# Building packages from the Git repository

In order to build a Debian package from the Git repository, you use: gbp buildpackage. This builds the upstream tarball (as will be described below) and invokes Debuild to build the package. To use another build command, you can use the `--git-builder` option as described later in the manual, but Debuild is nice since it can invoke lintian. During the development phase (when you're either not on the debian-branch or when you have uncommitted changes in your repository), you'll usually use:

    gbp buildpackage --git-ignore-new

If gbp buildpackage doesn't find a valid upstream tarball, it will create one by looking at the tag matching the upstream version. To change this behaviour, see the `--git-upstream-tree` option.

If you want to recreate the original tarball using the additional information from the `pristine-tar branch`, you have to specify the `--git-pristine-tar` option. This will make sure the upstream tarball matches exactly the one imported. Using this option is the recommended way of recreating the upstream tarball.

Once you're satisfied with the build and want to do a release, you commit all your changes and issue:

    gbp buildpackage --git-tag

This will again build the Debian package and tag the final result after extracting the current version from the changelog. If you want GPG-signed tags, you can use the `--git-sign` and `--git-keyid` options. To save typing, these option can be specified via the configuration files. You can furthermore change the tag format used when creating tags with the `debian-tag` option; the default is `debian/<version>`.

# Using a separate build dir

Tools like svn-buildpackage use a separate build-area. To achieve a similar behaviour with gbp buildpackage, use the `--git-export-dir` option:

    gbp buildpackage --git-export-dir=../build-area/

This will export the head of the current branch to `../build-area/package-version` and build the package. If you don't want to export the current branch head, you can use `--git-export` to export any treeish object. Here are some examples:

    gbp buildpackage --git-export-dir=../build-area --git-export=debian/0.4.3
    gbp buildpackage --git-export-dir=../build-area --git-export=etch
    gbp buildpackage --git-export-dir=../build-area --git-export=8caed309653d69b7ab440e3d35abc090eb4c6697
    gbp buildpackage --git-export-dir=../build-area --git-export=INDEX
    gbp buildpackage --git-export-dir=../build-area --git-export=WC

The special argument `INDEX` exports the state of the current index, which can be used to include staged but uncommitted changes in the build. Whereas the special argument `WC` exports the current working copy as is.

If you want to default to build in a separate build area, you can specify the directory to use in the `gbp.conf` file.

    [git-buildpackage]
    # use a build area relative to the git repository
    export-dir=../build-area
    # to use the same build area for all packages use an absolute path:
    #export-dir=/home/debian-packages/build-area

gbp buildpackage will cleanup the build-area after a successful build. If you want to keep the build tree, use `--git-no-purge`.

# Invoking external programs

Besides the commands for cleaning the package build dir (`cleaner`) and building the package (`builder`), you can also invoke hooks during the package build: immediately before a build (`prebuild`), after a successful build (`postbuild`), and after creating a tag (`posttag`). Typical applications are running lintian or pushing changes into a remote repository.

## Running lintian

gbp buildpackage exports several variables into the `posttag`'s environment (for details see the gbp-buildpackage(1)>). To invoke lintian, we need to tell it where to find the changes file:

    gbp buildpackage --git-postbuild='lintian $GBP_CHANGES_FILE'

To call lintian automatically after each successful build, add:

    postbuild=lintian $GBP_CHANGES_FILE

to your `.gbp.conf`.

## Pushing into a remote repository

If you want to push your changes automatically after a successful build and tag, you can use gbp buildpackage's posttag hook. A very simple invocation would look like this:

    gbp buildpackage --git-tag --git-posttag="git push && git push --tags"

This assumes you have set up a remote repository to push to in `.git/config`.

Usually, you want to make sure you don't push out any unrelated changes into the remote repository. This is handled by the following hook which only pushes out the created tag to where you pulled from and also forwards the corresponding remote branch to that position:

    #!/bin/sh -e
    #
    # gbp-posttag-push: post tag hook to push out the newly created tag and to
    # forward the remote branch to that position

    if ! REMOTE=$(git config --get branch."${GBP_BRANCH}".remote); then
        REMOTE=origin
    fi

    if [ "$GBP_TAG" ]; then
         echo "Pushing $GBP_TAG to $REMOTE"
         git push "$REMOTE" "$GBP_TAG"
    else
         echo "GBP_TAG not set."
         exit 1
    fi

    if [ "$GBP_SHA1" ] && [ "$GBP_BRANCH" ]; then
        git push "$REMOTE" "$GBP_SHA1":"$GBP_BRANCH"
    else
        echo "GBP_SHA1 or GBP_BRANCH not set."
        exit 1
    fi
    echo "done."

`GBP_TAG`, `GBP_SHA1` and `GBP_BRANCH` are passed to the hook via the environment. To call this hook automatically upon tag creation, add:

    posttag="gbp-posttag-push"

to your `.gbp.conf` and make sure `gbp-push` is somewhere in your `$PATH`. On Debian systems, a more complete example can be found in `/usr/share/doc/examples/git-buildpackage/examples/gbp-posttag-push`.

## Running postexport hook

gbp buildpackage exports several variables into the `postexport`'s environment (for details see the gbp-buildpackage(1)>). The motivation for the postexport action is to allow further adjustment of the sources prior to building the package. A typical use case scenario is to allow creating multiple source and binary packages from one Debian branch, e.g. the bootstrap gcc and in the next stage the full gcc.

The postexport action postpones the creation of the upstream tarball, so that the metadata for creating it is already present in the exported source tree. The example postexport script below (`crosstoolchain-expand.sh`) expands changelog, lintian override files, rules and control files according to an environment variable `PKG_FLAVOR`.

Sample `gbp.conf` - enables source tree export by specifying the export directory:

    [git-buildpackage]
    # use a build area relative to the git repository
    export-dir = ../build-area
    # disable the since the sources are being exported first
    cleaner =
    # post export script that handles expansion of Debian specific files
    postexport = crosstoolchain-expand.sh

Sample postexport script: `crosstoolchain-expand.sh`

    #!/bin/sh
    #
    # Purpose: this script is intended for creating multiple source and
    # binary Debian packages from one source tree. It can be used in
    # conjunction with git-buildpackage that support a postexport hook
    #
    # A typical use is preparing a bootstrap gcc package that is needed
    # for building newlib and then preparing a full gcc package from the
    # same source tree. The user may specify the package flavor via
    # PKG_FLAVOR environmental variable.
    #
    #
    # The script expands/processes the following files:
    #
    # - changelog.tmpl is converted to standard Debian changelog
    #
    #
    # - all binary package lintian override template files are expanded
    #   and renamed to the requested package flavor
    #
    # - source package lintian override template file is expanded and
    #   renamed
    #
    # - rules.$PKG_FLAVOR and control.$PKG_FLAVOR are renamed to rules and
    #   control resp.

    # the template string has been carefully chosen, so that
    # e.g. changelogs that refer to the source package can still be
    # processed by dch/git-dch resp.
    TMPL_STR=-XXXXXX

    # by default replace string for the template is empty
    REPLACE_STR=

    if [ -n "$PKG_FLAVOR" ]; then
        REPLACE_STR=-$PKG_FLAVOR
    fi

    REPLACE_EXPR="s/$TMPL_STR/$REPLACE_STR/g"

    # actual processing of relevant files
    cd debian

    # expand the template changelog
    # remove the symlinked version
    rm changelog
    chglog_tmpl=changelog.tmpl
    [ -f "$chglog_tmpl" ] || {
        echo "Missing changelog template (debian/$chglog_tmpl)"
        exit 1
    }
    cat changelog.tmpl | sed -e "$REPLACE_EXPR" > changelog
    rm changelog.tmpl

    # process binary package lintian overrides - each override must match
    # its package name
    for f in *.lintian-overrides.tmpl; do
        outfile=${f%.tmpl}
        [ -f "$f" ] || {
    	echo "Missing lintian override files for binary packages"
    	exit 1
        }
        cat $f | sed -e "$REPLACE_EXPR" > ${outfile/$TMPL_STR/$REPLACE_STR}
        rm $f
    done

    # process the only source package lintian override
    source_lintian=source/lintian-overrides.tmpl
    cat $source_lintian | sed -e "$REPLACE_EXPR" > ${source_lintian%.tmpl}
    rm $source_lintian

    # rules and control file are package flavor specific
    [ -f rules.$PKG_FLAVOR ] && mv rules.$PKG_FLAVOR rules
    [ -f control.$PKG_FLAVOR ] && mv control.$PKG_FLAVOR control
    rm -f rules.* control.*

    exit 0