backport-dsc - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

NAME

backport-dsc - backport Debian source packages

SYNOPSIS

backport-dsc [OPTIONS] <dsc-file>

DESCRIPTION

Helper to aid backporting a Debian source package to an arbitrary distribution release.

backport-dsc aids backporting by appropriately mangling the source package version,
adjusting the maintainer of a package and compiling an informative changelog entry.
Moreover, it supports distribution specific patches (plain, or for format 3.0 (quilt)
source packages) and allow modification of debian/control via arbitrary 'sed' expressions.

Backport relevant patches can be embedded in source packages for use with backport-dsc.
The distribution name (see --target-distribution) serves as an identifier to search for
patches in the source package that shall be applied for a particular distribution. For
packages using format the 3.0 (quilt), backport-dsc will look for
debian/patches/series-<distname> and append it to the main patch series. Moreover,
backport-dsc will also look for patches matching /debian/patches/<distname>-dsc-patch* and
apply them to the source package. The latter patches, unlike the former quilt series, can
also be used to modify the debian/ directory itself.

OPTIONS

-d <distname>, --target-distribution <distname>

Arbitrary distribution name (e.g. squeeze-backports). This will be the target
distribution used for the backport changelog entry. The distribution name also
serves as an identifier to search for backport patches in the source package.

-h, --help

Print short description, usage summary and option list.

--maint-email <email>

Specify the backport maintainer's email address. Alternatively, backport-dsc will
use the DEBEMAIL environment setting.

--maint-name <name>

Specify the backport maintainer's real name. Alternatively, backport-dsc will use
the DEBFULLNAME environment setting.

--mod-control <expression>

sed expression to modify debian/control. The option can be given multiple times and
all expressions will be passed to sed in the order of appearance. This can be used
to, e.g. change build or runtime dependencies.

--no-backport-patches

If set, potentially existing backport patches will not be applied/activated.

--no-colored

If set, backport-dsc won't colorize its status and error messages.

--no-maintainer-update

If set, the orginal maintainer is preserved in the backported source package. This
should only be done if original maintainer and backporter are identical. Otherwise
the porter should take responsibility for the source package backport and identify
herself as the maintainer.

-s <string>, --version-suffix <string>

Version suffix that will be appended to the original source package version,
ideally indicating the backport target distribution. The resulting package version
will follow this schema:

<originalversion><prefix><suffix>+<digit>

e.g.: 1.2.3-4~bpo60+1 with default <prefix>=~

-p <string>, --version-prefix <string>

Version prefix that will be prepended to the backport version.
By default it

is ~ but want to be changed (e.g. to +) for forward-porting to next releases.

--verbose

Enable additional status messages.

--verbose-help

Print all available help.

--version

Print version information and exit.

ENVIRONMENT

backport-dsc acknowledges the common environment variables DEBFULLNAME and DEBEMAIL to
specify the maintainer.

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