NAME

       debootstrap - Bootstrap a basic Debian system

SYNOPSIS

       debootstrap [OPTION...]  SUITE TARGET [MIRROR [SCRIPT]]

       debootstrap [OPTION...]  --second-stage

DESCRIPTION

       debootstrap  bootstraps a basic Debian system of SUITE into TARGET from MIRROR by running SCRIPT.  MIRROR
       can be an http:// or https:// URL, a file:/// URL, or an ssh:/// URL.

       The SUITE may be a release code name (eg, sid,  stretch,  jessie)  or  a  symbolic  name  (eg,  unstable,
       testing, stable, oldstable)

       Notice  that  file:/  URLs  are  translated to file:/// (correct scheme as described in RFC1738 for local
       filenames), and file:// will not work.   ssh://USER@HOST/PATH  URLs  are  retrieved  using  scp;  use  of
       ssh-agent or similar is strongly recommended.

       Debootstrap  can be used to install Debian in a system without using an installation disk but can also be
       used to run a different Debian flavor in a chroot environment.  This way you can create a full  (minimal)
       Debian  installation  which  can  be  used  for  testing purposes (see the EXAMPLES section).  If you are
       looking for a chroot system to build packages please take a look at pbuilder.

OPTIONS

       --arch=ARCH
              Set the target architecture (use if dpkg isn't installed).  See also --foreign.

       --include=alpha,beta
              Comma separated list of packages which will be added to download and extract lists.

       --exclude=alpha,beta
              Comma separated list of packages which will be removed from download and extract lists.   WARNING:
              you can and probably will exclude essential packages, be careful using this option.

       --extra-suites=alpha,beta
              Also use packages from the listed suites of the archive.

       --components=alpha,beta
              Use packages from the listed components of the archive.

       --no-resolve-deps
              By default, debootstrap will attempt to automatically resolve any missing dependencies, warning if
              any are found.  Note that this is not a complete dependency resolve in the sense of dpkg  or  apt,
              and  that  it is far better to specify the entire base system than rely on this option.  With this
              option set, this behaviour is disabled.

       --log-extra-deps
              If you want to record additional dependencies when resolving package dependencies, set this option
              to track them through debootstrap.log.

       --variant=minbase|buildd|fakechroot
              Name of the bootstrap script variant to use.  Currently, the variants supported are minbase, which
              only includes required packages and apt; buildd, which installs the build-essential  packages  and
              fakechroot, which installs the packages without root privileges.  The default, with no --variant=X
              argument, is to create a base Debian installation with  all  packages  of  priority  required  and
              important, including apt.

       --merged-usr
              Create  /{bin,sbin,lib}/  symlinks  pointing  to  their  counterparts in /usr/.  (Default for most
              variants and suites.)

       --no-merged-usr
              Do not create /{bin,sbin,lib}/ symlinks pointing to their counterparts in /usr/.  (Default for the
              buildd variant of Debian 12 'bookworm' or older, and all variants of Debian 9 'stretch' or older.)

       --keyring=KEYRING
              Override  the  default  keyring  for the distribution being bootstrapped, and use KEYRING to check
              signatures of retrieved Release files.

       --no-check-gpg
              Disables checking gpg signatures of retrieved Release files.

       --force-check-gpg
              Forces checking Release file signatures, disabling automatic  fallback  to  HTTPS  in  case  of  a
              missing keyring. Incompatible with the previous option.

       --verbose
              Produce more info about downloading.

       --print-debs
              Print the packages to be installed, and exit.  Note that an empty or non-existing TARGET directory
              must be specified so that debootstrap can download Packages  files  to  determine  which  packages
              should  be  installed,  and  to  resolve dependencies. The TARGET directory will be deleted unless
              --keep-debootstrap-dir is specified.

       --download-only
              Download packages, but don't perform installation.

       --foreign
              Do the initial unpack phase of bootstrapping only, for example if the target architecture does not
              match  the  host  architecture.   A  copy  of  debootstrap sufficient for completing the bootstrap
              process will be installed as /debootstrap/debootstrap in the target filesystem.  You  can  run  it
              with the --second-stage option to complete the bootstrapping process.

       --second-stage
              Complete the bootstrapping process.  Other arguments are generally not needed.

       --second-stage-target=DIR
              Run  second  stage  in  a  subdirectory  instead of root. (can be used to create a foreign chroot)
              (requires --second-stage)

       --keep-debootstrap-dir
              Don't delete the /debootstrap directory in the target after completing the installation.

       --cache-dir=DIR
              Cache .deb files under directory. It should be an absolute path.

       --unpack-tarball=FILE
              Acquire .debs from gzipped tarball FILE (specified with absolute path) instead of downloading  via
              HTTP(S).

       --make-tarball=FILE
              Instead  of  bootstrapping,  make  a gzipped tarball (written to FILE) of the downloaded packages.
              The resulting tarball may be passed to a later --unpack-tarball.   Note  that  an  empty  or  non-
              existing  TARGET  directory must be specified so that debootstrap can download packages to prepare
              the tarball. The TARGET directory will be deleted unless --keep-debootstrap-dir is specified.

       --debian-installer
              Used for internal purposes by the debian-installer

       --extractor=TYPE
              Override automatic .deb extractor selection to TYPE.  Supported extractors are: dpkg-deb and ar.

       --no-check-certificate
              Do not check certificate against certificate authorities

       --certificate=FILE
              Use the client certificate stored in file (PEM)

       --private-key=FILE
              Read the private key from file

       --inrelease-path
              Determine the path to the InRelease file of the suite  relative  to  the  normal  position  of  an
              InRelease file

EXAMPLES

       To setup a stretch system:

            debootstrap stretch ./stretch-chroot http://deb.debian.org/debian

            debootstrap stretch ./stretch-chroot file:///LOCAL_MIRROR/debian

       Full process to create a complete Debian installation of sid (unstable) in a chroot:

            main # debootstrap sid sid-root http://deb.debian.org/debian/
            [ ... watch it download the whole system ]
            main # echo "proc sid-root/proc proc defaults 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
            main # mount proc sid-root/proc -t proc
            main # echo "sysfs sid-root/sys sysfs defaults 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
            main # mount sysfs sid-root/sys -t sysfs
            main # cp /etc/hosts sid-root/etc/hosts
            main # chroot sid-root /bin/bash

AUTHOR

       debootstrap  was  written  by  Anthony  Towns  <ajt@debian.org>.   This manpage was written by Matt Kraai
       <kraai@debian.org>.