Ubuntu Manpage: debcommit - commit changes to a package

NAME

       debcommit - commit changes to a package

SYNOPSIS

       debcommit [options] [--all | files to commit]

DESCRIPTION

       debcommit generates a commit message based on new text in debian/changelog, and commits the change to a
       package's repository. It must be run in a working copy for the package. Supported version control systems
       are: cvs, git, hg (mercurial), svk, svn (Subversion), baz, bzr, tla (arch), darcs.

OPTIONS

-c, --changelog path
Specify an alternate location for the changelog. By default debian/changelog is used.

-r, --release
Commit a release of the package. The version number is determined from debian/changelog, and is used
to tag the package in the repository.

Note that svn/svk tagging conventions vary, so debcommit uses svnpath(1) to determine where the tag
should be placed in the repository.

-R, --release-use-changelog
When used in conjunction with --release, if there are uncommitted changes to the changelog then
derive the commit message from those changes rather than using the default message.

-m text, --message text
Specify a commit message to use. Useful if the program cannot determine a commit message on its own
based on debian/changelog, or if you want to override the default message.

-n, --noact
Do not actually do anything, but do print the commands that would be run.

-d, --diff
Instead of committing, do print the diff of what would have been committed if this option were not
given. A typical usage scenario of this option is the generation of patches against the current
working copy (e.g. when you don't have commit access right).

-C, --confirm
Display the generated commit message and ask for confirmation before committing it. It is also
possible to edit the message at this stage; in this case, the confirmation prompt will be re-
displayed after the editing has been performed.

-e, --edit
Edit the generated commit message in your favorite editor before committing it.

-a, --all
Commit all files. This is the default operation when using a VCS other than git.

-s, --strip-message, --no-strip-message
If this option is set and the commit message has been derived from the changelog, the characters "* "
will be stripped from the beginning of the message.

This option is set by default and ignored if more than one line of the message begins with "[*+-] ".

--sign-commit, --no-sign-commit
If this option is set, then the commits that debcommit creates will be signed using gnupg. Currently
this is only supported by git, hg, and bzr.

--sign-tags, --no-sign-tags
If this option is set, then tags that debcommit creates will be signed using gnupg. Currently this is
only supported by git.

--changelog-info
If this option is set, the commit author and date will be determined from the Maintainer and Date
field of the first paragraph in debian/changelog. This is mainly useful when using debchange(1) with
the --no-mainttrailer option.

CONFIGURATION VARIABLES

       The  two  configuration files /etc/devscripts.conf and ~/.devscripts are sourced by a shell in that order
       to set configuration variables.  Command  line  options  can  be  used  to  override  configuration  file
       settings.   Environment  variable  settings  are  ignored  for  this  purpose.   The currently recognised
       variables are:

       DEBCOMMIT_STRIP_MESSAGE
           If this is set to no, then it is the same as the  --no-strip-message  command  line  parameter  being
           used. The default is yes.

       DEBCOMMIT_SIGN_TAGS
           If  this is set to yes, then it is the same as the --sign-tags command line parameter being used. The
           default is no.

       DEBCOMMIT_SIGN_COMMITS
           If this is set to yes, then it is the same as the --sign-commit command line  parameter  being  used.
           The default is no.

       DEBCOMMIT_RELEASE_USE_CHANGELOG
           If  this  is  set  to  yes, then it is the same as the --release-use-changelog command line parameter
           being used. The default is no.

       DEBSIGN_KEYID
           This is the key id used for signing tags. If not set, a  default  will  be  chosen  by  the  revision
           control system.

VCS SPECIFIC FEATURES

       tla / baz
           If  the commit message contains more than 72 characters, a summary will be created containing as many
           full words from the message as will fit within 72 characters, followed by an ellipsis.

       Each of the features described below is applicable only if the  commit  message  has  been  automatically
       determined from the changelog.

       git If  only  a single change is detected in the changelog, debcommit will unfold it to a single line and
           behave as if --strip-message was used.

           Otherwise, the first change will be unfolded and stripped to form a summary line and a commit message
           formed using the summary line followed by a  blank  line  and  the  changes  as  extracted  from  the
           changelog.  debcommit  will  then  spawn  an  editor  so  that  the  message may be fine-tuned before
           committing.

       hg / darcs
           The first change detected in the changelog will be  unfolded  to  form  a  single  line  summary.  If
           multiple changes were detected then an editor will be spawned to allow the message to be fine-tuned.

       bzr If  the  changelog  entry  used  for  the commit message closes any bugs then --fixes options to "bzr
           commit" will be generated to associate the revision and the bugs.

LICENSE

       This code is copyright by Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>, all rights reserved.   This  program  comes  with
       ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.  You are free to redistribute this code under the terms of the GNU General Public
       License, version 2 or later.

AUTHOR

       Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>