Provided by: dgit_0.21_all 
NAME
dgit - git integration with the Debian archive
SYNOPSIS
dgit [dgit-opts] clone [dgit-opts] package [suite] [./dir|/dir]
dgit [dgit-opts] fetch|pull [dgit-opts] [suite]
dgit [dgit-opts] build|sbuild|build-source [build-opts]
dgit [dgit-opts] push [dgit-opts] [suite]
dgit [dgit-opts] rpush build-host:build-dir [push args...]
dgit [dgit-opts] action ...
DESCRIPTION
dgit treats the Debian archive as a version control system, and bidirectionally gateways
between the archive and git. The git view of the package can contain the usual upstream
git history, and will be augmented by commits representing uploads done by other
developers not using dgit. This git history is stored in a canonical location known as
dgit-repos which lives outside the Debian archive (currently, on Alioth).
The usual workflow is: 1. clone or fetch; 2. make and commit changes in git as desired; 3.
run dgit build, dgit sbuild or dgit build-source, or generate the source and binary
packages for upload some other way; 4. do pre-upload tests of the proposed upload; 5. run
dgit push.
dgit clone package [suite] [./dir|/dir]
Consults the archive and dgit-repos to construct the git view of history for
package in suite (sid by default) in a new directory (named ./package by default);
also, downloads any necessary orig tarballs.
The suite's git tip is left on the local branch dgit/suite ready for work, and on
the corresponding dgit remote tracking branch. Also, the origin remote will be set
up to point to the package's dgit-repos tree for the distro to which suite belongs.
dgit fetch [suite]
Consults the archive and git-repos to update the git view of history for a specific
suite (and downloads any necessary orig tarballs), and updates the remote tracking
branch remotes/dgit/dgit/suite. If the current branch is dgit/suite then dgit
fetch defaults to suite; otherwise it parses debian/changelog and uses the suite
specified there.
dgit pull [suite]
Does dgit fetch, and then merges the new head of the remote tracking branch
remotes/dgit/dgit/suite into the current branch.
dgit build ...
Runs dpkg-buildpackage with some suitable options. Options and argumments after
build will be passed on to dpkg-buildpackage. It is not necessary to use dgit
build when using dgit; it is OK to use any approach which ensures that the
generated source package corresponds to the relevant git commit.
Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
dgit build-source ...
Builds the source package, and a changes file for a prospective source-only upload,
using dpkg-source. The output is left in package_version.dsc and
package_version_source.changes.
Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
dgit help
Print a usage summary.
dgit sbuild ...
Constructs the source package, uses sbuild to do a binary build, and uses
mergechanges to merge the source and binary changes files. Options and argumments
after sbuild will be passed on to sbuild. Changes files matching
package_version_*.changes in the parent directory will be removed; the output is
left in package_version_multi.changes.
Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
dgit git-build ...
Runs git-buildpackage with some suitable options. Options and argumments after
git-build will be passed on to git-buildpackage.
Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
dgit push [suite]
Does an `upload', pushing the current HEAD to the archive (as a source package) and
to dgit-repos (as git commits). The package must already have been built ready for
upload, with the .dsc and .changes left in the parent directory.
In more detail: dgit push checks that the current HEAD corresponds to the .dsc. It
then pushes the HEAD to the suite's dgit-repos branch, makes a signed git tag,
edits the .dsc to contain the dgit metadata field, runs debsign to sign the upload
(.dsc and .changes), pushes the signed tag, and finally uses dput to upload the
.changes to the archive.
dgit push always uses the package, suite and version specified in the
debian/changelog and the .dsc, which must agree. If the command line specifies a
suite then that must match too.
If dgit push fails while uploading, it is fine to simply retry the dput on the
.changes file at your leisure.
dgit rpush build-host:build-dir [push args...]
Pushes the contents of the specified directory on a remote machine. This is like
running dgit push on build-host with build-dir as the current directory; however,
signing operations are done on the invoking host. This allows you to do a push
when the system which has the source code and the build outputs has no access to
the key.
However, the build-host must be able to ssh to the dgit repos. If this is not
already the case, you must organise it separately, for example by the use of ssh
agent forwarding.
The remaining arguments are treated just as dgit push would handle them.
build-host and build-dir can be passed as separate arguments; this is assumed to be
the case if the first argument contains no : (except perhaps on in [ ], to support
IPv6 address literals).
dgit quilt-fixup
Looks to see if the tree is one which dpkg-source cannot properly represent. If it
isn't, dgit will fix it up for you (in quilt terms, by making a new debian/ patch
containing your unquilty changes) and make a commit of the changes it has made.
This is normally done automatically by dgit build and dgit push.
dgit version
Prints version information and exits.
OPTIONS
--dry-run|-n
Go through the motions, fetching all information needed, but do not actually update
the output(s). For push, dgit does the required checks and leaves the new .dsc in
a temporary file, but does not sign, tag, push or upload.
--damp-run|-L
Go through many more of the motions: do everything that doesn't involve either
signing things, or making changes on the public servers.
-kkeyid
Use keyid for signing the tag and the upload.
--no-sign
does not sign tags or uploads (meaningful only with push).
-ppackage
Specifies that we should process source package package rather than looking in
debian/control or debian/changelog. Valid with dgit fetch and dgit pull, only.
--clean=git|-wg
The source tree should be cleaned, before building a source package with one of the
build options, using git clean -xdf. This will delete all files which are not
tracked by git.
--clean=none|-wn
Do not clean the tree before building a source package. If there are files which
are not in git, a subsequent dgit push will fail.
--clean=dpkg-source|-wd
Use dpkg-buildpackage to do the clean, so that the source package is cleaned by
dpkg-source running the package's clean target. This is the default. It requires
the package's build dependencies.
-N|--new
The package may be new in this suite. Without this, dgit will refuse to push.
--ignore-dirty
Do not complain if the working tree does not match your git HEAD. This can be
useful with build, if you plan to commit later. (dgit push will still ensure that
the .dsc you upload and the git tree you push are identical, so this option won't
make broken pushes.)
This option may not work properly on `3.0 (quilt)' packages, as in that case dgit
needs to use and perhaps commit parts of your working tree.
--no-quilt-fixup
Do not fix up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata. If you use this option and the
package did in fact need fixing up, dgit push will fail.
-D Prints debugging information to stderr. Repeating the option produces more output
(currently, up to -DD is meaningfully different).
-cname=value
Specifies a git configuration option. dgit itself is also controlled by git
configuration options.
-vversion|_ | --since-version=version|_
Specifies the -vversion option to pass to dpkg-genchanges, during builds. Changes
(from debian/changelog) since this version will be included in the built changes
file, and hence in the upload. If this option is not specified, dgit will query
the archive and use the latest version uploaded to the intended suite.
Specifying _ inhibits this, so that no -v option will be passed to dpkg-genchanges
(and as a result, only the last stanza from debian/changelog will be used for the
build and upload).
-mmaintaineraddress
Passed to dpkg-genchanges (eventually).
--ch:option
Specifies a single additional option to pass, eventually, to dpkg-genchanges.
--dget=program|--dput=program|...
Specifies alternative programs to use instead of dget, dput, debsign, dpkg-source,
dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, sbuild, gpg, ssh, dgit, or mergechanges.
For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild, this applies only
when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
For dgit, specifies the command to run on the remote host when dgit rpush needs to
invoke a remote copy of itself. (dgit also reinvokes itself as the EDITOR for
dpkg-source --commit; this is done using argv[0], and is not affected by --dget=).
For ssh, the default value is taken from the DGIT_SSH or GIT_SSH environment
variables, if set (see below). And, for ssh, when accessing the archive and dgit-
repos, this command line setting is overridden by the git config variables dgit-
distro.distro.ssh and .dgit.default.ssh (which can in turn be overridden with -c).
Also, when dgit is using git to access dgit-repos, only git's idea of what ssh to
use (eg, GIT_SSH) is relevant.
--dget:option|--dput:option|...
Specifies a single additional option to pass to dget, dput, debsign, dpkg-source,
dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, sbuild, ssh, dgit, or mergechanges. Can be
repeated as necessary.
For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild, this applies only
when the program is invoked directly by dgit. Usually, for passing options to
dpkg-genchanges, you should use --ch:option.
See notes above regarding ssh and dgit.
NB that --gpg:option is not supported (because debsign does not have that
facility). But see -k.
-ddistro | --distro=distro
Specifies that the suite to be operated on is part of distro distro. This
overrides the default value found from the git config option dgit-
suite.suite.distro. The only effect is that other configuration variables (used
for accessing the archive and dgit-repos) used are dgit-distro.distro.*.
If your suite is part of a distro that dgit already knows about, you can use this
option to make dgit work even if your dgit doesn't know about the suite. For
example, specifying -ddebian will work when the suite is an unknown suite in the
Debian archive.
To define a new distro it is necessary to define methods and URLs for fetching
(and, for dgit push, altering) a variety of information both in the archive and in
dgit-repos. How to do this is not yet documented, and currently the arrangements
are unpleasant. See BUGS.
-Cchangesfile
Specifies the .changes file which is to be uploaded. By default dgit push looks
for single .changes file in the parent directory whose filename suggests it is for
the right package and version - or, if there is a _multi.changes file, dgit uses
that.
If the specified changesfile pathname contains slashes, the directory part is also
used as the value for --build-products-dir; otherwise, the changes file is expected
in that directory (by default, in ..).
--build-products-dir=directory
Specifies where to find the built files to be uploaded. By default, dgit looks in
the parent directory ..).
--existing-package=package
dgit push needs to canonicalise the suite name. Sometimes, dgit lacks a way to ask
the archive to do this without knowing the name of an existing package. Without
--new we can just use the package we are trying to push. But with --new that will
not work, so we guess dpkg or use the value of this option. This option is not
needed with the default mechanisms for accessing the archive.
-h|--help
Print a usage summary.
--initiator-tempdir=directory
dgit rpush uses a temporary directory on the invoking (signing) host. This option
causes dgit to use directory instead. Furthermore, the specified directory will be
emptied, removed and recreated before dgit starts, rather than removed after dgit
finishes. The directory specified must be an absolute pathname.
WORKFLOW - SIMPLE
It is always possible with dgit to clone or fetch a package, make changes in git (using
git-commit) on the suite branch (git checkout dgit/suite) and then dgit push. You can use
whatever gitish techniques you like to construct the commit to push; the only requirement
is that it is a descendant of the state of the archive, as provided by dgit in the remote
tracking branch remotes/dgit/dgit/suite.
If you are lucky the other uploaders have also used dgit and integrated the other relevant
git history; if not you can fetch it into your tree and cherry-pick etc. as you wish.
WORKFLOW - INTEGRATING BETWEEN DGIT AND OTHER GIT HISTORY
If you are the maintainer of a package dealing with uploads made without dgit, you will
probably want to merge the synthetic commits (made by dgit to represent the uploads) into
your git history. Normally you can just merge the dgit branch into your own master, or
indeed if you do your work on the dgit local suite branch dgit/suite you can just use dgit
pull.
However the first time dgit is used it will generate a new origin commit from the archive
which won't be linked into the rest of your git history. You will need to merge this.
If last upload was in fact made with git, you should usually proceed as follows: identify
the commit which was actually used to build the package. (Hopefully you have a tag for
this.) Check out the dgit branch (git checkout dgit/suite) and merge that other commit
(git merge debian/version). Hopefully this merge will be trivial because the two trees
should be the same. The resulting branch head can be merged into your working branches
(git checkout master && git merge dgit/suite).
If last upload was not made with git, a different approach is required to start using
dgit. First, do dgit fetch (or clone) to obtain a git history representation of what's in
the archive and record it in the remotes/dgit/dgit/suite tracking branch. Then somehow,
using your other git history plus appropriate diffs and cherry picks from the dgit remote
tracking branch, construct a git commit whose tree corresponds to the tree to use for the
next upload. If that commit-to-be-uploaded is not a descendant of the dig remote tracking
branch, check it out and say git merge -s ours remotes/dgit/dgit/suite; that tells git
that we are deliberately throwing away any differences between what's in the archive and
what you intend to upload. Then run dgit push to actually upload the result.
MODEL
You may use any suitable git workflow with dgit, provided you satisfy dgit's requirements:
dgit maintains a pseudo-remote called dgit, with one branch per suite. This remote cannot
be used with plain git.
The dgit-repos repository for each package contains one ref per suite named
refs/dgit/suite. These should be pushed to only by dgit. They are fast forwarding. Each
push on this branch corresponds to an upload (or attempted upload).
However, it is perfectly fine to have other branches in dgit-repos; normally the dgit-
repos repo for the package will be accessible via the remote name `origin'.
dgit push will also (by default) make signed tags called debian/version and push them to
dgit-repos, but nothing depends on these tags existing.
dgit push can operate on any commit which is a descendant of the current dgit/suite tip in
dgit-repos.
Uploads made by dgit contain an additional field Dgit in the source package .dsc. (This
is added by dgit push.) This specifies a commit (an ancestor of the dgit/suite branch)
whose tree is identical to the unpacked source upload.
Uploads not made by dgit are represented in git by commits which are synthesised by dgit.
The tree of each such commit corresponds to the unpacked source; there is an origin commit
with the contents, and a psuedo-merge from last known upload - that is, from the contents
of the dgit/suite branch.
dgit expects repos that it works with to have a dgit remote. This refers to the well-
known dgit-repos location (currently, the dgit-repos project on Alioth). dgit fetch
updates the remote tracking branch for dgit/suite.
dgit does not (currently) represent the orig tarball(s) in git. The orig tarballs are
downloaded (by dgit clone) into the parent directory, as with a traditional (non-gitish)
dpkg-source workflow. You need to retain these tarballs in the parent directory for dgit
build and dgit push.
To a user looking at the archive, changes pushed using dgit look like changes made in an
NMU: in a `3.0 (quilt)' package the delta from the previous upload is recorded in a new
patch constructed by dpkg-source.
PACKAGE SOURCE FORMATS
If you are not the maintainer, you do not need to worry about the source format of the
package. You can just make changes as you like in git. If the package is a `3.0 (quilt)'
package, the patch stack will usually not be represented in the git history.
If you are the maintainer of a non-native package, you currently have two sensible
options:
Firstly, you can regard your git history as primary, and the archive as an export format.
For example, you could maintain topic branches in git and a fast-forwarding release
branch; or you could do your work directly in a merging way on the dgit/suite branches.
If you do this you should probably use a `1.0' format source package if you can. In the
archive, the delta between upstream will be represented in the single Debian patch.
Secondly, you can use `3.0 (quilt)', and regard your quiltish patch stack in the archive
as primary. You will have to use other tools besides dgit to import and export this patch
stack. But see below:
FORMAT 3.0 (QUILT)
For a format `3.0 (quilt)' source package, dgit may have to make a commit on your current
branch to contain metadata used by quilt and dpkg-source.
This is because (i) the `3.0 (quilt)' source format cannot represent certain trees, and
(ii) packing up a tree in `3.0 (quilt)' and then unpacking it does not always yield the
same tree. Instead, dpkg-source insists on the trees having extra quilty metadata and
patch files in the debian/ and .pc/ directories, which dpkg-source sometimes modifies.
dgit will automatically work around this braindamage for you when building and pushing.
The only thing you need to know is that dgit build, sbuild, etc., may make a new commit on
your HEAD. If you're not a quilt user this commit won't contain any changes to files you
care about.
You can explicitly request that dgit do just this fixup, by running dgit quilt-fixup.
We recommend against the use of `3.0 (quilt)'.
FILES IN THE SOURCE PACKAGE BUT NOT IN GIT
This section is mainly of interest to maintainers who want to use dgit with their existing
git history for the Debian package.
Some developers like to have an extra-clean git tree which lacks files which are normally
found in source tarballs and therefore in Debian source packages. For example, it is
conventional to ship ./configure in the source tarball, but some people prefer not to have
it present in the git view of their project.
dgit requires that the source package unpacks to exactly the same files as are in the git
commit on which dgit push operates. So if you just try to dgit push directly from one of
these extra-clean git branches, it will fail.
As the maintainer you therefore have the following options:
• Persuade upstream that the source code in their git history and the source they
ship as tarballs should be identical. Of course simply removing the files from the
tarball may make the tarball hard for people to use.
One answer is to commit the (maybe autogenerated) files, perhaps with some simple
automation to deal with conflicts and spurious changes. This has the advantage
that someone who clones the git repository finds the program just as easy to build
as someone who uses the tarball.
• Have separate git branches which do contain the extra files, and after regenerating
the extra files (whenever you would have to anyway), commit the result onto those
branches.
• Provide source packages which lack the files you don't want in git, and arrange for
your package build to create them as needed. This may mean not using upstream
source tarballs and makes the Debian source package less useful for people without
Debian build infrastructure.
Of course it may also be that the differences are due to build system bugs, which cause
unintended files to end up in the source package. dgit will notice this and complain.
You may have to fix these bugs before you can unify your existing git history with dgit's.
CONFIGURATION
dgit looks at the following git config keys to control its behaviour. You may set them
with git-config (either in system-global or per-tree configuration), or provide
-ckey=value on the dgit command line.
dgit-suite.suite.distro
dgit.default.distro
dgit-distro.distro.username
dgit-distro.distro.git-url
dgit-distro.distro.git-user
dgit-distro.distro.git-host
dgit-distro.distro.git-proto
dgit-distro.distro.git-path
dgit-distro.distro.git-check
dgit-distro.distro.git-create
dgit-distro.distro.upload-host
dgit-distro.distro.mirror
dgit-distro.distro.archive-query
dgit-distro.distro.archive-query-default-component
dgit-distro.distro.sshpsql-user
dgit-distro.distro.sshpsql-host
dgit-distro.distro.sshpsql-dbname
dgit-distro.distro.ssh
dgit-distro.distro.keyid
dgit.default.*
for each dgit-distro.distro.*
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
DGIT_SSH, GIT_SSH
specify an alternative default program (and perhaps arguments) to use instead of
ssh. DGIT_SSH is consulted first and may contain arguments; if it contains any
whitespace will be passed to the shell. GIT_SSH specifies just the program; no
arguments can be specified, so dgit interprets it the same way as git does. See
also the --ssh= and --ssh: options.
gpg, dpkg-..., debsign, git, dget, dput, LWP::UserAgent
and other subprograms and modules used by dgit are affected by various environment
variables. Consult the documentaton for those programs for details.
BUGS
We should be using some kind of vhost/vpath setup for the git repos on alioth, so that
they can be moved later if and when this turns out to be a good idea.
dgit push should perhaps do `git push origin', or something similar, by default.
Debian does not have a working rmadison server, so to find out what version of a package
is in the archive, or to canonicalise suite names, we ssh directly into the ftpmaster
server and run psql there to access the database.
The mechanism for checking for and creating per-package repos on alioth is a hideous
bodge. One consequence is that dgit currently only works for people with push access.
Debian Maintainers are currently not able to push, as there is not currently any mechanism
for determining and honouring the archive's ideas about access control. Currently only
DDs can push.
dgit's representation of format `3.0 (quilt)' source packages does not represent the patch
stack. Currently the patch series representation cannot round trip through the archive.
Ideally dgit would represent a quilty package with an origin commit of some kind followed
by the patch stack as a series of commits followed by a pseudo-merge (to make the branch
fast-forwarding). This would also mean a new `dgit rebase-prep' command or some such to
turn such a fast-forwarding branch back into a rebasing patch stack, and a `force' option
to dgit push (perhaps enabled automatically by a note left by rebase-prep) which will make
the required pseudo-merge.
If the dgit push fails halfway through, it should be restartable and idempotent. However
this is not true for the git tag operation. Also, it would be good to check that the
proposed signing key is available before starting work.
dgit's handling of .orig.tar.gz is not very sophisticated. Ideally the .orig.tar.gz could
be transported via the git repo as git tags. Doing this is made more complicated by the
possibility of a `3.0 (quilt)' package with multiple .orig tarballs.
dgit's build functions, and dgit push, should not make any changes to your current HEAD.
Sadly this is necessary for packages in the `3.0 (quilt)' source format. This is
ultimately due to design problems in quilt and dpkg-source.
There should be an option which arranges for the `3.0 (quilt)' autocommit to not appear on
your HEAD, but instead only in the remote tracking suite branch.
The option parser requires values to be cuddled to the option name.
dgit assumes knowledge of the archive database. (The information dgit needs is not
currently available via any public online service with a well-defined interface, let alone
a secure one.)
--dry-run does not always work properly, as not doing some of the git fetches may result
in subsequent actions being different. Doing a non-dry-run dgit fetch first will help.
SEE ALSO
dget(1), dput(1), debsign(1), git-config(1), git-buildpackage(1), dpkg-buildpackage(1),
https://wiki.debian.org/Alioth