NAME¶

dh_movetousr - canonicalize location according to merged-/usr

SYNOPSIS¶

dh_movetousr [debhelper options] [--fail-noop | --warn-noop]

DESCRIPTION¶

dh_movetousr is a debhelper program that canonicalizes paths inside packages according to merged-/usr. Shipping aliased paths is known to cause problems with dpkg, so this helper moves all affected files to /usr regardless of how they were installed. The compatibility symlinks ensure that converted packages continue to work. In the process, absolute symbolic links may become relative or vice versa due to Debian policy section 10.5.

Please keep in mind that moving files in this way is known to cause problems. Known problems have been documented at <https://people.debian.org/~helmutg/dep17.html>. For instance, if files have been moved between packages, use of this tool may cause file loss during upgrades (P1). Most problems can be detected by <https://salsa.debian.org/helmutg/dumat>, which uses the Debian bug tracking for feedback. Therefore, it is recommended to upload to experimental when moving files (e.g. using this helper) or restructuring packages that earlier moved files. A particular problem not being detected is about dpkg-statoverride (P5). Please review uses of dpkg-statoverride in maintainer scripts and update them as needed. For these reasons, dh_movetousr is not automatically enabled in e.g. a compatibility level.

While we want to move files to /usr in trixie and beyond, we do not want to move them in bookworm and earlier. This poses challenges to backporting packages, because any such moves have to be reverted during the backport. A backport of debhelper to bookworm shall include a stub for this helper doing nothing to achieve this goal. For packages that do not need to be backported (e.g. packages targeting forky and beyond), consider updating locations instead of using this helper. When the only affected type of file is systemd units, consider using dh_installsystemd or detecting the unit location from "pkgconf --variable=systemdsystemunitdir systemd" instead of this helper as both will work in backports.

For further information on the state of the transition refer to <https://wiki.debian.org/UsrMerge>.

dh_movetousr shall be removed from debhelper during forky+1 is release cycle.

In bookworm this helper is turned into a no-op in order to retain the file move moratorium.

OPTIONS¶

--fail-noop

Fail if no files were found in aliased locations and therefore no change has been performed.

--warn-noop

Warn if no files were found in aliased locations and therefore no change has been performed.

EXAMPLES¶

  Build-Depends: dh-sequence-movetousr

Enable this tool in a package that uses dh.

SEE ALSO¶

debhelper(7)

This program is a part of debhelper.

AUTHOR¶

Helmut Grohne <helmut@subdivi.de>