports, and add a backport
upload changelog comment.

--nmu Increment the Debian release number for a non-maintainer upload.

--qa Increment the Debian release number for a Debian QA Team upload, and add a QA
upload changelog comment.

--distribution=name
Set the distribution field to name.

--force-distribution
Force the distribution specified with --distribution to be used, even if it doesn't
match the list of known distributions.

--urgency=level
Set the urgency field to level.

--git-log=git-log-options
Options passed on verbatim to git-log(1).

--id-length=N
Include N digits of the commit id in the changelog entry. Default is to not include
any commit ids at all.

--ignore-regex=regex
Ignore commit lines matching regex when generating the changelog.

--git-author
Use user.name and user.email from git-config(1) for changelog trailer.

--[no-]multimaint-merge
Merge commits by maintainer.

--spawn-editor=[always|snapshot|release]
Whether to spawn an editor: always, when doing snapshots or when doing a release.

--commit-msg=msg-format
use this format string for the commit message when committing the generated
changelog file (when --commit is given). Default is Update changelog for
%(version)s release

--commit
Commit the generated changelog.

--customizations=customization-file
Load Python code from customization-file. At the moment, the only useful thing the
code can do is define a custom format_changelog_entry() function.

SNAPSHOT MODE

       Snapshot mode can be used for quick test and install cycles without having to worry  about
       version numbers or changelog entries.

       When  using  --snapshot  or  -S,  gbp  dch uses a pseudo header in the Debian changelog to
       remember the last git commit it added a changelog entry for. It also sets a version number
       ending  in  ~<snaspshotnumber>.gbp<commitid>.   It  automatically  increments the snapshot
       number on subsequent invocations of gbp dch -S so that later snapshots automatically  have
       a higher version number. To leave snapshot mode, invoke gbp dch with the --release option.
       This removes the pseudo header and unmangles the version number so  the  released  version
       has a higher version number than the snapshots.

META TAGS

Additional to the above options, the formatting of the commit message in debian/changelog
can be modified by special tags (called Meta Tags) given in the git commit message. Meta
Tag processing can be activated via the --meta option. The tags must start at the first
column of a commit message but can appear on any line. They are of the form Tagname:
value. Valid Meta Tags are:

Gbp-Dch: action
Supported actions are: Ignore which will ignore this commit when generating
debian/changelog, Short which will only use the description (the first line) of the
commit message when generating the changelog entry (useful when --full is given),
and Full which will use the full commit message when generating the changelog entry
(useful when --full is not given).

In addition to Gbp-Dch, the deprecated Git-Dch is still supported.

Thanks: msg
Add a thanks message after the commit message.

Closes: bugnumber
Indicate in the debian/changelog that the bug was closed by this commit. See the
--meta-closes on how to extend this for other bugtrackers.

The following git commit message:

Document meta tags

so one doesn't have to consult the manual

Gbp-Dch: Short
Closes: #636088
Thanks: Raphaël Hertzog for the suggestion

Results in this debian/changelog entry:

* Document meta tags.
Thanks to Raphaël Hertzog for the suggestion (Closes: #636088)

CONFIGURATION FILES

       Several gbp.conf files are parsed to set defaults for the  above  command-line  arguments.
       See the gbp.conf(5)> manpage for details.

AUTHOR

       Guido Guenther <agx@sigxcpu.org>

                                         29 January 2016                               GBP-DCH(1)