1DH_INSTALLDOCS(1)                  Debhelper                 DH_INSTALLDOCS(1)
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NAME

6       dh_installdocs - install documentation into package build directories
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SYNOPSIS

9       dh_installdocs [debhelper options] [-A] [-Xitem] [file ...]
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DESCRIPTION

12       dh_installdocs is a debhelper program that is responsible for
13       installing documentation into usr/share/doc/package in package build
14       directories.
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16       In compat 10 and earlier, dh_install(1) may be a better tool for
17       handling the upstream documentation, when upstream's own build system
18       installs all the desired documentation correctly.  In this case,
19       dh_installdocs is still useful for installing packaging related
20       documentation (e.g. the debian/copyright file).
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22       From debhelper compatibility level 11 on, dh_install will fall back to
23       looking in debian/tmp for files, if it does not find them in the
24       current directory (or wherever you've told it to look using
25       --sourcedir).
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27       In compat 11 and later, dh_installdocs offers many of the features that
28       dh_install(1) also has.  Furthermore, dh_installdocs also supports the
29       nodoc build profile to exclude documentation (regardless of compat
30       level).
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FILES

33       debian/package.docs
34           List documentation files to be installed into package.
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36           Supports substitution variables in compat 13 and later as
37           documented in debhelper(7).
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39       debian/copyright
40           The copyright file is installed into all packages, unless a more
41           specific copyright file is available.
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43       debian/package.copyright
44       debian/package.README.Debian
45       debian/package.TODO
46           Each of these files is automatically installed if present for a
47           package.
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49       debian/README.Debian
50       debian/TODO
51           These files are installed into the first binary package listed in
52           debian/control.
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54           Note that README.debian files are also installed as README.Debian,
55           and TODO files will be installed as TODO.Debian in non-native
56           packages.
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58       debian/package.doc-base
59           Installed as doc-base control files. Note that the doc-id will be
60           determined from the Document: entry in the doc-base control file in
61           question. In the event that multiple doc-base files in a single
62           source package share the same doc-id, they will be installed to
63           usr/share/doc-base/package instead of usr/share/doc-base/doc-id.
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65       debian/package.doc-base.*
66           If your package needs to register more than one document, you need
67           multiple doc-base files, and can name them like this. In the event
68           that multiple doc-base files of this style in a single source
69           package share the same doc-id, they will be installed to
70           usr/share/doc-base/package-* instead of usr/share/doc-base/doc-id.
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72           Please be aware that this deduplication is currently done in memory
73           only, so for now it requires dh_installdocs to be called no more
74           than once during the package build. Calling dh_installdocs
75           -ppackage in combination with using debian/package.doc-base.* files
76           can lead to uninstallable packages. See
77           <https://bugs.debian.org/980903> for details.
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OPTIONS

80       -A, --all
81           Install all files specified by command line parameters in ALL
82           packages acted on.
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84       -Xitem, --exclude=item
85           Exclude files that contain item anywhere in their filename from
86           being installed. Note that this includes doc-base files.
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88       --sourcedir=dir
89           Look in the specified directory for files to be installed.  This
90           option requires compat 11 or later (it is silently ignored in
91           compat 10 or earlier).
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93           Note that this is not the same as the --sourcedirectory option used
94           by the dh_auto_* commands. You rarely need to use this option,
95           since dh_installman automatically looks for files in debian/tmp in
96           debhelper compatibility level 11 and above.
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98       --doc-main-package=main-package
99           Set the main package for a documentation package.  This is used to
100           install the documentation of the documentation package in
101           /usr/share/doc/main-package as recommended by the Debian policy
102           manual 3.9.7 in §12.3.
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104           In compat 11 (or later), this option is only useful if debhelper's
105           auto-detection of the main package is wrong.  The option can also
106           be used to silence a warning from debhelper when the auto-detection
107           fails but the default happens to be correct.
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109           This option cannot be used when dh_installdocs is instructed to act
110           on multiple packages.  If you need this option, you will generally
111           need to combine it with -p to ensure exactly one package is acted
112           on.
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114           Please keep in mind that some documentation (the copyright file,
115           README.Debian, etc.) will be unaffected by this option.
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117       --link-doc=package
118           Make the documentation directory of all packages acted on be a
119           symlink to the documentation directory of package. This has no
120           effect when acting on package itself, or if the documentation
121           directory to be created already exists when dh_installdocs is run.
122           To comply with policy, package must be a binary package that comes
123           from the same source package.
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125           debhelper will try to avoid installing files into linked
126           documentation directories that would cause conflicts with the
127           linked package. The -A option will have no effect on packages with
128           linked documentation directories, and copyright, changelog,
129           README.Debian, and TODO files will not be installed.
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131           (An older method to accomplish the same thing, which is still
132           supported, is to make the documentation directory of a package be a
133           dangling symlink, before calling dh_installdocs.)
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135           Please note that this option only applies to the documentation
136           directory for the package itself.  When the package ships
137           documentation for another package (e.g. see --doc-main-package), it
138           will not use a symlink for the documentation of the other package.
139
140           CAVEAT 1: If a previous version of the package was built without
141           this option and is now built with it (or vice-versa), it requires a
142           "dir to symlink" (or "symlink to dir") migration.  Since debhelper
143           has no knowledge of previous versions, you have to enable this
144           migration itself.
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146           This can be done by providing a "debian/package.maintscript" file
147           and using dh_installdeb(1) to provide the relevant maintainer
148           script snippets.
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150           CAVEAT 2: The use of --link-doc should only be done when the
151           packages have same "architecture" type.  A link from an
152           architecture independent package to an architecture dependent
153           package (or vice versa) will not work.  Since compat 10, debhelper
154           will actively reject unsupported combinations.
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156       file ...
157           Install these files as documentation into the first package acted
158           on. (Or in all packages if -A is specified).
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EXAMPLES

161       This is an example of a debian/package.docs file:
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163         README
164         TODO
165         debian/notes-for-maintainers.txt
166         docs/manual.txt
167         docs/manual.pdf
168         docs/manual-html/
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NOTES

171       Note that dh_installdocs will happily copy entire directory hierarchies
172       if you ask it to (similar to cp -a). If it is asked to install a
173       directory, it will install the complete contents of the directory.
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SEE ALSO

176       debhelper(7)
177
178       This program is a part of debhelper.
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AUTHOR

181       Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>
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18513.7.1                            2022-04-22                 DH_INSTALLDOCS(1)
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