dh_install(1) — Linux manual page
DH_INSTALL(1) Debhelper DH_INSTALL(1)
NAME
dh_install - install files into package build directories
SYNOPSIS
dh_install [-Xitem] [--autodest] [--sourcedir=dir]
[debhelper options] [file|dir ... destdir]
DESCRIPTION
dh_install is a debhelper program that handles installing files
into package build directories. There are many dh_install*
commands that handle installing specific types of files such as
documentation, examples, man pages, and so on, and they should be
used when possible as they often have extra intelligence for
those particular tasks. dh_install, then, is useful for
installing everything else, for which no particular intelligence
is needed. It is a replacement for the old dh_movefiles command.
This program may be used in one of two ways. If you just have a
file or two that the upstream Makefile does not install for you,
you can run dh_install on them to move them into place. On the
other hand, maybe you have a large package that builds multiple
binary packages. You can use the upstream Makefile to install it
all into debian/tmp, and then use dh_install to copy directories
and files from there into the proper package build directories.
From debhelper compatibility level 7 on, dh_install will fall
back to looking in debian/tmp for files, if it does not find them
in the current directory (or wherever you've told it to look
using --sourcedir).
FILES
debian/package.install
List the files to install into each package and the directory
they should be installed to. The format is a set of lines,
where each line lists a file or files to install, and at the
end of the line tells the directory it should be installed
in. The name of the files (or directories) to install should
be given relative to the current directory, while the
installation directory is given relative to the package build
directory. You may use wildcards in the names of the files to
install.
Note that if you list exactly one filename or wildcard-
pattern on a line by itself, with no explicit destination,
then dh_install will automatically guess the destination to
use, the same as if the --autodest option were used.
Supports substitution variables in compat 13 and later as
documented in debhelper(7).
debian/not-installed
Used with the deprecated --list-missing and --fail-missing
options. Please refer to dh_missing(1) for the documentation
of this file.
OPTIONS
--list-missing
Deprecated: Please use dh_missing --list-missing instead. If
you use this option, dh_install will call dh_missing with
that option after it has processed all the files. Please see
dh_missing(1) for the documentation of this option.
This option is removed in compat 12.
--fail-missing
Deprecated: Please use dh_missing --fail-missing instead. If
you use this option, dh_install will call dh_missing with
that option after it has processed all the files. Please see
dh_missing(1) for the documentation of this option.
This option is removed in compat 12.
--sourcedir=dir
Look in the specified directory for files to be installed.
Note that this is not the same as the --sourcedirectory
option used by the dh_auto_* commands. You rarely need to use
this option, since dh_install automatically looks for files
in debian/tmp in debhelper compatibility level 7 and above.
--autodest
Guess as the destination directory to install things to. If
this is specified, you should not list destination
directories in debian/package.install files or on the command
line. Instead, dh_install will guess as follows:
Strip off debian/tmp (or the sourcedir if one is given) from
the front of the filename, if it is present, and install into
the dirname of the filename. So if the filename is
debian/tmp/usr/bin, then that directory will be copied to
debian/package/usr/. If the filename is
debian/tmp/etc/passwd, it will be copied to
debian/package/etc/.
file|dir ... destdir
Lists files (or directories) to install and where to install
them to. The files will be installed into the first package
dh_install acts on.
EXAMPLES
Here are some small examples of configuration files for
dh_install.
# Install my-prog into usr/bin (as "usr/bin/my-prog")
my-prog usr/bin
# Install a plugins directory into usr/share/my-prog
# (as "usr/share/my-prog/plugins/")
plugins usr/share/my-prog
# Install a file with spaces in into usr/share/my-prog/data
# (as "usr/share/my-prog/data/my datafile with spaces.txt")
# ASSUMES COMPAT 13, where substitution patterns are available
my${Space}datafile${Space}with${Space}spaces.txt usr/share/my-prog/data
# Install a library into the multi-arch lib directory
# ASSUMES COMPAT 13, where substitution patterns are available
build/output/libfrop*.so.* usr/lib/${DEB_HOST_MULTIARCH}
LIMITATIONS
dh_install cannot rename files or directories, it can only
install them with the names they already have into wherever you
want in the package build tree.
There is also no way to filter out results based on build
profiles or architecture. For documentation content, consider
using dh_installdocs or dh_installexamples as those helpers
account for the nodoc build profile.
However, renaming and filtering can be achieved by using dh-exec
with compatibility level 9 or later. An example
debian/package.install file using dh-exec could look like:
#!/usr/bin/dh-exec
debian/default.conf => /etc/my-package/start.conf
build/foo /usr/bin <!pkg.bar.nofoo>
Please remember the following three things:
• The package must be using compatibility level 9 or later (see
debhelper(7))
• The package will need a build-dependency on dh-exec.
• The install file must be marked as executable.
SEE ALSO
debhelper(7)
This program is a part of debhelper.
AUTHOR
Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>
COLOPHON
This page is part of the debhelper (helper programs for
debian/rules) project. Information about the project can be
found at [unknown -- if you know, please contact man-
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the project's upstream Git repository
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(At that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found
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13.15.3 2024-06-07 DH_INSTALL(1)
Pages that refer to this page: dh(1), dh_assistant(1), dh_auto_install(1), dh_installdocs(1), dh_installman(1), debhelper(7)