Provided by: dpkg-dev_1.18.4ubuntu1.7_all 
NAME
dpkg-source - Debian source package (.dsc) manipulation tool
SYNOPSIS
dpkg-source [option...] command
DESCRIPTION
dpkg-source packs and unpacks Debian source archives.
None of these commands allow multiple options to be combined into one, and they do not allow the value
for an option to be specified in a separate argument.
COMMANDS
-x, --extract filename.dsc [output-directory]
Extract a source package (--extract since dpkg 1.17.14). One non-option argument must be
supplied, the name of the Debian source control file (.dsc). An optional second non-option
argument may be supplied to specify the directory to extract the source package to, this must not
exist. If no output directory is specified, the source package is extracted into a directory named
source-version under the current working directory.
dpkg-source will read the names of the other file(s) making up the source package from the control
file; they are assumed to be in the same directory as the .dsc.
The files in the extracted package will have their permissions and ownerships set to those which
would have been expected if the files and directories had simply been created - directories and
executable files will be 0777 and plain files will be 0666, both modified by the extractors'
umask; if the parent directory is setgid then the extracted directories will be too, and all the
files and directories will inherit its group ownership.
If the source package uses a non-standard format (currently this means all formats except “1.0”),
its name will be stored in debian/source/format so that the following builds of the source package
use the same format by default.
-b, --build directory [format-specific-parameters]
Build a source package (--build since dpkg 1.17.14). The first non-option argument is taken as
the name of the directory containing the debianized source tree (i.e. with a debian sub-directory
and maybe changes to the original files). Depending on the source package format used to build
the package, additional parameters might be accepted.
dpkg-source will build the source package with the first format found in this ordered list: the
format indicated with the --format command line option, the format indicated in
debian/source/format, “1.0”. The fallback to “1.0” is deprecated and will be removed at some
point in the future, you should always document the desired source format in debian/source/format.
See section SOURCE PACKAGE FORMATS for an extensive description of the various source package
formats.
--print-format directory
Print the source format that would be used to build the source package if dpkg-source --build
directory was called (in the same conditions and with the same parameters; since dpkg 1.15.5).
--before-build directory
Run the corresponding hook of the source package format (since dpkg 1.15.8). This hook is called
before any build of the package (dpkg-buildpackage calls it very early even before debian/rules
clean). This command is idempotent and can be called multiple times. Not all source formats
implement something in this hook, and those that do usually prepare the source tree for the build
for example by ensuring that the Debian patches are applied.
--after-build directory
Run the corresponding hook of the source package format (since dpkg 1.15.8). This hook is called
after any build of the package (dpkg-buildpackage calls it last). This command is idempotent and
can be called multiple times. Not all source formats implement something in this hook, and those
that do usually use it to undo what --before-build has done.
--commit [directory] ...
Record changes in the source tree unpacked in directory (since dpkg 1.16.1). This command can
take supplementary parameters depending on the source format. It will error out for formats where
this operation doesn't mean anything.
-?, --help
Show the usage message and exit.
--version
Show the version and exit.
OPTIONS
Generic build options
-ccontrol-file
Specifies the main source control file to read information from. The default is debian/control.
If given with relative pathname this is interpreted starting at the source tree's top level
directory.
-lchangelog-file
Specifies the changelog file to read information from. The default is debian/changelog. If given
with relative pathname this is interpreted starting at the source tree's top level directory.
-Fchangelog-format
Specifies the format of the changelog. See dpkg-parsechangelog(1) for information about
alternative formats.
--format=value
Use the given format for building the source package (since dpkg 1.14.17). It does override any
format given in debian/source/format.
-Vname=value
Set an output substitution variable. See deb-substvars(5) for a discussion of output
substitution.
-Tsubstvars-file
Read substitution variables in substvars-file; the default is to not read any file. This option
can be used multiple times to read substitution variables from multiple files (since dpkg 1.15.6).
-Dfield=value
Override or add an output control file field.
-Ufield
Remove an output control file field.
-Zcompression, --compression=compression
Specify the compression to use for created tarballs and diff files (--compression since dpkg
1.15.5). Note that this option will not cause existing tarballs to be recompressed, it only
affects new files. Supported values are: gzip, bzip2, lzma and xz. The default is xz for formats
2.0 and newer, and gzip for format 1.0. xz is only supported since dpkg 1.15.5.
-zlevel, --compression-level=level
Compression level to use (--compression-level since dpkg 1.15.5). As with -Z it only affects
newly created files. Supported values are: 1 to 9, best, and fast. The default is 9 for gzip and
bzip2, 6 for xz and lzma.
-i[regex], --diff-ignore[=regex]
You may specify a perl regular expression to match files you want filtered out of the list of
files for the diff (--diff-ignore since dpkg 1.15.6). (This list is generated by a find command.)
(If the source package is being built as a version 3 source package using a VCS, this can be used
to ignore uncommited changes on specific files. Using -i.* will ignore all of them.)
The -i option by itself enables this setting with a default regex (preserving any modification to
the default regex done by a previous use of --extend-diff-ignore) that will filter out control
files and directories of the most common revision control systems, backup and swap files and
Libtool build output directories. There can only be one active regex, of multiple -i options only
the last one will take effect.
This is very helpful in cutting out extraneous files that get included in the diff, e.g. if you
maintain your source in a revision control system and want to use a checkout to build a source
package without including the additional files and directories that it will usually contain (e.g.
CVS/, .cvsignore, .svn/). The default regex is already very exhaustive, but if you need to replace
it, please note that by default it can match any part of a path, so if you want to match the begin
of a filename or only full filenames, you will need to provide the necessary anchors (e.g.
‘(^|/)’, ‘($|/)’) yourself.
--extend-diff-ignore=regex
The perl regular expression specified will extend the default value used by --diff-ignore and its
current value, if set (since dpkg 1.15.6). It does this by concatenating “|regex” to the existing
value. This option is convenient to use in debian/source/options to exclude some auto-generated
files from the automatic patch generation.
-I[file-pattern], --tar-ignore[=file-pattern]
If this option is specified, the pattern will be passed to tar(1)'s --exclude option when it is
called to generate a .orig.tar or .tar file (--tar-ignore since dpkg 1.15.6). For example, -ICVS
will make tar skip over CVS directories when generating a .tar.gz file. The option may be repeated
multiple times to list multiple patterns to exclude.
-I by itself adds default --exclude options that will filter out control files and directories of
the most common revision control systems, backup and swap files and Libtool build output
directories.
Note: While they have similar purposes, -i and -I have very different syntax and semantics. -i can only
be specified once and takes a perl compatible regular expression which is matched against the full
relative path of each file. -I can specified multiple times and takes a filename pattern with shell
wildcards. The pattern is applied to the full relative path but also to each part of the path
individually. The exact semantic of tar's --exclude option is somewhat complicated, see
https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/tar.html#wildcards for a full documentation.
The default regex and patterns for both options can be seen in the output of the --help command.
Generic extract options
--no-copy
Do not copy original tarballs near the extracted source package (since dpkg 1.14.17).
--no-check
Do not check signatures and checksums before unpacking (since dpkg 1.14.17).
--require-valid-signature
Refuse to unpack the source package if it doesn't contain an OpenPGP signature that can be
verified (since dpkg 1.15.0) either with the user's trustedkeys.gpg keyring, one of the vendor-
specific keyrings, or one of the official Debian keyrings (/usr/share/keyrings/debian-keyring.gpg
and /usr/share/keyrings/debian-maintainers.gpg).
--ignore-bad-version
Turns the bad source package version check into a non-fatal warning (since dpkg 1.17.7). This
option should only be necessary when extracting ancient source packages with broken versions, just
for backwards compatibility.
SOURCE PACKAGE FORMATS
If you don't know what source format to use, you should probably pick either “3.0 (quilt)” or “3.0
(native)”. See https://wiki.debian.org/Projects/DebSrc3.0 for information on the deployment of those
formats within Debian.
Format: 1.0
A source package in this format consists either of a .orig.tar.gz associated to a .diff.gz or a single
.tar.gz (in that case the package is said to be native).
Extracting
Extracting a native package is a simple extraction of the single tarball in the target directory.
Extracting a non-native package is done by first unpacking the .orig.tar.gz and then applying the patch
contained in the .diff.gz file. The timestamp of all patched files is reset to the extraction time of the
source package (this avoids timestamp skews leading to problems when autogenerated files are patched).
The diff can create new files (the whole debian directory is created that way) but can't remove files
(empty files will be left over).
Building
Building a native package is just creating a single tarball with the source directory. Building a non-
native package involves extracting the original tarball in a separate “.orig” directory and regenerating
the .diff.gz by comparing the source package directory with the .orig directory.
Build options (with --build):
If a second non-option argument is supplied it should be the name of the original source directory or
tarfile or the empty string if the package is a Debian-specific one and so has no Debianisation diffs. If
no second argument is supplied then dpkg-source will look for the original source tarfile
package_upstream-version.orig.tar.gz or the original source directory directory.orig depending on the -sX
arguments.
-sa, -sp, -sk, -su and -sr will not overwrite existing tarfiles or directories. If this is desired then
-sA, -sP, -sK, -sU and -sR should be used instead.
-sk Specifies to expect the original source as a tarfile, by default package_upstream-
version.orig.tar.extension. It will leave this original source in place as a tarfile, or copy it
to the current directory if it isn't already there. The tarball will be unpacked into
directory.orig for the generation of the diff.
-sp Like -sk but will remove the directory again afterwards.
-su Specifies that the original source is expected as a directory, by default package-upstream-
version.orig and dpkg-source will create a new original source archive from it.
-sr Like -su but will remove that directory after it has been used.
-ss Specifies that the original source is available both as a directory and as a tarfile. dpkg-source
will use the directory to create the diff, but the tarfile to create the .dsc. This option must
be used with care - if the directory and tarfile do not match a bad source archive will be
generated.
-sn Specifies to not look for any original source, and to not generate a diff. The second argument,
if supplied, must be the empty string. This is used for Debian-specific packages which do not have
a separate upstream source and therefore have no debianisation diffs.
-sa or -sA
Specifies to look for the original source archive as a tarfile or as a directory - the second
argument, if any, may be either, or the empty string (this is equivalent to using -sn). If a
tarfile is found it will unpack it to create the diff and remove it afterwards (this is equivalent
to -sp); if a directory is found it will pack it to create the original source and remove it
afterwards (this is equivalent to -sr); if neither is found it will assume that the package has no
debianisation diffs, only a straightforward source archive (this is equivalent to -sn). If both
are found then dpkg-source will ignore the directory, overwriting it, if -sA was specified (this
is equivalent to -sP) or raise an error if -sa was specified. -sA is the default.
--abort-on-upstream-changes
The process fails if the generated diff contains changes to files outside of the debian sub-
directory (since dpkg 1.15.8). This option is not allowed in debian/source/options but can be
used in debian/source/local-options.
Extract options (with --extract):
In all cases any existing original source tree will be removed.
-sp Used when extracting then the original source (if any) will be left as a tarfile. If it is not
already located in the current directory or if an existing but different file is there it will be
copied there. (This is the default).
-su Unpacks the original source tree.
-sn Ensures that the original source is neither copied to the current directory nor unpacked. Any
original source tree that was in the current directory is still removed.
All the -sX options are mutually exclusive. If you specify more than one only the last one will be used.
--skip-debianization
Skips application of the debian diff on top of the upstream sources (since dpkg 1.15.1).
Format: 2.0
Extraction supported since dpkg 1.13.9, building supported since dpkg 1.14.8. Also known as wig&pen.
This format is not recommended for wide-spread usage, the format “3.0 (quilt)” replaces it. Wig&pen was
the first specification of a new-generation source package format.
The behaviour of this format is the same as the “3.0 (quilt)” format except that it doesn't use an
explicit list of patches. All files in debian/patches/ matching the perl regular expression [\w-]+ must
be valid patches: they are applied at extraction time.
When building a new source package, any change to the upstream source is stored in a patch named
zz_debian-diff-auto.
Format: 3.0 (native)
Supported since dpkg 1.14.17. This format is an extension of the native package format as defined in the
1.0 format. It supports all compression methods and will ignore by default any VCS specific files and
directories as well as many temporary files (see default value associated to -I option in the --help
output).
Format: 3.0 (quilt)
Supported since dpkg 1.14.17. A source package in this format contains at least an original tarball
(.orig.tar.ext where ext can be gz, bz2, lzma and xz) and a debian tarball (.debian.tar.ext). It can also
contain additional original tarballs (.orig-component.tar.ext). component can only contain alphanumeric
characters and hyphens (‘-’).
Extracting
The main original tarball is extracted first, then all additional original tarballs are extracted in
subdirectories named after the component part of their filename (any pre-existing directory is replaced).
The debian tarball is extracted on top of the source directory after prior removal of any pre-existing
debian directory. Note that the debian tarball must contain a debian sub-directory but it can also
contain binary files outside of that directory (see --include-binaries option).
All patches listed in debian/patches/debian.series or debian/patches/series are then applied. If the
former file is used and the latter one doesn't exist (or is a symlink), then the latter is replaced with
a symlink to the former. This is meant to simplify usage of quilt to manage the set of patches. Note
however that while dpkg-source parses correctly series files with explicit options used for patch
application (stored on each line after the patch filename and one or more spaces), it does ignore those
options and always expect patches that can be applied with the -p1 option of patch. It will thus emit a
warning when it encounters such options, and the build is likely to fail.
The timestamp of all patched files is reset to the extraction time of the source package (this avoids
timestamp skews leading to problems when autogenerated files are patched).
Contrary to quilt's default behaviour, patches are expected to apply without any fuzz. When that is not
the case, you should refresh such patches with quilt, or dpkg-source will error out while trying to apply
them.
Similarly to quilt's default behaviour, the patches can remove files too.
The file .pc/applied-patches is created if some patches have been applied during the extraction.
Building
All original tarballs found in the current directory are extracted in a temporary directory by following
the same logic as for the unpack, the debian directory is copied over in the temporary directory, and all
patches except the automatic patch (debian-changes-version or debian-changes, depending on
--single-debian-patch) are applied. The temporary directory is compared to the source package directory.
When the diff is non-empty, the build fails unless --single-debian-patch or --auto-commit has been used,
in which case the diff is stored in the automatic patch. If the automatic patch is created/deleted, it's
added/removed from the series file and from the quilt metadata.
Any change on a binary file is not representable in a diff and will thus lead to a failure unless the
maintainer deliberately decided to include that modified binary file in the debian tarball (by listing it
in debian/source/include-binaries). The build will also fail if it finds binary files in the debian sub-
directory unless they have been whitelisted through debian/source/include-binaries.
The updated debian directory and the list of modified binaries is then used to generate the debian
tarball.
The automatically generated diff doesn't include changes on VCS specific files as well as many temporary
files (see default value associated to -i option in the --help output). In particular, the .pc directory
used by quilt is ignored during generation of the automatic patch.
Note: dpkg-source --before-build (and --build) will ensure that all patches listed in the series file are
applied so that a package build always has all patches applied. It does this by finding unapplied patches
(they are listed in the series file but not in .pc/applied-patches), and if the first patch in that set
can be applied without errors, it will apply them all. The option --no-preparation can be used to disable
this behavior.
Recording changes
--commit [directory] [patch-name] [patch-file]
Generates a patch corresponding to the local changes that are not managed by the quilt patch
system and integrates it in the patch system under the name patch-name. If the name is missing, it
will be asked interactively. If patch-file is given, it is used as the patch corresponding to the
local changes to integrate. Once integrated, an editor is launched so that you can edit the meta-
information in the patch header.
Passing patch-file is mainly useful after a build failure that pre-generated this file, and on
this ground the given file is removed after integration. Note also that the changes contained in
the patch file must already be applied on the tree and that the files modified by the patch must
not have supplementary unrecorded changes.
If the patch generation detects modified binary files, they will be automatically added to
debian/source/include-binaries so that they end up in the debian tarball (exactly like dpkg-source
--include-binaries --build would do).
Build options
--allow-version-of-quilt-db=version
Allow dpkg-source to build the source package if the version of the quilt metadata is the one
specified, even if dpkg-source doesn't know about it (since dpkg 1.15.5.4). Effectively this says
that the given version of the quilt metadata is compatible with the version 2 that dpkg-source
currently supports. The version of the quilt metadata is stored in .pc/.version.
--include-removal
Do not ignore removed files and include them in the automatically generated patch.
--include-timestamp
Include timestamp in the automatically generated patch.
--include-binaries
Add all modified binaries in the debian tarball. Also add them to debian/source/include-binaries:
they will be added by default in subsequent builds and this option is thus no more needed.
--no-preparation
Do not try to prepare the build tree by applying patches which are apparently unapplied (since
dpkg 1.14.18).
--single-debian-patch
Use debian/patches/debian-changes instead of debian/patches/debian-changes-version for the name of
the automatic patch generated during build (since dpkg 1.15.5.4). This option is particularly
useful when the package is maintained in a VCS and a patch set can't reliably be generated.
Instead the current diff with upstream should be stored in a single patch. The option would be put
in debian/source/local-options and would be accompanied by a debian/source/local-patch-header file
explaining how the Debian changes can be best reviewed, for example in the VCS that is used.
--create-empty-orig
Automatically create the main original tarball as empty if it's missing and if there are
supplementary original tarballs (since dpkg 1.15.6). This option is meant to be used when the
source package is just a bundle of multiple upstream software and where there's no “main”
software.
--no-unapply-patches, --unapply-patches
By default, dpkg-source will automatically unapply the patches in the --after-build hook if it did
apply them during --before-build (--unapply-patches since dpkg 1.15.8, --no-unapply-patches since
dpkg 1.16.5). Those options allow you to forcefully disable or enable the patch unapplication
process. Those options are only allowed in debian/source/local-options so that all generated
source packages have the same behavior by default.
--abort-on-upstream-changes
The process fails if an automatic patch has been generated (since dpkg 1.15.8). This option can
be used to ensure that all changes were properly recorded in separate quilt patches prior to the
source package build. This option is not allowed in debian/source/options but can be used in
debian/source/local-options.
--auto-commit
The process doesn't fail if an automatic patch has been generated, instead it's immediately
recorded in the quilt series.
Extract options
--skip-debianization
Skips extraction of the debian tarball on top of the upstream sources (since dpkg 1.15.1).
--skip-patches
Do not apply patches at the end of the extraction (since dpkg 1.14.18).
Format: 3.0 (custom)
Supported since dpkg 1.14.17. This format is special. It doesn't represent a real source package format
but can be used to create source packages with arbitrary files.
Build options
All non-option arguments are taken as files to integrate in the generated source package. They must exist
and are preferably in the current directory. At least one file must be given.
--target-format=value
Required. Defines the real format of the generated source package. The generated .dsc file will
contain this value in its Format field and not “3.0 (custom)”.
Format: 3.0 (git)
Supported since dpkg 1.14.17. This format is experimental.
A source package in this format consists of a single bundle of a git repository .git to hold the source
of a package. There may also be a .gitshallow file listing revisions for a shallow git clone.
Extracting
The bundle is cloned as a git repository to the target directory. If there is a gitshallow file, it is
installed as .git/shallow inside the cloned git repository.
Note that by default the new repository will have the same branch checked out that was checked out in the
original source. (Typically “master”, but it could be anything.) Any other branches will be available
under remotes/origin/.
Building
Before going any further, some checks are done to ensure that we don't have any non-ignored uncommitted
changes.
git-bundle(1) is used to generate a bundle of the git repository. By default, all branches and tags in
the repository are included in the bundle.
Build options
--git-ref=ref
Allows specifying a git ref to include in the git bundle. Use disables the default behavior of
including all branches and tags. May be specified multiple times. The ref can be the name of a
branch or tag to include. It may also be any parameter that can be passed to git-rev-list(1). For
example, to include only the master branch, use --git-ref=master. To include all tags and
branches, except for the private branch, use --git-ref=--all --git-ref=^private
--git-depth=number
Creates a shallow clone with a history truncated to the specified number of revisions.
Format: 3.0 (bzr)
Supported since dpkg 1.14.17. This format is experimental. It generates a single tarball containing the
bzr repository.
Extracting
The tarball is unpacked and then bzr is used to checkout the current branch.
Building
Before going any further, some checks are done to ensure that we don't have any non-ignored uncommitted
changes.
Then the VCS specific part of the source directory is copied over to a temporary directory. Before this
temporary directory is packed in a tarball, various cleanup are done to save space.
DIAGNOSTICS
no source format specified in debian/source/format
The file debian/source/format should always exist and indicate the desired source format. For backwards
compatibility, format “1.0” is assumed when the file doesn't exist but you should not rely on this: at
some point in the future dpkg-source will be modified to fail when that file doesn't exist.
The rationale is that format “1.0” is no longer the recommended format, you should usually pick one of
the newer formats (“3.0 (quilt)”, “3.0 (native)”) but dpkg-source will not do this automatically for you.
If you want to continue using the old format, you should be explicit about it and put “1.0” in
debian/source/format.
the diff modifies the following upstream files
When using source format “1.0” it is usually a bad idea to modify upstream files directly as the changes
end up hidden and mostly undocumented in the .diff.gz file. Instead you should store your changes as
patches in the debian directory and apply them at build-time. To avoid this complexity you can also use
the format “3.0 (quilt)” that offers this natively.
cannot represent change to file
Changes to upstream sources are usually stored with patch files, but not all changes can be represented
with patches: they can only alter the content of plain text files. If you try replacing a file with
something of a different type (for example replacing a plain file with a symlink or a directory), you
will get this error message.
newly created empty file file will not be represented in diff
Empty files can't be created with patch files. Thus this change is not recorded in the source package and
you are warned about it.
executable mode perms of file will not be represented in diff
Patch files do not record permissions of files and thus executable permissions are not stored in the
source package. This warning reminds you of that fact.
special mode perms of file will not be represented in diff
Patch files do not record permissions of files and thus modified permissions are not stored in the source
package. This warning reminds you of that fact.
FILE FORMATS
debian/source/format
This file contains on a single line the format that should be used to build the source package (possible
formats are described above). No leading or trailing spaces are allowed.
debian/source/include-binaries
This file contains a list of binary files (one per line) that should be included in the debian tarball.
Leading and trailing spaces are stripped. Lines starting with ‘#’ are comments and are skipped. Empty
lines are ignored.
debian/source/options
This file contains a list of long options that should be automatically prepended to the set of command
line options of a dpkg-source --build or dpkg-source --print-format call. Options like --compression and
--compression-level are well suited for this file.
Each option should be put on a separate line. Empty lines and lines starting with ‘#’ are ignored. The
leading ‘--’ should be stripped and short options are not allowed. Optional spaces are allowed around
the ‘=’ symbol and optional quotes are allowed around the value. Here's an example of such a file:
# let dpkg-source create a debian.tar.bz2 with maximal compression
compression = "bzip2"
compression-level = 9
# use debian/patches/debian-changes as automatic patch
single-debian-patch
# ignore changes on config.{sub,guess}
extend-diff-ignore = "(^|/)(config.sub|config.guess)$"
Note: format options are not accepted in this file, you should use debian/source/format instead.
debian/source/local-options
Exactly like debian/source/options except that the file is not included in the generated source package.
It can be useful to store a preference tied to the maintainer or to the VCS repository where the source
package is maintained.
debian/source/local-patch-header and debian/source/patch-header
Free form text that is put on top of the automatic patch generated in formats “2.0” or “3.0 (quilt)”.
local-patch-header is not included in the generated source package while patch-header is.
debian/patches/series
This file lists all patches that have to be applied (in the given order) on top of the upstream source
package. Leading and trailing spaces are stripped. Lines starting with ‘#’ are comments and are skipped.
Empty lines are ignored. Remaining lines start with a patch filename (relative to the debian/patches/
directory) up to the first space character or the end of line. Optional quilt options can follow up to
the end of line or the first ‘#’ preceded by one or more spaces (which marks the start of a comment up to
the end of line).
BUGS
The point at which field overriding occurs compared to certain standard output field settings is rather
confused.
SEE ALSO
dpkg-deb(1), dpkg(1), dselect(1).