| Russ Allbery > Software > Scripts | backport Changes > |
(Backport a Debian package automatically)
backport [-abhpv] [-c chroot] [-d dist] [-e entry] [-l version] [-s suffix] [-t target] dsc
backport automates some of the tedium of backporting a Debian package to stable. Given the path to a *.dsc file, it unpacks the source package, adds a changelog entry for the backport with an appropriate version number, fixes build-dependencies that can be handled automatically, and builds the package using pdebuild and cowbuilder.
By default, backport prepares backports for backports.debian.org, using its version number convention. In this case, the -l option, giving the version number of the previous backport or the current stable version, is mandatory. Other backport targets may be specified with the -t option. The dist (target distribution in the changelog) and suffix (version number suffix to append) are set automatically based on the target but can be overridden as needed.
backport adds a debian/changelog entry with the text Backport to
dist. plus any specific changelog entries for other significant
changes it makes. The invoking user will be added to Uploaders in
debian/control unless they are already listed in Maintainer or
Uploaders. The urgency of the changelog entry will be the maximum of the
urgencies of the changelog entries for the backported package between the
version specified with -l and the current version, or the urgency of
the most recent change if -l was not given.
The *.dsc file given on the command line must be named according to the normal Debian source package naming convention (package_version.dsc), since it is parsed for package and version information. If it is not named appropriately, the script will fail.
Include the upstream *.orig.tar.gz file in the *.changes file and hence in
the upload. This is necessary the first time a backport of a particular
package is uploaded to an archive. If this option is not given, the
upstream tarball is included if and only if the original Debian revision
(before backporting) is 1.
Do a binary-only build, meaning that neither source nor architecture-independent binary package files will be included in the build. This is equivalent to the -B option to dpkg-buildpackage and implemented by passing that option through.
Use the specified chroot instead of the default chroot of base-jessie
(or base-wheezy if the distribution is oldstable or contains
wheezy, base-squeeze if the distribution contains squeeze,
base-lenny if the distribution contains lenny, or base-etch if
the distribution contains etch). All chroots must be in
/var/cache/pbuilder and end with .cow. This option controls the
filename before .cow. In other words, the default chroot is
/var/cache/pbuilder/base-jessie.cow, and passing -c ebo would use
/var/cache/pbuilder/ebo.cow instead.
The target distribution for the debian/changelog entry. By default,
this is jessie-backports for a target of bpo (the default), and
stable for any other target. The target distribution is used to choose
the version number suffix for the backported package.
Add an additional changelog entry entry after the note that this is a backport but before any information about changes made by this script. This is suitable, for instance, for noting that the backport is a security fix.
Print out this documentation (which is done simply by feeding the script
to perldoc -t).
Specifies the previous stable or backported version. If this option is
given, the changelog in the *.changes file will include all changelog
entries back to that version (by using the -v dpkg-buildpackage
option). If it is not given, only the most recent changelog entry (the
one for the backport) will be included. This option is required for a
target of bpo (backports.debian.org, the default).
Do not do the build. Instead, prepare the backport, making required modifications to debian/control and debian/changelog, and then leave the prepared backport in a subdirectory, printing out the command to run to build the package. This is useful for testing or if additional modifications will be needed after the automated work done by backport.
The suffix appended to the version number of the package (after a ~).
The default varies based on the selected target and target distribution.
For bpo and jessie-backports (the default), it will be bpo8+1.
If the distribution isn't one that backport recognizes, you may need to
specify the version suffix manually.
The backporting target, used to set other variables, primarily the version
suffix appended to the package version. Currently supported targets are
bpo, eyrie, and stanford. bpo is the default.
Print out the version of backport and exit.
This script avoids some tedium, but it should not be used blindly. The results are not guaranteed to work, and some packages have subtle compatibility issues or other backporting issues that it cannot handle automatically. The results of a backport should always be tested before being uploaded to backports.debian.org or used in a production environment.
Currently, most of the interesting settings (such as the target
distribution for the backport, or the path to the cowbuilder base
chroot) are hard-coded in this script, and it only does backports to
jessie, wheezy, squeeze, lenny, or etch. This could be
improved in later versions to allow more configuration.
pdebuild and cowbuilder are used unconditionally.
cowbuilder(8), dpkg-buildpackage(1), pdebuild(1)
The backports.debian.org contributor documentation, available at <http://backports.debian.org/Instructions/>.
Russ Allbery <eagle@eyrie.org>
Copyright 2015 Russ Allbery <eagle@eyrie.org>
Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
This program is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
| Russ Allbery > Software > Scripts | backport Changes > |