1dgit-maint-merge(7) dgit dgit-maint-merge(7)
2
6 dgit - tutorial for package maintainers, using a workflow centered
7 around git-merge(1)
8
10 This document describes elements of a workflow for maintaining a non-
11 native Debian package using dgit. The workflow makes the following
12 opinionated assumptions:
13 · Git histories should be the non-linear histories produced by
15 git-merge(1), preserving all information about divergent
16 development that was later brought together.
17 · Maintaining convenient and powerful git workflows takes priority
19 over the usefulness of the raw Debian source package. The Debian
20 archive is thought of as an output format.
21 For example, we don't spend time curating a series of quilt
23 patches. However, in straightforward cases, the information such a
24 series would contain is readily available from dgit-repos.
25 · It is more important to have the Debian package's git history be a
27 descendent of upstream's git history than to use exactly the
28 orig.tar that upstream makes available for download.
29 This workflow is less suitable for some packages. When the Debian
31 delta contains multiple pieces which interact, or which you aren't
32 going to be able to upstream soon, it might be preferable to maintain
33 the delta as a rebasing patch series. For such a workflow see for
34 example dgit-maint-debrebase(7) and dgit-maint-gbp(7).
35
37 This section explains how to start using this workflow with a new
38 package. It should be skipped when converting an existing package to
39 this workflow.
40 When upstream tags releases in git
42 Suppose that the latest stable upstream release is 1.2.2, and this has
43 been tagged '1.2.2' by upstream.
44 % git clone -oupstream https://some.upstream/foo.git
46 % cd foo
47 % git verify-tag 1.2.2
48 % git reset --hard 1.2.2
49 % git branch --unset-upstream
50 The final command detaches your master branch from the upstream remote,
52 so that git doesn't try to push anything there, or merge unreleased
53 upstream commits. If you want to maintain a copy of your packaging
54 branch on salsa.debian.org in addition to dgit-repos, you can do
55 something like this:
56 % git remote add -f origin salsa.debian.org:Debian/foo.git
58 % git push --follow-tags -u origin master
59 Now go ahead and Debianise your package. Just make commits on the
61 master branch, adding things in the debian/ directory. If you need to
62 patch the upstream source, just make commits that change files outside
63 of the debian/ directory. It is best to separate commits that touch
64 debian/ from commits that touch upstream source, so that the latter can
65 be cherry-picked by upstream.
66 Note that there is no need to maintain a separate 'upstream' branch,
68 unless you also happen to be involved in upstream development. We work
69 with upstream tags rather than any branches, except when forwarding
70 patches (see FORWARDING PATCHES UPSTREAM, below).
71 Finally, you need an orig tarball:
73 % git deborig
75 See git-deborig(1) if this fails.
77 This tarball is ephemeral and easily regenerated, so we don't commit it
79 anywhere (e.g. with tools like pristine-tar(1)).
80 Verifying upstream's tarball releases
82 It can be a good idea to compare upstream's released tarballs with
84 the release tags, at least for the first upload of the package. If
85 they are different, you might need to add some additional steps to
86 your debian/rules, such as running autotools.
87 A convenient way to perform this check is to import the tarball as
89 described in the following section, using a different value for
90 'upstream-tag', and then use git-diff(1) to compare the imported
91 tarball to the release tag. If they are the same, you can use
92 upstream's tarball instead of running git-deborig(1).
93 Using untagged upstream commits
95 Sometimes upstream does not tag their releases, or you want to
97 package an unreleased git snapshot. In such a case you can create
98 your own upstream release tag, of the form upstream/ver, where ver
99 is the upstream version you plan to put in debian/changelog. The
100 upstream/ prefix ensures that your tag will not clash with any tags
101 upstream later creates.
102 For example, suppose that the latest upstream release is 1.2.2 and
104 you want to package git commit ab34c21 which was made on
105 2013-12-11. A common convention is to use the upstream version
106 number 1.2.2+git20131211.ab34c21 and so you could use
107 % git tag -s upstream/1.2.2+git20131211.ab34c21 ab34c21
109 to obtain a release tag, and then proceed as above.
111 When upstream releases only tarballs
113 We need a virtual upstream branch with virtual release tags.
114 gbp-import-orig(1) can manage this for us. To begin
115 % mkdir foo
117 % cd foo
118 % git init
119 Now create debian/gbp.conf:
121 [DEFAULT]
123 upstream-branch = upstream
124 debian-branch = master
125 upstream-tag = %(version)s
126 sign-tags = True
128 pristine-tar = False
129 pristine-tar-commit = False
130 [import-orig]
132 merge-mode = merge
133 gbp-import-orig(1) requires a pre-existing upstream branch:
135 % git add debian/gbp.conf && git commit -m "create gbp.conf"
137 % git checkout --orphan upstream
138 % git rm -rf .
139 % git commit --allow-empty -m "initial, empty branch for upstream source"
140 % git checkout -f master
141 Then we can import the upstream version:
143 % gbp import-orig --merge-mode=replace ../foo_1.2.2.orig.tar.xz
145 Our upstream branch cannot be pushed to dgit-repos, but since we will
147 need it whenever we import a new upstream version, we must push it
148 somewhere. The usual choice is salsa.debian.org:
149 % git remote add -f origin salsa.debian.org:Debian/foo.git
151 % git push --follow-tags -u origin master upstream
152 You are now ready to proceed as above, making commits to both the
154 upstream source and the debian/ directory.
155
157 This section explains how to convert an existing Debian package to this
158 workflow. It should be skipped when debianising a new package.
159 No existing git history
161 % dgit clone foo
162 % cd foo
163 % git remote add -f upstream https://some.upstream/foo.git
164 Existing git history using another workflow
166 First, if you don't already have the git history locally, clone it, and
167 obtain the corresponding orig.tar from the archive:
168 % git clone git.debian.org:collab-maint/foo
170 % cd foo
171 % origtargz
172 Now dump any existing patch queue:
174 % git rm -rf debian/patches
176 % git commit -m "drop existing quilt patch queue"
177 Then make new upstream tags available:
179 % git remote add -f upstream https://some.upstream/foo.git
181 Now you simply need to ensure that your git HEAD is dgit-compatible,
183 i.e., it is exactly what you would get if you ran dpkg-buildpackage
184 -i'(?:^|/)\.git(?:/|$)' -I.git -S and then unpacked the resultant
185 source package.
186 To achieve this, you might need to delete debian/source/local-options.
188 One way to have dgit check your progress is to run dgit build-source.
189 The first dgit push will require --overwrite. If this is the first
191 ever dgit push of the package, consider passing
192 --deliberately-not-fast-forward instead of --overwrite. This avoids
193 introducing a new origin commit into your git history. (This origin
194 commit would represent the most recent non-dgit upload of the package,
195 but this should already be represented in your git history.)
196
198 debian/source/options
199 We set some source package options such that dgit can transparently
200 handle the "dropping" and "refreshing" of changes to the upstream
201 source:
202 single-debian-patch
204 auto-commit
205 You don't need to create this file if you are using the version 1.0
207 source package format.
208 Sample text for debian/source/patch-header
210 It is a good idea to explain how a user can obtain a breakdown of the
211 changes to the upstream source:
212 The Debian packaging of foo is maintained in git, using the merging
214 workflow described in dgit-maint-merge(7). There isn't a patch
215 queue that can be represented as a quilt series.
216 A detailed breakdown of the changes is available from their
218 canonical representation - git commits in the packaging repository.
219 For example, to see the changes made by the Debian maintainer in
220 the first upload of upstream version 1.2.3, you could use:
221 % git clone https://git.dgit.debian.org/foo
223 % cd foo
224 % git log --oneline 1.2.3..debian/1.2.3-1 -- . ':!debian'
225 (If you have dgit, use `dgit clone foo`, rather than plain `git
227 clone`.)
228 A single combined diff, containing all the changes, follows.
230 If you are using the version 1.0 source package format, this text
232 should be added to README.source instead. The version 1.0 source
233 package format ignores debian/source/patch-header.
234 If you're using the version 3.0 (quilt) source package format, you
236 could add this text to README.source instead of
237 debian/source/patch-header, but this might distract from more important
238 information present in README.source.
239
241 Use dgit build, dgit sbuild, dgit pbuilder, dgit cowbuilder, dgit push-
242 source, and dgit push as detailed in dgit(1). If any command fails,
243 dgit will provide a carefully-worded error message explaining what you
244 should do. If it's not clear, file a bug against dgit. Remember to
245 pass --new for the first upload.
246 As an alternative to dgit build and friends, you can use a tool like
248 gitpkg(1). This works because like dgit, gitpkg(1) enforces that HEAD
249 has exactly the contents of the source package. gitpkg(1) is highly
250 configurable, and one dgit user reports using it to produce and test
251 multiple source packages, from different branches corresponding to each
252 of the current Debian suites.
253 If you want to skip dgit's checks while iterating on a problem with the
255 package build (for example, you don't want to commit your changes to
256 git), you can just run dpkg-buildpackage(1) or debuild(1) instead.
257
259 Obtaining the release
260 When upstream tags releases in git
261 % git remote update
263 If you want to package an untagged upstream commit (because upstream
265 does not tag releases or because you want to package an upstream
266 development snapshot), see "Using untagged upstream commits" above.
267 When upstream releases only tarballs
269 You will need the debian/gbp.conf from "When upstream releases only
271 tarballs", above. You will also need your upstream branch. Above, we
272 pushed this to salsa.debian.org. You will need to clone or fetch from
273 there, instead of relying on dgit clone/dgit fetch alone.
274 Then, either
276 % gbp import-orig --no-merge ../foo_1.2.3.orig.tar.xz
278 or if you have a working watch file
280 % gbp import-orig --no-merge --uscan
282 Reviewing & merging the release
284 It's a good idea to preview the merge of the new upstream release.
285 First, just check for any new or deleted files that may need accounting
286 for in your copyright file:
287 % git diff --name-status --diff-filter=ADR master..1.2.3 -- . ':!debian'
289 You can then review the full merge diff:
291 % git merge-tree `git merge-base master 1.2.3` master 1.2.3 | $PAGER
293 Once you're satisfied with what will be merged, update your package:
295 % git merge 1.2.3
297 % dch -v1.2.3-1 New upstream release.
298 % git add debian/changelog && git commit -m changelog
299 If you obtained a tarball from upstream, you are ready to try a build.
301 If you merged a git tag from upstream, you will first need to generate
302 a tarball:
303 % git deborig
305
307 When upstream tags releases in git
308 We create a DFSG-clean tag to merge to master:
309 % git checkout -b pre-dfsg 1.2.3
311 % git rm evil.bin
312 % git commit -m "upstream version 1.2.3 DFSG-cleaned"
313 % git tag -s 1.2.3+dfsg
314 % git checkout master
315 % git branch -D pre-dfsg
316 Before merging the new 1.2.3+dfsg tag to master, you should first
318 determine whether it would be legally dangerous for the non-free
319 material to be publicly accessible in the git history on dgit-repos.
320 If it would be dangerous, there is a big problem; in this case please
322 consult your archive administrators (for Debian this is the dgit
323 administrator dgit-owner@debian.org and the ftpmasters
324 ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org).
325 When upstream releases only tarballs
327 The easiest way to handle this is to add a Files-Excluded field to
328 debian/copyright, and a uversionmangle setting in debian/watch. See
329 uscan(1). Alternatively, see the --filter option detailed in
330 gbp-import-orig(1).
331
333 The basic steps are:
334 1. Create a new branch based off upstream's master branch.
336 2. git-cherry-pick(1) commits from your master branch onto your new
338 branch.
339 3. Push the branch somewhere and ask upstream to merge it, or use
341 git-format-patch(1) or git-request-pull(1).
342 For example (and it is only an example):
344 % # fork foo.git on GitHub
346 % git remote add -f fork git@github.com:spwhitton/foo.git
347 % git checkout -b fix-error upstream/master
348 % git config branch.fix-error.pushRemote fork
349 % git cherry-pick master^2
350 % git push
351 % # submit pull request on GitHub
352 Note that when you merge an upstream release containing your forwarded
354 patches, git and dgit will transparently handle "dropping" the patches
355 that have been forwarded, "retaining" the ones that haven't.
356
358 % dgit pull
359 Alternatively, you can apply the NMU diff to your repository. The next
361 push will then require --overwrite.
362
364 dgit(1), dgit(7)
365
367 This tutorial was written and is maintained by Sean Whitton
368 <spwhitton@spwhitton.name>. It contains contributions from other dgit
369 contributors too - see the dgit copyright file.
370perl v5.30.0 Debian Project dgit-maint-merge(7)