Provided by: mini-dinstall_0.6.29ubuntu1_all
NAME
mini-dinstall - daemon for updating Debian packages in a repository
SYNOPSIS
mini-dinstall [options] [directory]
DESCRIPTION
mini-dinstall is a tool for installing Debian packages into a personal APT repository; it is very similar to the dinstall tool on auric: it takes a changes file and installs it into the Debian archive. The main focus of operation is a changes file. This file specifies a set of Debian binary packages, and often contains a source package too. Changes files are intended to group both Debian source and binary packages together, so that there is a single file to manipulate when uploading a package. mini-dinstall takes a changes file in its incoming directory (or on its command line in batch mode), and installs the files it references into a directory, and sets up Packages and Sources files for use with APT.
RUNNING
mini-dinstall can run in one of two modes: batch mode or daemon mode. In batch mode, the queue is process immediately, and the command exits when it is done. In daemon mode, which is the default, mini-dinstall runs in the background and continually checks the queue, and will process it whenever it has changed. The optional directory argument specifies the root directory of the queue. If no argument is specified, the value from the configuration file is used. The following options can be used: -v, --verbose display extra information while running -q, --quiet display as little information as possible -c, --config=FILE use FILE as the configuration file, instead of ~/.mini-dinstall.conf -d, --debug output debugging information to the terminal and to the log --no-log don't write any information to the logs --no-db disable lookups on package database. apt-ftparchive run without --db option -n, --no-act don't perform any changes; useful in combination with the -v flag -b, --batch run in batch mode -r, --run tell the currently running daemon to process the queue immediately -k, --kill kill the currently running daemon --help display a short overview of available options --version display the software version
CONFIGURATION
mini-dinstall's main configuration file is ~/.mini-dinstall.conf. The file consists of a number of different sections, each one applying to a different distribution (which corresponds to the Distribution field in a changes file). There is also a default section (DEFAULT), which applies to all distributions. Each section can contain any number of name = value combinations, which set a configuration parameter for that distribution (or the default one). Lists should be separated by commas, strings need only be enclosed with quotes if they contain spaces or commas, and boolean values should be 1 for true, and 0 for false. The configuration parameters available in the DEFAULT section are as follows: archivedir The root of the mini-dinstall archive. Must be set, either here or on the command line. extra_keyrings Additional GnuPG keyrings to use for signature verification. incoming_permissions The permissions for the incoming directory. mini-dinstall will attempt to set the directory's permissions at startup. A value of zero (´'0´' or ´'0000´') will disable permission setting. Doing this, you MUST set permission for incoming by hand! Defaults to 0750. keyrings GnuPG keyrings to use for signature verification of changes files. Setting this parameter will modify the default list; it is generally better to modify extra_keyrings instead. Defaults to the keyrings from the debian-keyring package. logfile The filename (relative to archivedir) where information will be logged. Defaults to “mini-dinstall.log”. mail_log_flush_count Number of log messages after which queued messages will be sent to you. Defaults to 10. mail_log_flush_level The log level upon which to immediately send all queued log messages. Valid values are the same as for the mail_log_level option. Defaults to ERROR. mail_log_level The default log level which is sent to you by email. Valid values include DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, and CRITICAL. Defaults to ERROR. mail_to The user to whom logs should be mailed. Defaults to the current user. mail_subject_template Style of the email subject. Available substitution variables are source, version, maintainer, ... (all statements in .changes) and changes_without_dot (same as changes, but without lines with only a dot). Default is: mini-dinstall: Successfully installed %(source)s %(version)s to %(distribution)s mail_body_template Style of the email body. Valid values are the same as for the mail_subject_template option. Default is: Package: %(source)s Maintainer: %(maintainer)s Changed-By: %(changed-by)s Changes: %(changes_without_dot)s tweet_server server to push tweets. Possible values are twitter or identica tweet_user username to login on tweet server tweet_password password to login on tweet server tweet_template Style of the tweet body. Valid values are the same as for the mail_subject_template option. Default is: Installed %(source)s %(version)s to %(distribution)s trigger_reindex In daemon mode, whether or not to recreate the Packages and Sources files after every upload. If you disable this, you probably want to enable dynamic_reindex. You may want to disable this if you install a lot of packages. Defaults to enabled. use_dnotify If enabled, uses the dnotify(1) command to monitor directories for changes. Only relevant if dynamic_reindex is enabled. Defaults to false. verify_sigs Whether or not to verify signatures on changes files. Defaults to enabled if the debian-keyring package is installed, disabled otherwise. The configuration parameters that can be set in the DEFAULT section and the distribution- specific sections are: alias A list of alternative distribution names. architectures A list of architectures to create subdirectories for. Defaults to “all, i386, powerpc, sparc”. archive_style Either “flat” or “simple-subdir”. A flat archive style puts all of the binary packages into one subdirectory, while the simple archive style splits up the binary packages by architecture. Must be set. Sources for the “flat” style should look like: deb file:///home/walters/debian/ unstable/ deb-src file:///home/walters/debian/ unstable/ deb file:///home/walters/debian/ experimental/ deb-src file:///home/walters/debian/ experimental/ Sources for the “subdir” style should look like: deb http://localhost/~walters/debian/ local/$(ARCH)/ deb http://localhost/~walters/debian/ local/all/ deb-src http://localhost/~walters/debian/ local/source/ chown_changes_files Determines if the changes files should be made unreadable by others. This is enabled by default, and is a good thing, since somebody else could unexpectedly upload your package. Think carefully before changing this. dynamic_reindex If enabled, directories are watched for changes and new Packages and Sources files are created as needed. Only used in daemon mode. Defaults to true. generate_release Causes a Release file to be generated (see release_* below) if enabled. Disabled by default. keep_old Whether or not old packages should be kept, instead of deleting them when newer versions of the same packages are uploaded. Defaults to false. mail_on_success Whether to mail on successful installation. Defaults to true. tweet_on_success Whether to tweet (e.g. on twitter/identi.ca) on successful installation. Defaults to false. max_retry_time The maximum amount of time to wait for an incomplete upload before rejecting it. Specified in seconds. Defaults to two days. poll_time How often to poll directories (in seconds) for changes if dynamic_reindex is enabled. Defaults to 30 seconds. post_install_script This script is run after the changes file is installed, with the full path of the changes file as its argument. pre_install_script This script is run before the changes file is installed, with the full path of the changes file as its argument. If it exits with an error, the changes file is skipped. release_codename The Codename field in the Release file. Defaults to “None”. release_description The Description field in the Release file. Defaults to “None”. release_label The Label field in the Release file. Defaults to the current user's username. release_origin The Origin field in the Release file. Defaults to the current user's username. release_suite The Suite field in the Release file. Defaults to “None”. experimental_release The experimental_release field mark the release as experimental. Defaults to “None”. release_signscript If specified, this script will be called to sign Release files. It will be invoked in the directory containing the Release file, and should accept the filename of the Release file to sign as the first argument (note that it is passed a temporary filename, not Release). It should generate a detached signature in a file named Release.gpg.
USING DPUT
One convenient way to use mini-dinstall is in combination with dput's “local” method. The author generally tests his Debian packages by using dput to upload them to a local repository, and then uses APT's “file” method to retrieve them locally. Here's a sample dput stanza: [local] fqdn = space-ghost.verbum.private incoming = /src/debian/mini-dinstall/incoming method = local run_dinstall = 0 post_upload_command = mini-dinstall -r Obviously, you should replace the “fqdn” and “incoming” values with whatever is appropriate for your machine. Some sample APT methods were listed in the configuration section. Now, all you have to do to test your Debian packages is: $ dpkg-buildpackage $ dput local ../program_1.2.3-1_powerpc.changes # wait a few seconds $ apt-get update $ apt-get install program
AUTHOR
mini-dinstall was originally written by Colin Walters <walters@debian.org> and is now maintained by Christoph Goehre <christoph.goehre@gmx.de>.
SEE ALSO
apt-get(8), dnotify(1), dput(1), gpg(1)