Scroll to navigation

DEBCRAFT(1) Debcraft usage DEBCRAFT(1)

NAME

Debcraft - Easy, fast and secure way to build Debian packages

DESCRIPTION

usage: debcraft <build|improve|test|release|update|shell|logs|prune> [options] [<path|pkg|srcpkg|dsc|git-url>]

Debcraft is a tool to easily build .deb packages. The 'build' argument accepts any of the following:

* path to directory with program sources including a debian/ subdirectory with
the Debian packaging instructions
* path to a .dsc file and source tarballs that can be built into a .deb
* Debian package name or source package name that apt can download
* git http(s) or ssh URL that can be downloaded and built

The command 'improve' will try to apply various improvements to the package based on tools in Debian that automate package maintenance. The command 'test' will run the Debian-specific regression test suite if the package has autopkgtest support, and drops to a shell for investigation if tests fail to pass. The command 'release' uploads a package that is ready to be released and the command 'update' tries to update the package to the latest upstream version if the package git repository layout is compatible.

The command 'shell' can be used to explore the container and 'prune' will clean up temporary files created by Debcraft.

In addition to parameters below, anything passed in DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS will also be honored. Successful builds include running './debian/rules clean' to clean up artifacts, while failed builds will leave them around for inspection.

Note that Debcraft builds never runs as root, and thus packages with DEB_RULES_REQUIRES_ROOT are not supported.

optional arguments:

Path for writing build files and artifacts (default: ~/.cache/debcraft)
Linux distribution to build in (default: debian:sid)
Container command to use (default: podman)
Host architecture to use when performing a cross build
Build only binaries and skip creating a source tarball to make the build slightly faster ('debcraft build' only)
Create a release with both source and binaries, for example with the intent to upload to NEW ('debcraft release' only)
Ensure container base is updated
Perform the build on a copy of the package directory
Ensure sources are clean before and after build (only needed for packages with incomplete 'debian/clean' or 'debian/.gitignore' definitions)
Emit debug information
Display this help and exit
Display version and exit

To learn more, or to contribute to Debcraft, see project page at ?]8;;https://salsa.debian.org/debian/debcraft?salsa.debian.org/debian/debcraft?]8;;?

To gain more Debian Developer knowledge, please read ?]8;;https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers-reference/?www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers-reference/?]8;;? and ?]8;;https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/?www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/?]8;;?

January 2026 Debcraft version unknown: neither git version control nor installed package was found