Provided by: xdeb_0.6.6_all 
NAME
xdeb — build a set of Debian packages
SYNOPSIS
xdeb [-C file] [-a architecture] [-b builddir] [-d destdir] [--apt-source] [--prefer-apt]
[--only-explicit] [-f] [--debug] [--generate-graph] [--generate-compact-graph] [--no-clean-after]
[--no-lintian] [--sequence] [--list-builds] [--all] [-x package] [--no-native-import] package [...]
xdeb --convert [-C file] [-a architecture] [--no-convert-install] package.deb [...]
DESCRIPTION
Traditionally, Debian-format packages (as used in Debian, Ubuntu, and so on) have been built natively.
However it is often useful to be able to cross-build packages, and sometimes whole systems.
xdeb provides this functionality in a convenient form by providing build-ordering, cross-dependency
satisfaction, and cross-building all in one tool.
xdeb takes a set of target package names or names of directories containing packages, and builds those
packages for the specified architecture (or for the native architecture if unspecified), in an
appropriate sequence. As builds complete, it will install packages necessary to satisfy build-
dependencies for subsequent stages. When necessary, it will convert foreign-architecture binary packages
to packages that can be installed safely on the native architecture without conflicts. When cross-
compiling, it checks to ensure that programs were not accidentally built to run on the build
architecture, which is a common failure mode.
xdeb fetches source code using apt-get(8). It defaults to using the build-system APT configuration, so
you should ensure that a repository containing packages of the target architecture is specified on the
relevant machine/chroot.
e.g.
deb [arch=armel] http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports maverick main universe
deb-src http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports maverick main universe
Multiple repositories can be specified and APT pinning and release-default options used to provide
preferred source repositories. xdeb will respect APT policy.
OPTIONS
-C, --config-file file
Read file as an additional configuration file.
-a, --architecture architecture
Build packages for architecture rather than for the native architecture. Configuration file
option: architecture.
-b, --build-directory builddir
Build packages in builddir rather than in the current directory. This option may be given multiple
times; in that case, the first builddir will be used for packages fetched using apt-get and as the
default destination directory, but otherwise all supplied directories will be scanned for packages
and treated equivalently. Configuration file option: builddirs.
-d, --dest-directory destdir
Leave successfully built packages in destdir rather than in the first build directory.
Configuration file option: destdir.
--apt-source
Fetch source code using apt-get. If this is not specified, then only packages in any builddir will
be built, and only those packages will be used to expand dependencies for build sequencing.
Configuration file option: apt_source.
--prefer-apt
Prefer source packages available using apt-get, even if an older version of the package is already
available in the build directory. This option implies --apt-source. Configuration file option:
prefer_apt.
--only-explicit
Only build packages explicitly listed on the command line. For all other packages, import native
builds rather than attempting to cross-compile them. This may produce less complete builds in some
cases, but if the native repository is reasonably complete then it greatly reduces the number of
builds that need to be run and it avoids many problems with build-dependency loops.
-f, --force-rebuild
Rebuild packages even if the source code appears to be unchanged. xdeb relies on the version
number in debian/changelog to detect changes. Configuration file option: force_rebuild.
--debug
Emit extra messages useful for debugging build sequencing. Configuration file option: debug.
--generate-graph
Emit dot graph version of debug build dependency information. See README-graph for further
details. Configuration file option: generate-graph.
--generate-compact-graph
Emit dot graph version of debug build dependency information, but without the intermediate binary
dependencies, in order to produce a more readable graph. See README-graph for further details.
Configuration file option: generate-compact-graph.
--parallel
Use as many jobs as there are CPUs on the system. Configuration file option: parallel.
--no-clean-after
Do not clean each source tree after building.
--no-lintian
Do not run lintian(1) to check whether cross-compiled packages were built for the requested
architecture. This can speed up builds when you are sure that all packages are cross-safe, but is
otherwise not recommended. Configuration file option: lintian (defaults to true).
--sequence
Just show the build sequence, but don't actually build anything. Only packages whose names are
suffixed with ‘*’ will be built; the rest are listed for information only. Configuration file
option: sequence.
--list-builds
List all current successful builds for the selected architecture in the build directory.
Configuration file option: list_builds.
--all
Build all packages in the working tree. Configuration file option: all.
-x, --exclude package
Exclude package from the list of packages computed by --all. It will only be built if required to
satisfy dependencies. Configuration file option: exclude.
--no-native-import
Normally, xdeb will import native builds of certain packages rather than attempting to cross-build
them. This option disables that behaviour. Use this when working on fixing cross-builds of the
packages in question.
--convert
Rather than building, convert a set of foreign-architecture binary packages to packages that can be
installed safely on the native architecture without conflicts, as though they had just been built
by xdeb. This silently ignores any packages that cannot usefully be converted.
--no-convert-install
Normally, xdeb --convert will install packages after converting them for use on the native
architecture. This option suppresses that behaviour.
FILES
/etc/xdeb/xdeb.cfg
Site-wide configuration file. xdeb will also look for xdeb.cfg in the directory alongside its own
executable, to support running from its own build directory.
.xdeb, xdeb.cfg
Read from the current directory as a per-project configuration file. You may supply additional
configuration files using the -C option.
CONFIGURATION FILE
The configuration file is a ConfigParser-format (a.k.a. "INI file") file. Recognised sections are Lists
and Options. The Lists section lists specific packages that are exceptions from various built-in rules;
see the supplied site-wide configuration file for examples. The Options section may be used to provide
defaults for any values not explicitly set on the command line.
It is also possible to have a xdeb.cfg configuration file in a directory containing an individual
package. Such configuration files may include a Package section, with the following optional keys:
directory
Relative path to the directory that really contains the package's files. This directory will need
to contain a debian subdirectory in order to build properly (which may be created due to another
option in this section). This option is useful when package files are fetched from another
repository, and some extra work is needed to put the debian subdirectory in place.
debian_symlink
Create debian as a symbolic link to the value of this option.
ADVICE ON OPERATION
Generally speaking, you can re-run xdeb on failures and it will start again with the last package it
tried to build. If the first builddir and destdir are the same, then xdeb will not notice that a package
had not been successfully built in a previous run if it contained objects for the wrong architecture, or
if it failed to run dpkg-cross or dpkg -i. In this case, you may need to remove the .changes file for
that package before trying again. We recommend that destdir be set to a directory which is not a build
directory.
AUTHORS
xdeb was originally written by Colin Watson <cjwatson@canonical.com> for Chromium OS, and then renamed to
xdeb for more general use.
xdeb is copyright © 2009, 2010 The Chromium OS Authors, © 2010 Canonical Ltd.
Linaro October 15, 2009 XDEB(1)