NAME

       pbuilder-dist, cowbuilder-dist - multi-distribution pbuilder/cowbuilder wrapper

SYNOPSIS

       pbuilder-dist distribution [architecture] operation [options] [...]

       cowbuilder-dist distribution [architecture] operation [options] [...]

DESCRIPTION

       pbuilder-dist is a wrapper that makes it easy to use pbuilder with many different versions
       of Ubuntu and/or Debian.

       It is common to symlink this script in order  to  give  it  many  names  in  the  form  of
       pbuilder-distribution    or    pbuilder-distribution-architecture,    like   for   example
       pbuilder-feisty, pbuilder-sid, pbuilder-gutsy-i386, etc.

       The same applies to cowbuilder-dist, which uses cowbuilder. The  main  difference  between
       both  is  that pbuilder compresses the created chroot as a a tarball, thus using less disc
       space but needing to uncompress (and possibly compress) its contents again  on  each  run,
       and cowbuilder doesn't do this.

USAGE

       There  are  many  arguments  listed on the synopsis; each of them, if used, has to be used
       exactly in the same order as it  appears  there.   In  case  you  renamed  the  script  to
       pbuilder-distribution,  do  not  use the distribution parameter; same with i386 / amd64 if
       the name also contains -architecture.

       distribution
              Replace this with the codename of the version of Ubuntu or Debian you want to use.

       architecture
              This  optional  parameter  will  attempt  to  construct  a  chroot  in  a   foreign
              architecture.   For  some  architecture  pairs (e.g. i386 on an amd64 install), the
              chroot will be created natively.  For others  (e.g.  armel  on  an  i386  install),
              qemu-user-static  will be used.  Note that some combinations (e.g. amd64 on an i386
              install) require special separate kernel handling,  and  may  break  in  unexpected
              ways.

       operation
              Replace this with the action you want pbuilder to do (create, update, build, clean,
              login or execute).  If you don't specify any action, but the  next  argument  is  a
              .dsc  file,  it  will  assume  that  it  should  build.  Check its manpage for more
              details.

       [...]
              Replace this with other parameters, if  needed.   For  example,  if  build  is  the
              option,  you  will  need  to also specify a .dsc file. As a special feature, if you
              specify  a  .dsc  file  you  can  skip  the  build  option  and  this  script  will
              automatically assume that building is the action you want to do.

OPTIONS

       --main-only (deprecated: mainonly)
              If  you  specify  this  option, only packages from the main (in Debian) or main and
              restricted (in Ubuntu) components will be used. By default, all official components
              are enabled. This only has effect when creating a new environment.

       --debug-echo
              The  generated  pbuilder/cowbuilder  command will be printed to the standard output
              instead of being executed. This is useful for debugging.

       --buildresult DIRECTORY (pbuilder-dist only)
              If this option is specified, the resultant files of the pbuilder build  are  placed
              in DIRECTORY.

       --release-only
              Only use the release pocket.  Default for development releases.

       --security-only
              Only  use  the  release  and  security pockets.  Suitable environment for preparing
              security updates.

       --updates-only
              Only use the release, security,  and  updates  pocket.   Not  the  proposed-updates
              pocket.

       --backports
              Also use the backports archive..

EXAMPLES

       pbuilder-dist gutsy create
              Creates a pbuilder environment for Ubuntu Gutsy, with all components enabled.

       pbuilder-sid --main-only create
              Creates a pbuilder environment for Debian Sid, with only the main component.

       pbuilder-feisty build ./sample_1.0-0ubuntu1.dsc
              Builds the specified package on an already existing Ubuntu Feisty environment.

       pbuilder-dist feisty withlog build ./sample_1.0-0ubuntu1.dsc
              Same as above, but stores pbuilder's output on a file.

       pbuilder-etch i386 update
              Updates an existing i386-architecture Debian Etch environment on an amd64 system.

       cowbuilder-experimental create
              Creates a cowbuilder environment for Debian Experimental.

FILES AND ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       By  default,  pbuilder-dist will store all the files it generates in ~/pbuilder/. This can
       be changed by setting the PBUILDFOLDER environment  variable.  If  the  directory  doesn't
       exist, it will be created on the run.

       A file with the log of the last operation, called last_operation.log, will be saved in the
       results subdirectory of each build environment.

       The default authentication method is sudo. You can change this by setting  the  PBUILDAUTH
       variable.

       By  default,  pbuilder-dist  use  the  master  Debian  and  Ubuntu  mirrors.  The pbuilder
       MIRRORSITE and OTHERMIRROR variables are supported, as are the  standard  ubuntu-dev-tools
       variables:             UBUNTUTOOLS_DEBIAN_MIRROR,             PBUILDER_DIST_DEBIAN_MIRROR,
       UBUNTUTOOLS_DEBSEC_MIRROR,     PBUILDER_DIST_DEBSEC_MIRROR,     UBUNTUTOOLS_UBUNTU_MIRROR,
       PBUILDER_DIST_UBUNTU,                 UBUNTUTOOLS_UBUNTU_PORTS_MIRROR,                 and
       PBUILDER_DIST_UBUNTU_PORTS_MIRROR.  See ubuntu-dev-tools (5) for details.

       You may also want to know that pbuilder-dist exports DIST and ARCH  environment  variables
       to  the  invoked  process,  containing  the  name of the distribution and the architecture
       targeted by the current build. You can make use of them, for example, in pbuilderrc.

BUGS

       If you experience any problem with this script contact me on rainct@ubuntu.com or  file  a
       bug at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-dev-tools.

       Please  ensure first that the problem is really this script and not an issue with pbuilder
       or cowbuilder themselves.

SEE ALSO

       pbuilder(1), pbuilderrc(5), cowbuilder(1), ubuntu-dev-tools(5).

AUTHORS

       pbuilder-dist   and   this   manual   page   were   written   by   Siegfried-A.   Gevatter
       <rainct@ubuntu.com>,  with  contributions from Iain Lane <iain@orangesquash.org.uk>, Emmet
       Hikory <persia@ubuntu.com> and others.

       pbuilder-dist is released under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later.