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dpkg-buildpackage(1) dpkg suite dpkg-buildpackage(1)

NAME

dpkg-buildpackage - build binary or source packages from sources

SYNOPSIS

dpkg-buildpackage [option...] [--] [filename.dsc|directory]

DESCRIPTION

dpkg-buildpackage is a program that automates the process of building a Debian package.

Support for the filename.dsc and directory arguments since dpkg 1.22.7, with experimental semantics.

It consists of the following steps:

1.
It runs the preinit hook before reading any source file. If a .dsc file has been specified it unpacks it anew and changes directory to it, if a directory has been specified it changes directory to it, otherwise it expects the current directory to contain the source tree. It prepares the build environment by setting various environment variables (see ENVIRONMENT), runs the init hook, and calls dpkg-source --before-build (unless -T or --target has been used).
2.
It checks that the build-dependencies and build-conflicts are satisfied (unless -d or --no-check-builddeps is specified).
3.
If one or more specific targets have been selected with the -T or --target option, it calls those targets and stops here. Otherwise it runs the preclean hook and calls fakeroot debian/rules clean to clean the build-tree (unless -nc or --no-pre-clean is specified).
4.
It runs the source hook and calls dpkg-source -b to generate the source package (if a source build has been requested with --build or equivalent options, and if no .dsc has been specified).
5.
It runs the build hook and calls debian/rules build-target, then runs the binary hook followed by fakeroot debian/rules binary-target (unless a source-only build has been requested with --build=source or equivalent options). Note that build-target and binary-target are either build and binary (default case, or if an any and all build has been requested with --build or equivalent options), or build-arch and binary-arch (if an any and not all build has been requested with --build or equivalent options), or build-indep and binary-indep (if an all and not any build has been requested with --build or equivalent options).
6.
It runs the buildinfo hook and calls dpkg-genbuildinfo to generate a .buildinfo file. Several dpkg-buildpackage options are forwarded to dpkg-genbuildinfo. If a .dsc has been specified, then it will be referenced in the generated .buildinfo file, as we can ascertain the provenance of the source tree.
7.
It runs the changes hook and calls dpkg-genchanges to generate a .changes file. The name of the .changes file will depend on the type of build and will be as specific as necessary but not more; the name will be:
for a build that includes any
otherwise for a build that includes all
otherwise for a build that includes source

Many dpkg-buildpackage options are forwarded to dpkg-genchanges.

8.
It runs the postclean hook and if -tc or --post-clean is specified, it will call fakeroot debian/rules clean again.
9.
It calls dpkg-source --after-build.
10.
It runs the check hook and calls a package checker for the .changes file (if a command is specified in DEB_CHECK_COMMAND or with --check-command).
11.
It runs the sign hook and signs using the OpenPGP backend (as long as it is not an UNRELEASED build, or --no-sign is specified) to sign the .dsc file (if any, unless -us or --unsigned-source is specified), the .buildinfo file (unless -ui, --unsigned-buildinfo, -uc or --unsigned-changes is specified) and the .changes file (unless -uc or --unsigned-changes is specified).
12.
If a .dsc file has been specified, it removes the extracted source directory.
13.
It runs the done hook.

OPTIONS

All long options can be specified both on the command line and in the dpkg-buildpackage system and user configuration files. Each line in the configuration file is either an option (exactly the same as the command line option but without leading hyphens) or a comment (if it starts with a ‘#’).

Specifies the build type from a comma-separated list of components. All the specified components get combined to select the single build type to use, which implies a single build run with a single .changes file generated. Passed to dpkg-genchanges.

Supported since dpkg 1.18.5.

The allowed values are:

Builds the source package.

Note: When using this value standalone and if what you want is to only (re-)build the source package from a clean source tree, using dpkg-source directly is always a better option as it does not require any build dependencies to be installed which are otherwise needed to be able to call the clean target.

Builds the architecture specific binary packages.
Builds the architecture independent binary packages.
Builds the architecture specific and independent binary packages. This is an alias for any,all.
Builds everything. This is an alias for source,any,all, and the same as the default case when no build option is specified.
Equivalent to --build=source,all.

Supported since dpkg 1.17.11.

Equivalent to --build=source,any.

Supported since dpkg 1.17.11.

Equivalent to --build=binary or --build=any,all.
Equivalent to --build=any.
Equivalent to --build=all.
Equivalent to --build=source.
Equivalent to --build=full, --build=source,binary or --build=source,any,all.

Supported since dpkg 1.15.8.

Calls debian/rules target once per target specified, after having setup the build environment (except for calling dpkg-source --before-build), and stops the package build process here. If --as-root is also given, then the command is executed as root (see --root-command). Note that known targets that are required to be run as root do not need this option (i.e. the clean, binary, binary-arch and binary-indep targets).

Support for short option since dpkg 1.15.0. Support for long option since dpkg 1.18.8. Support for multiple targets since dpkg 1.18.16.

Only meaningful together with --target. Requires that the target be run with root rights.

Supported since dpkg 1.15.0.

Passed unchanged to dpkg-genchanges. See its manual page.
Pass as -m to dpkg-genchanges. See its manual page.

Support for --build-by since dpkg 1.18.8. Support for --source-by since dpkg 1.21.10.

Pass as -e to dpkg-genchanges. See its manual page.

Support for --release-by since dpkg 1.18.8. Support for --changed-by since dpkg 1.21.10.

Specify the Debian architecture we build for. The architecture of the machine we build on is determined automatically, and is also the default for the host machine.

Support for long option since dpkg 1.17.17.

Specify the GNU system type we build for. It can be used in place of --host-arch or as a complement to override the default GNU system type of the host Debian architecture.

Support for long option since dpkg 1.17.17.

Specify the Debian architecture the binaries built will build for. The default value is the host machine.

Supported since dpkg 1.17.17.

Specify the GNU system type the binaries built will build for.

It can be used in place of --target-arch or as a complement to override the default GNU system type of the target Debian architecture.

Supported since dpkg 1.17.17.

Specify the profile(s) we build, as a comma-separated list. The default behavior is to build for no specific profile. Also sets them (as a space separated list) as the DEB_BUILD_PROFILES environment variable which allows, for example, debian/rules files to use this information for conditional builds.

The exclamation marks are not part of the build profile names, and thus not accepted in this option.

Support for short option since dpkg 1.17.2. Support for long option since dpkg 1.18.8.

Specifies the number of jobs allowed to be run simultaneously. The number of jobs matching the number of online processors if auto is specified (since dpkg 1.17.10), or unlimited number if jobs is not specified. The default behavior is auto (since dpkg 1.18.11) in non-forced mode (since dpkg 1.21.10), and as such it is always safer to use with any package including those that are not parallel-build safe. Setting the number of jobs to 1 will restore serial execution.

Will add parallel=jobs or parallel to the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS environment variable which allows debian/rules files to opt-in to use this information for their own purposes. The jobs value will override the parallel=jobs or parallel option in the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS environment variable. Note that the auto value will get replaced by the actual number of currently active processors, and as such will not get propagated to any child process. If the number of online processors cannot be inferred then the code will fallback to using serial execution (since dpkg 1.18.15), although this should only happen on exotic and unsupported systems.

Support for short option since dpkg 1.14.7. Support for long option since dpkg 1.18.8.

This option is equivalent to the -j above.

Since the behavior for -j changed in dpkg 1.21.10 to the opt-in mode, you can use this option instead if you need to guarantee semantics across dpkg release series.

Support for short option since dpkg 1.18.2. Support for long option since dpkg 1.18.8.

This option is equivalent to the --jobs option except that it will enable forced parallel mode, by adding the make -j option with the computed number of parallel jobs to the MAKEFLAGS environment variable.

This should cause all subsequent make invocations to inherit the option, thus forcing the parallel setting on the packaging (and possibly the upstream build system if that uses make(1)) regardless of their support for parallel builds, which might cause build failures.

Note: Any Makefile that is not parallel-safe should be considered to be buggy. These should either be made parallel-safe, or marked as not being safe with the make(1) .NOTPARALLEL target.

Supported since dpkg 1.21.10.

Check build dependencies and conflicts; abort if unsatisfied. This is the default behavior.

Support for long option since dpkg 1.18.8.

Do not check build dependencies and conflicts.

Support for long option since dpkg 1.18.8.

Do not check built-in build dependencies and conflicts. These are the distribution specific implicit build dependencies usually required in a build environment, the so called Build-Essential package set.

Supported since dpkg 1.18.2.

Do not honor the Rules-Requires-Root field, falling back to its legacy default value binary-targets.

Supported since dpkg 1.19.1.

Do not clean the source tree before building. Implies -b if nothing else has been selected among -F, -g, -G, -B, -A or -S. Implies -d with -S (since dpkg 1.18.0).

Support for long option since dpkg 1.18.8.

Clean the source tree before building. This is the default behavior.

Supported since dpkg 1.18.8.

Clean the source tree (using gain-root-command debian/rules clean) after the package has been built.

Support for long option since dpkg 1.18.8.

Do not clean the source tree after the package has been built. This is the default behavior.

Supported since dpkg 1.19.1.

Sanitize the build environment. This will reset or remove environment variables, umask, and any other process attributes that might otherwise adversely affect the build of packages. Because the official entry point to build packages is debian/rules, packages cannot rely on these settings being in place, and thus should work even when they are not. What to sanitize is vendor specific.

Supported since dpkg 1.20.0.

When dpkg-buildpackage needs to execute part of the build process as root, it prefixes the command it executes with gain-root-command if one has been specified. Otherwise, if none has been specified, fakeroot will be used by default, if the command is present. gain-root-command should start with the name of a program on the PATH and will get as arguments the name of the real command to run and the arguments it should take. gain-root-command can include parameters (they must be space-separated) but no shell metacharacters. gain-root-command might typically be fakeroot, sudo, super or really. su is not suitable, since it can only invoke the user's shell with -c instead of passing arguments individually to the command to be run.

Support for long option since dpkg 1.18.8.

Building a Debian package usually involves invoking debian/rules as a command with several standard parameters. With this option it's possible to use another program invocation to build the package (it can include space separated parameters). Alternatively it can be used to execute the standard rules file with another make program (for example by using /usr/local/bin/make -f debian/rules as rules-file).

Support for short option since dpkg 1.14.17. Support for long option since dpkg 1.18.8.

Command used to check the .changes file itself and any artifact built referenced in the file. The command should take the .changes pathname as an argument. This command will usually be lintian.

Supported since dpkg 1.17.6.

Pass option opt to the check-command specified with DEB_CHECK_COMMAND or --check-command. Can be used multiple times.

Supported since dpkg 1.17.6.

Set the specified shell code hook-command as the hook hook-name, which will run at the times specified in the run steps. The hooks will always be executed even if the following action is not performed (except for the binary hook). All the hooks will run in the unpacked source directory.

Some hooks can receive addition information through environment variables (since dpkg 1.22.0). All hooks get the hook name in the DPKG_BUILDPACKAGE_HOOK_NAME environment variable (since dpkg 1.22.0).

Note: Hooks can affect the build process, and cause build failures if their commands fail, so watch out for unintended consequences.

The current hook-name supported are:

Gets DPKG_BUILDPACKAGE_HOOK_SOURCE_OPTIONS with the space-separated lists of options that will passed to the dpkg-source call.
Gets DPKG_BUILDPACKAGE_HOOK_BUILD_TARGET with the name of the debian/rules build target called. Before dpkg 1.22.7 the variable was only set if the target was called.
Gets DPKG_BUILDPACKAGE_HOOK_BINARY_TARGET with the name of the debian/rules binary target called, but only if called.
Gets DPKG_BUILDPACKAGE_HOOK_BUILDINFO_OPTIONS with the space-separated lists of options that will passed to the dpkg-genbuildinfo call.
Gets DPKG_BUILDPACKAGE_HOOK_CHANGES_OPTIONS with the space-separated lists of options that will passed to the dpkg-genchanges call.
Gets DPKG_BUILDPACKAGE_HOOK_CHECK_OPTIONS with the space-separated lists of options that will passed to the check command call.

The hook-command supports the following substitution format string, which will get applied to it before execution:

%%
A single % character.
%a
A boolean value (0 or 1), representing whether the following action is being performed.
%p
The source package name.
%v
The source package version.
%s
The source package version (without the epoch).
%u
The upstream version.

Supported since dpkg 1.17.6.

Set the filename for the generated .buildinfo file.

Supported since dpkg 1.21.0.

Pass option opt to dpkg-genbuildinfo. Can be used multiple times.

Supported since dpkg 1.18.11.

Specify an OpenPGP backend interface to use when invoking the sign-command.

The default is auto, where the best current backend available will be used. The specific OpenPGP backends supported in order of preference are:

Any conforming Stateless OpenPGP (SOP) implementation, such as sqop, rsop, gosop, hop or pgpainless-cli.
From Sequoia-PGP.
From GnuPG.

Supported since dpkg 1.21.10.

When dpkg-buildpackage needs to execute an OpenPGP backend command to sign a source control (.dsc) file, a .buildinfo file or a .changes file it will run sign-command (searching the PATH if necessary) instead of the default or auto-detected backend command. sign-command will get all the backend specific arguments according to the --sign-backend selected. sign-command should not contain spaces or any other shell metacharacters.

Support for long option since dpkg 1.18.8.

Specify an OpenPGP key-ID (either a fingerprint or a user-ID) for the secret key to use when signing packages.

Support for long option since dpkg 1.21.10.

Deprecated since dpkg 1.23.8, replaced by --sign-keyid. Supported since dpkg 1.18.8.
Specify an OpenPGP key-file containing the secret key to use when signing packages.

Note: For security reasons the key-file is best kept locked with a password.

Supported since dpkg 1.21.10.

Do not sign the source package.

Support for long option since dpkg 1.18.8.

Do not sign the .buildinfo file.

Supported since dpkg 1.18.19.

Do not sign the .buildinfo and .changes files.

Support for long option since dpkg 1.18.8.

Do not sign any file, this includes the source package, the .buildinfo file and the .changes file.

Supported since dpkg 1.18.20.

Force the signing of the resulting files, regardless of -us, --unsigned-source, -ui, --unsigned-buildinfo, -uc, --unsigned-changes or other internal heuristics.

Supported since dpkg 1.17.0.

Passed unchanged to dpkg-source. See its manual page.

Support for long options since dpkg 1.18.8.

Pass option opt to dpkg-source. Can be used multiple times.

Supported since dpkg 1.15.6.

Set the filename for the generated .changes file.

Supported since dpkg 1.21.0.

Pass option opt to dpkg-genchanges. Can be used multiple times.

Supported since dpkg 1.15.6.

Change the location of the dpkg database. The default location is /var/lib/dpkg.

Supported since dpkg 1.14.0.

-?, --help
Show the usage message and exit.
Show the version and exit.

ENVIRONMENT

External environment

If set, it will be used as the command to check the .changes file. Overridden by the --check-command option.

Supported since dpkg 1.17.6.

If set, it will be used to sign the .changes, .buildinfo and .dsc files. Overridden by the --sign-keyid option.

Supported since dpkg 1.17.2.

If set, it will be used to sign the .changes, .buildinfo and .dsc files. Overridden by the --sign-keyfile option.

Supported since dpkg 1.21.10.

If set, it will contain a space-separated list of options that affect the behavior of some dpkg tools involved in package building, and might affect the package build process if the code in debian/rules honors them. These options can have parameters specified immediately after an equal sign (‘=‘). For options that support multiple parameters, these will not be separated by spaces, as these are reserved to separate options.

The following are the options known and supported by dpkg tools, other options honored by debian/rules might be defined by distribution specific policies.

The debian/rules in the packaging might use this option to set up the build process to use N parallel jobs. It is overridden by the --jobs and --jobs-force options.
dpkg-buildpackage will ignore the DEB_CHECK_COMMAND variable. The debian/rules in the packaging is not expected to run test suites during the build.
If debian/rules calls dpkg-buildflags to set up the build flags, those will be set to not enable any optimizations.
The debian/rules in the packaging should ensure that objects do not get the debugging information stripped. If debian/rules includes the mk/buildtools.mk make fragment the STRIP make variable will respect this option.
dpkg-buildpackage will append the --no-print-directory make(1) flag to the MAKEFLAGS environment variable. The debian/rules in the packaging should reduce verbosity, while not being completely quiet.
These are feature areas that control build flag features. See dpkg-buildflags(1) for further details.
If set, it will be used as the active build profile(s) for the package being built. It is a space separated list of profile names, without any exclamation marks. Overridden by the -P option.

Supported since dpkg 1.17.2.

Sets the color mode. The currently accepted values are: auto (default), always and never.

Supported since dpkg 1.18.5.

If set, it will be used to decide whether to activate Native Language Support, also known as internationalization (or i18n) support. The accepted values are: 0 and 1 (default).

Supported since dpkg 1.19.0.

Internal environment

Even if dpkg-buildpackage exports some variables, debian/rules should not rely on their presence and should instead use the respective interface to retrieve the needed values, because that file is the main entry point to build packages and running it standalone should be supported.

dpkg-architecture is called with the -a and -t parameters forwarded. Any variable that is output by its -s option is integrated in the build environment.
This variable is set to the value obtained from the Rules-Requires-Root field, the dpkg-build-api level or from the command-line. When set, it will be a valid value for the Rules-Requires-Root field. It is used to notify debian/rules whether the rootless-builds.txt specification is supported.
This variable is set to gain-root-command when the field Rules-Requires-Root is set to a value different to no and binary-targets.
This variable is set to the Unix timestamp since the epoch of the latest entry in debian/changelog, if it is not already defined.

FILES

/etc/dpkg/buildpackage.conf
System wide configuration file
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/dpkg/buildpackage.conf
$HOME/.config/dpkg/buildpackage.conf
User configuration file.

NOTES

Compiler flags are no longer exported

Between dpkg 1.14.17 and 1.16.1, dpkg-buildpackage exported compiler flags (CFLAGS, CXXFLAGS, FFLAGS, CPPFLAGS and LDFLAGS) with values as returned by dpkg-buildflags. This is no longer the case.

Default build targets

dpkg-buildpackage is using the build-arch and build-indep targets since dpkg 1.16.2. Before dpkg 1.22.7, there was code to try to detect the missing targets and fallback on the build target. Those targets are thus mandatory.

SECURITY

Building binary or source packages should only be performed over trusted source data.

BUGS

It should be possible to specify spaces and shell metacharacters and initial arguments for gain-root-command and sign-command.

SEE ALSO

/usr/share/doc/dpkg/spec/rootless-builds.txt, dpkg-source(1), dpkg-architecture(1), dpkg-buildflags(1), dpkg-genbuildinfo(1), dpkg-genchanges(1), fakeroot(1), lintian(1), SOP <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-dkg-openpgp-stateless-cli/>, sq(1), gpg(1).

2026-09-09 1.23.11