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>.