debputy1

Commands

check-manifest

The check-manifest command will cause debputy to parse the manifest and examine it for obvious mistakes.

Note that the command will not catch all mistakes as some problems can only be detected during a build. As an example, check-manifest can detect mistyped manifest variables but not typos in path names for installation rules.

migrate-from-dh

The migrate-from-dh command will attempt to migrate the current package to debputy.

For this command to be successful, it must be run from the root of an unpacked Debian source package and the package should be using the dh sequencer.

If you are looking to migrate to debputy from dh, you may want to have a look at the GETTING-STARTED-WITH-dh-debputy.md file (in the source root or in /usr/share/doc/). That document is a how-to guide that as extended advice on migration from dh.

The migration can rerun with newer version of debputy that might provide more features since the previous one even inside the same level of adoption. As an example, debputy/0.1.21 added support for automatic relationship substvars. Re-running the migrator for an already migrated package can be used to detect any unnecessary explicit relationship substvars as unnecessary.

The default migration target is based on existing features in the packaging where present. As an example, a build-dependency on dh-sequence-zz-debputy-rrr will make the migration tool only run migrators relevant for dh-sequence-zz-debputy-rrr (assuming no other markers are present). If the migration cannot identify any target markers, it has a built-in default target. The default target will change over time as debputy and the migrator mature. The --migration-target option can be used to overrule this automatic detection. This can be useful both to expand on the migration level without performing any changes or to choose a non default initial migration level.

Generally, the migration tool can take you from "less adoption" towards "more adoption" of debputy but not the inverse. As an example, migrating from dh-sequence-zz-debputy-rrr towards dh-sequence-zz-debputy is supposed, but the reverse is not. Use of version control is recommended for undoing transition if necessary.

If any migrations involve creating a new or changing an existing debian/debputy.manifest, the migration tool will first write a draft to debian/debputy.manifest.new. From there, it may be renamed to debian/debputy.manifest automatically depending on --apply-changes or --no-apply-changes.

It supports the following options:

--migration-target TARGET-NAME

Explicitly define how far the migration should go. This will override the detected or built-in default as the desired migration target.

See "INTEGRATION LEVELS" for details about the concrete levels of integration that can be used.

--acceptable-migration-issues NAME[,...,NAME], --acceptable-migration-issues=ALL

The migration may detect unsupported features in the package. Some, but not all, of these can be reduced to a warning by passing --acceptable-migration-issues with the name of the issue as provided in the error message. The special value ALL in all upper case will cause all issues that can be reduced to a warning to be reduced to a warning.

This is only useful to reduce issues to warnings if you are reasonable sure that you can remove the feature or convert it to something that debputy supports.

In some cases, it might be helpful to comment out the offending feature and re-run the migration rather than using --acceptable.migration-issues. As an example, if a single line of debian/install file is problematic, commenting it out will have debputy migrate the rest of the file for you leaving you only to manually migrate a single line.

--apply-changes, --no-act, --no-apply-changes

These options decide whether the migration tool should perform destructive actions such as overwriting the existing debian/debputy.manifest and deleting packaging files that have successfully migrated.

The default is currently to not perform destructive actions as the migration tool does not detect version control systems. If support for detecting version control systems is added, this default may change.

Note that the migration may replace debian/debputy.manifest.new regardless of this option as that is its output for the updated draft manifest.

The --no-act is an alias of --no-apply-changes to match the name that debhelper commands use.

reformat

Note: This subcommand needs optional dependencies to work from Recommends or Suggests

Apply the formatting style on the packaging files.

This is the same style that debputy lsp server would have applied if requested to reformat the files.

The debputy tool reacts to having a X-Style field in debian/control from where you can pick a named style. The recommended style is black, which is named such to match the black code formatter for Python (which imposes a style that evolves over time).

For packages that does not have the X-Style field, debputy will result to looking up the maintainer (and possibly co-maintainers) for known style preferences in its built-in configuration. If debputy can derive a style that all parties would agree too (or the team style for packaging teams), then that style will be used.

The black style started as similar to that of wrap-and-sort -ast, since that was one of the most common styles according to <https://bugs.debian.org/895570>, but the style is expected to evolve over time and the two styles may diverge over time.

The command accepts the following options:

--style=black

Override the package style and use the black style. Any auto-detection or X-Style setting will be ignored.

--auto-fix, --no-auto-fix

Decide whether any changes should be fixed automatically.

Either way, a difference (diff -u) is displayed to stdout if any changes were detected.

--linter-exit-code, --no-linter-exit-code

There is a convention among linter tools to return a non-zero exit code for "issues". The --linter-exit-code will enforce this behavior while the --no-linter-exit-code will disable it.

The debputy program will use exit code 2 for "issues" as a "linter exit code" when linting based exit codes are active.

Not having a linter based exit code can be useful if you want to run the tool programmatically to perform the action and you only want the exit code to tell whether there was a problem providing the results.

If you rely on the exit code, you are recommended to explicitly pass the relevant variant of the flag even if the current default matches your wishes.

--unknown-or-unsupported-style-is-ok, --missing-style-is-ok

By default, debputy reformat will exit with an error when it cannot determine which style to use. This is generally what you want for "per package" CI or other lint checks to inform you that the reformatting will not work.

However, for "cross package" pipelines, like the default Debian Salsa CI pipeline, having debputy reformat automatically work when a style is set and doing nothing otherwise is preferable, since the pipeline can then provide a debputy reformat job for all consumers without worrying about breaking their pipelines.

It can also be useful for scripts or automated mass-edits where you want debputy to fixup the changes you did if there is a known style without being hampered by the packages that have no known style.

The --missing-style-is-ok is a deprecated name since it does not correctly imply that unsupported styles are also considered ok.

--supported-style-is-required

Exit with an error if no supported style can be found. This is the default behavior but this option can be used to override settings to disable it. The error does not distinguish between no style found or an unsupported style found (both lead to an error).

If you rely on the exit code, please set this option explicitly.

lint

Note: This subcommand needs optional dependencies to work from Recommends or Suggests

Run the linting tooling for Debian packaging files. This will run a linter to check the Debian packaging files. This command is useful for CI or for when you cannot use the language server feature. It provides the same diagnostics as debputy lsp server would but without requiring an LSP capable editor as intermediate. The output is only intended for human consumption. Machine readable is not a goal at this time.

The debputy lint command is a form of static analysis and will not load nor execute code from the code it is scanning. It is a security bug for debputy lint to violate this principle directly or indirectly. Therefore, debputy can only provide diagnostics from libraries and tools that takes this principle seriously. It also means that debputy will likely have false-positives for self-hosting code, since it is not allowed to load the self-hosted code.

Note that at the time of writing, the debputy.manifest file is only partially supported. If you have debian/debputy.manifest, please also run debputy check-manifest to get more thorough checks for that file for now. The lint command will inform you about this issue in the output if a debian/debputy.manifest file is detected.

Some relevant options for this subcommand include:

--auto-fix

If debputy is aware of one "obvious" solution to the issue, just apply it. This will apply the changes directly to the file. Use of version control for the Debian packaging is recommended when using this option in case you want to undo the result.

--spellcheck

Include spellchecking in the linting results. These are by default omitted, since they are slower and there are often false-positives.

Caveat: Before version 0.1.55 of debputy, --auto-fix with --spellcheck would auto-correct all spelling mistakes with a single correction available. This can be suboptimal behavior in some cases. As of 0.1.55, debputy no longer automatically applies typo fixes for free text fields when --auto-fix --spellcheck. Instead, they will be reported as not being fixable automatically (but instead have a "[LSP interactive quickfix]" tag associated with them).

--linter-exit-code, --no-linter-exit-code

There is a convention among linter tools to return a non-zero exit code for "severe issues". The --linter-exit-code will enforce this behavior while the --no-linter-exit-code will disable it.

The debputy program will use exit code 2 for "severe issue" as a "linter exit code" when linting based exit codes are active.

Not having a linter based exit code can be useful if you want to run the tool programmatically to display the results and you only want the exit code to tell whether there was a problem providing the results.

If you rely on the exit code, you are recommended to explicitly pass the relevant variant of the flag even if the current default matches your wishes.

--lint-report-format term|junit-xml

Choose the output format of the resulting report. The term report is a terminal output report. The junit-xml writes the output to an XML in a JUnit 4 format (should be compatible with the xunit2 family of JUnit4 style input). This is useful for GitLab CI pipelines to get the results imported via GitLab's junit CI pipeline feature.

--report-output DEST

For reports that generate file system artifacts, choose where the output should be placed.

Ignored with a warning for formats that do not generate file system outputs such as the term report format.

--warn-about-check-manifest, --no-warn-about-check-manifest

Whether debputy lint should remind you that it has short comings in regards to validating the debian/debputy.manifest file. The warning will only appear if the manifest file exists. That is, the options have no effect either way when the file is not present.

The --no-warn-about-check-manifest is mostly used for generic pipelines that separately call debputy check-manifest to ensure that the manifest is also validated or for cases where the limitation is known and accepted.

A short comparison of debputy lint vs. other tools:

debputy lsp server

The language server feature from debputy lsp server provides an interactive and online version of the linting from debputy lint directly in any LSP capable editor with the proper glue configuration. The LSP feature gives you instant gratification, some additional editor-only features and interactive choices of available quickfixes.

The "downside" of the debputy lsp server feature is that it requires a LSP capable editor and each editor has their own glue configuration. Since the debputy language server is new, almost no editor has built-in glue configuration meaning it has a steeper learning curve to get started. Additionally, some times you want the checks for CI checks or the current state of the package without having to open each file in an editor. Here debputy lint covers the same issues without the need for anything else.

lintian

The primary difference between the debputy linter and lintian is that lintian works on "binary" artifacts. Even the source checks of lintian checks the packaged version of the source rather than the files you are directly working. This means that you have to do a package "build" for lintian to spot any changes, which causes slow feedback loops. Additionally, debputy lint can provide feedback regardless of whether your package can currently build. Accordingly, you can get help and hints even for problems that would prevent a package build. By nature of how lintian works, you can only get hints from lintian on matters that does not break the package build.

On the flip side, because lintian is checking the assembled artifacts, it can check for issues that are only visible after a package build. Additionally, lintian also checks for issues in the upstream sources to some extent. Checking upstream artifacts and the resulting Debian packages are not in scope for debputy lint as the debputy lint is intended to be a mirror of the language server diagnostics.

In summary: Use debputy lint (or debputy lsp server) for short feedback loops. Use lintian for slower but more thorough checks on resulting packages.

lintian-brush

The lintian-brush has a broader scope than debputy lint. If you are a happy lintian-brush user, odds are that debputy lint will not do a lot for you. Though, debputy lsp server might still be relevant as the language server provides additional editor related features.

lsp server

Note: This subcommand needs optional dependencies to work from Recommends or Suggests

Start the debputy language server (per Language Server Protocol specification).

Many modern editors can delegate language support to a Language Server or indirectly via other features like supporting youcompleteme (which in turn can delegate to a language server). The debputy tool provides one for many common packaging formats via the lsp server subcommand for file formats such as debian/control, debian/changelog and debian/copyright (DEP-5).

You will often need some editor specific glue configuration to link a given file format or name to the language server. The debputy lsp editor-config might provide an example glue snippet for your editor. In that glue configuration, you will need to provide a command. Often, debputy lsp server will suffice (using the stdio transport). See debputy lsp server --help for other integration options such as TCP (--tcp) or websocket (--ws) plus related supporting options.

The debputy lsp server command provides several features including a form of static analysis in the form of "as-you-type" diagnostics. For the diagnostics, is debputy lsp server not allowed load nor execute code from the code it is scanning. It is a security bug for debputy lsp server to violate this principle directly or indirectly. Therefore, debputy can only provide diagnostics from libraries and tools that takes this principle seriously. It also means that debputy will likely have false-positives for self-hosting code, since it is not allowed to load the self-hosted code.

This security principle also applies to hover docs, completion suggestions and other trivial code editing or viewing features. However, it is not universal, since certain LSP features are deliberately designed to run the code you are viewing. As an example, debputy lsp server can provide a "code lens" (LSP term) for building the current package. On activation of the code lens, debputy will trigger code from the package to be run and that is expected. The critical points here are that the user must explicitly trigger the feature and it must use terms commonly associated with running code such as build, run or execute (non-exhaustive list).

If you need to debug an issue with the language server, the TCP integration (--tcp) can be quite helpful. In this mode, you run debputy lsp server --tcp in a terminal before starting your editor. This means you have direct and unfiltered access to the debputy command and its output. Remember to update your editor to use TCP integration rather than stdio integration (and remember to swap back when you are done). Check the debputy lsp server --help if you need a different bind address for the language server.

If you can choose the language ID for a given file, you are recommended to use the file name relative to the source root (such as debian/control). The service does account for some known variations such as debian-control (as used by eglot from emacs) and debcontrol (as used by vim). See debputy lsp features for a list of known language IDs along with their aliases.

When properly set up, the language server will offer a variety of features such as completion suggestions, hover documentation, "as you type" diagnostics, quickfixes, etc. Please see debputy lsp features for the full list of features per format. That command will also help identify mandatory and optional dependencies for the debputy lsp server command.

Note many of the features are subject to the editor supporting them, correct language IDs being passed to debputy, etc.

Options for this subcommand

--ignore-language-ids

When provided, debputy will ignore any language ID that the editor provides for any file. Instead, debputy will only rely on the file name for determining how to interpret the file content.

Since debputy supports multiple file formats, it is needs to know what kind of file it is working with. The editor is supposed to provide this via a "Language ID" attribute. This enables you as a user in the editor to override the file format and have proper editor support no matter the filename. Unfortunately, most Debian packaging files do not have a language ID assigned in the LSP specification, so editors either provide a custom language ID or no custom language ID at all (that is, an empty string).

When the editor does not provide a language ID for file, debputy will since 0.1.25 automatically attempt to derive the language from the filename. With this option (introduced in 0.1.29), debputy will always derive the language from the filename even if the editor provided a language ID. This can be helpful if your editor is providing language IDs that debputy does not recognize.

As an example, in emacs with eglot the language ID is derived from the name of the buffer's major mode. If you tried to use debputy lsp server with a major mode that debputy does not recognize then without this option, debputy would "silently" do nothing. With this option, it would have worked provided the filename matched debputy's expectation no matter the major mode.

On the downside, debputy will not provide correct advice unless the paths matches .../debian/filename. This can provide issues with some setups where the debian directory is implicit such as some "packaging-only" repos or some editor scratch pads.

--force-locale=XX

When provided, debputy will always use the provided locale code for deciding the localization.

By default, the editor may provide a locale, which is then used. Alternatively, debputy will attempt to guess the desired localization from defaults (like the LC_ALL variable). With this option, you can override both of these and instead directly pick the locale you want.

Note that debputy will default to using US English for strings that are not translated into the desired locale (no matter how that locale was chosen). If you still see untranslated strings with this options, check you have the relevant translations installed and that the locale code is correct.

--tcp or --ws

By default, the debputy language server will use stdio for communication with the editor. These options provide either the TCP integration mode (--tcp) or the websocket integration mode (--ws). In this mode, the --host and --port options can be used to choose the bind address.

These options are mutually exclusive.

The --ws option requires python3-websockets Debian package.

--host HOSTNAME, --port PORT

With --tcp or --ws, these option determines the bind address. The default is 127.0.0.1 for host and 2087 for the port.

In integration modes that does not need a bind address (such as the stdio mode), this option is ignored.

lsp editor-config [EDITOR]

Provide an example configuration glue for using the debputy lsp server with the given editor if known. If EDITOR is not provided, then list the names of editors that debputy knows about.

The snippets are maintained on a best effort basis for editors without built-in config glue for the debputy lsp server. Please file an issue (or a merge request) at <https://salsa.debian.org/debian/debputy> if a snippet needs to be updated, added or removed.

lsp features

List in a human readable format details about what language IDs are handled by the debputy lsp server along with what features are provided for each file format/language ID.

The command can also be used to determine if all the relevant dependencies have been installed for the language server and linting features. It will also check for optional dependencies that can enhance the feature set.

tool-support

These commands are intended for other tools to consume the output. Output is generally JSON by default or supported via --output-format=json.

export-reference-data [DATASET]

The export-reference-data command export reference data. If provided, only the named dataset will be exported. Otherwise, all datasets will be exported.

The reference data includes descriptions of the keywords used in the data set, which is helpful to understand the data.

supports-tool-command <COMMAND>

Tests whether debputy knows about the named command. Returns successfully if known and unsuccessfully if not known.

annotate-debian-directory

The annotate-debian-directory command will make debputy scan the debian/ directory for known packaging files and annotate them with information.

Identifying known packaging files is done on a best effort basis and debputy has the following sources of information:

Data from plugins

Any installed debputy plugin can provide data about known packaging files. Most of debputy's "built-in" rules are stored in the debputy-documentation or the debhelper-documentation plugin. These are installed in /usr/share/debputy/debputy/plugins/ by default. If any of the data in there is wrong, please file a bug or a bug against the package providing the data (often debputy or debhelper).

If the plugin provides the relevant data, debputy will expose install-pattern and install-path, which are best-effort guesses for the file is installed (or where files listed in it will be installed). Please check the config-features and file-categories for the file to see when these field are applicable (and which case it is).

Note that some files can be matched multiple times. As an example debian/changelog and debian/copyright will generally appear once per package, because they are installed in each package.

Dynamic data from debhelper(7) (via dh_assistant(1)>)

Additionally, debputy will ask dh_assistant to resolve all relevant helper commands and their relevant config snippets. This data will be cross referenced with the plugin provided data where possible. This will detect files that debputy (and its plugins) does not know about, but it cannot provide any additional information.

This part requires debhelper (>= 13.12~) to work fully. With older versions, the output will include an issues attribute denoting that dh_assistant returned non-zero. Additionally, with debhelper (>= 13.16~) the command will also provide data about files associated with some dh_-commands not active with the current set of dh addons.

When dh_assistant list-guessed-dh-config-files is missing a file, it is typically because the command that uses that config file is not introspectable. Typically, that can be fixed by patching the command to include a command line a la:

    # INTROSPECTABLE: CONFIG-FILES pkgfile(foo)

Assuming the command uses pkgfile($package, "foo") from Debian::Debhelper::Dh_Lib to look up the config file.

Notable case that will likely not work is debian/foo.service where there is no foo package in debian/control but debian/rules calls dh_installsystemd --name foo. This holds equally for all debhelper config files and related commands. Here, the resulting file (if detected at all) might be associated with the wrong package.

plugin list [TOPIC]

plugin show TOPIC identifier

These commands provides access to features that are provided by plugins (Note: many debputy features are plugin provided, so these commands also covers a lot of "built-in" features).

These commands will access features of all plugins available even if the current package will not activate all of these plugins. Unless otherwise stated, all output is intended to be human readable rather than machine readable. Formatting may change between any version.

Many of the list subcommands also provide a csv format. Note this output is not intended for scripting as the output is subject to change - both in form of format availability and content. The csv output is intended as an aid to users of screen readers for which csv files are easier to deal with than visually rendered tables. If you need a stable format of some particular output, please file a feature request at <https://salsa.debian.org/debian/debputy/-/issues> or via reportbug debputy.

You can use debputy plugin list --help and debputy plugin show --help to see which topics are applicable for each subcommand.

Noteworthy topics include:

plugins

This topic provides a listing of all plugins that debputy is aware of.

This topic can only used with plugin list and not with plugin show.

pluggable-manifest-rules (aliases: pmr, p-m-r)

The debputy manifest provides a number of places where the packager can provide a number of different rules such as install vs. install-doc vs. install-examples under installations:. These are called pluggable manifest rules and this topic provides insights to which rules are available where.

When used with list, debputy will list all pluggable manifest rules available. When used with show, a rule name must be provided and debputy will then provide details about the rule. These details include attributes available (where applicable) and any reference documentation provided by the plugin.

As an example, here is how you get the details about the install rule:

    debputy plugin show pluggable-manifest-rules install

When a rule name is ambiguous, debputy will ask that you use rule-type::rule-name instead of just rule-name. As an example:

    debputy plugin show pluggable-manifest-rules TransformationRule::remove
    debputy plugin show pluggable-manifest-rules DpkgMaintscriptHelperCommand::remove

Note the type names (such as TransformationRule) are currently an implementation detail and may change in the future.

packager-provided-files (aliases: ppf, p-p-f)

This topic provides details about all "packager provided files". Packager provided files can be put into debian from where debputy will pick them up and install them somewhere in the package. While this command shows all possible variants (by their stems), the used-packager-provided-files topic will list real files matched.

When used with list, debputy will list all the packager provided files that debputy knows about. When used with show, some additional details will be given.

In a few cases, the packager provided file will be processed first (as an example debian/symbols will be passed to dpkg-gensymbols and the processed version will then be installed instead).

used-packager-provided-files (aliases: uppf, u-p-p-f)

This topic provides a list of all packager provided files used in this source package. This topic differs from packager-provided-files in that it only shows files in actual use whereas the other topic lists all known stems.

The listing will potentially include files that debputy could have picked up, but will not do so during a package build because the relevant plugin is not explicitly requested (typically via a Build-Depends). These cases are placed in a separate table and will be clearly marked.

This topic can only used with plugin list and not with plugin show.

This topic only works when the command is run from the root of an unpacked Debian source package (as debputy needs to read debian/control and scan the debian/ directory).

metadata-detectors

This topic provides a listing of all "metadata detectors". These are plugin provided code snippets that scan the final form of the package and add substvars (for dpkg-gencontrol), generate maintscript snippets, or/and declare triggers.

This topic can only used with plugin list and not with plugin show.

manifest-variables

This topic covers plugin provided manifest variables. The listing will list the common manifest variables by default along with their values in source context (if possible). Some of the special case manifest variables are hidden by default (use debputy plugin list manifest-variables --help to see the filter options).

When used with show VARIABLE, debputy will list the reference documentation (if provided by the plugin) related to the value along with a few other details.

As implied above, this will only show plugin provided variables. Any manifest variables provided directly in the manifest is not covered by these commands.

automatic-discard-rules

This topic covers automatic discard rules, which are rules that automatically filters out (discards) sources from installation rules by default. The listing will list all the available automatic discard rules. The show RULE command will show reference documentation and an example of what the rule reacts to (if these have been provided by the plugin).

As an example:

    debputy plugin show automatic-discard-rules la-files

type-mappings

This topic cover type mappings that explains how some non-trivial types are interpreted. These covers types like FileSystemMatchRule and FileSystemMode, which are used by other features such as pluggable manifest rules.

When used with show NAME, any plugin provided documentation and example inputs will be displayed for that rule.

autopkgtest-test-runner

The autopkgtest-test-runner command is intended to be used by autodep8 or from autopkgtests to run the tests of plugins in installed mode.

internal-command

This is for internal-only usage only. Any subcommand under internal-command may disappear or change options between any release without any warning.