Provided by: sbuild_0.85.10ubuntu0.2_all 
NAME
sbuild-createchroot - create sbuild chroot
SYNOPSIS
sbuild-createchroot [-h|--help | -V|--version] [--verbose] [--arch=arch] [--chroot-prefix=prefix]
[--chroot-suffix=suffix] [--chroot-mode=schroot|sudo|unshare] [--foreign] [--resolve-deps | --no-resolve-
deps] [--merged-usr | --no-merged-usr | --auto-merged-usr] [--keep-debootstrap-dir]
[--debootstrap=debootstrap] [--include=package1[,package2,[packagen]]]
[--exclude=package1[,package2,[packagen]]] [--components=component1[,component2,[componentn]]]
[--keyring=keyring-file] [--setup-only] [--make-sbuild-tarball=file] [--keep-sbuild-chroot-dir]
[--no-deb-src] [--alias=alias] [--extra-repository=spec] [--command-prefix=prefix] SUITE TARGET-DIRECTORY
[DEBIAN-MIRROR-URI [SCRIPT]]
buildd-create-chroot USER SUITE TARGET-DIRECTORY [DEBIAN-MIRROR-URI]
DESCRIPTION
sbuild-createchroot runs debootstrap(1) to create a chroot suitable for building packages with sbuild.
Note that while debootstrap may be used directly, sbuild-createchroot performs additional setup tasks
such as adding additional packages and configuring various files in the chroot. Invoking
sbuild-createchroot is functionally equivalent to running debootstrap --variant=buildd
--include=fakeroot,build-essential, then editing /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/hosts by hand.
The newly-created chroot is set up to work with schroot(1) by creating a chroot definition file under
/etc/schroot/chroot.d. This should be edited to finish the chroot configuration after
sbuild-createchroot has completed.
buildd-create-chroot, like sbuild-createchroot, runs debootstrap(1) to create a chroot for package
building. However, this creates a chroot specifically for buildd(1) with an additional mandatory option
to specify a user who will be granted sudo access inside the chroot. This script mainly differs in its
additional customisation of /etc/apt/sources.list to use incoming.debian.org and security-
master.debian.org. It also removes some packages from the newly-created chroot. Unless you are setting
up an official Debian build daemon, sbuild-createchroot should be used instead. The extra functionality
will be merged into sbuild-createchroot in the future.
OPTIONS
Actions
-h, --help
Display this manual.
-V, --version
Print version information.
General options
-v, --verbose
Print all messages.
Debootstrap options
Note that debootstrap(1) is the canonical reference for the meaning of the options; they are passed
directly to debootstrap.
--arch=arch
Set the target architecture. This may be used if dpkg is not already installed. See also
--foreign, below.
--chroot-suffix=suffix
Add a custom suffix to the chroot name. Defaults to '-sbuild'.
--chroot-prefix=prefix
Add a custom prefix to the chroot name. Defaults to SUITE. This is useful to create variants of a
base suite like stretch-backports to which the backports archive can be manually added after the
base chroot was created using sbuild-shell. This way, a normal stretch chroot and a stretch-
backports chroot can exist side-by-side. Besides this common use case, this functionality can
also be used to create chroots with any other type of customization. It is a shortcut for creating
a base chroot and then having to manually copy it and edit the configuration files.
--chroot-mode=schroot|sudo|unshare
The sbuild chroot backend to generate the chroot for. The autopkgtest backend is not supported by
this method because of the diversity of container types it supports. To generate a chroot for
schroot and sudo, sbuild-createchroot must be executed with superuser privileges (for example by
using sudo). Because of backwards compatibility, choosing schroot implies sudo (but not the other
way round). Choosing unshare requires the --make-sbuild-tarball option. Creating a chroot for the
unshare backend can be done by a normal user (without sudo) but it requires Linux user namespaces
to be enabled (via "sysctl -w kernel.unprivileged_userns_clone=1"). Chroot tarballs created for
the unshare backend are also compatible with the schroot backend if a respective schroot config
file is manually created by the user or by running sbuild-createchroot with the --setup-only
option. Defaults to 'schroot'.
--foreign
Only perform the initial unpack phase of bootstrapping. This is required if the target and host
architectures do not match. Note that debootstrap requires running by hand to complete
installation; run the debootstrap /debootstrap/debootstrap installed in TARGET-DIRECTORY to
complete the installation.
--resolve-deps
Automatically resolve missing dependencies. This is the default.
--no-resolve-deps
Do not automatically resolve missing dependencies.
--keep-debootstrap-dir
Don't delete the /debootstrap directory in TARGET-DIRECTORY after completing the installation.
--debootstrap=debootstrap
Define a custom debootstrap variant. Defaults to 'debootstrap'.
--include=package1[,package2,[packagen]]
Comma separated list of packages which will be added to the list of packages to download and
extract.
--exclude=package1[,package2,[packagen]]
Comma separated list of packages which will be removed from the list of packages to download and
extract. Note that this can remove essential packages, so use with extreme care.
--components=component1[,component2,[componentn]]
Comma separated list of archive components to use (e.g. ‘main’, ‘contrib’, ‘non-free’). Defaults
to ‘main’.
--keyring=keyring-file
Download signatures for retrieved Release files and check them against keyring-file. By default
/etc/apt/trusted.gpg is used. Set to an empty string to disable signature checking.
--merged-usr
Create a chroot in which /bin, /sbin and /lib* are symbolic links to their counterparts in /usr.
--no-merged-usr
Create a chroot in which /bin, /sbin and /lib* are ordinary directories distinct from their
counterparts in /usr.
--auto-merged-usr
Do not specify whether /bin, /sbin and /lib* are symbolic links to their counterparts in /usr. In
this case debootstrap will use its default behaviour (which is suite-specific). This is the
default.
SUITE The distribution to bootstrap (e.g. ‘stretch[cq], ‘buster’, ‘bullseye’, ‘sid’). A complete list
may be found in /usr/share/debootstrap/scripts.
TARGET-DIRECTORY
The directory to create the chroot in. The directory will be created if it does not already
exist.
DEBIAN-MIRROR-URI
An http://, file:///, or ssh:/// URI pointing to a suitable archive mirror. Defaults to
http://deb.debian.org/debian.
SCRIPT debootstrap script to run. Not typically required.
sbuild-createchroot behaviour
--setup-only
Don't run debootstrap. Only perform the setup tasks on an already existing chroot. This is
useful for converting an existing chroot for use with sbuild which has already been created using
a tool such as debootstrap. Some configuration steps can only be carried out on a directory
chroot and thus, this option is not useful with the unshare backend.
--make-sbuild-tarball=file
Create a bootstrapped file type chroot ready for use with sbuild and save it as file. The
compression format used for the tarball is dependent on the file extension used in file. See the
TARBALL FILE section for more details.
--keep-sbuild-chroot-dir
Don't delete the directory used for creating a file type chroot. This option does nothing if not
creating a file type chroot.
--no-deb-src
Don't add a deb-src line to the /etc/apt/sources.list file in the TARGET-DIRECTORY after the
debootstrap process. This is useful in situation when it is known that sbuild will never have to
download the source package itself but is always given an already downloaded dsc. In that case,
this option will help to save bandwidth and disk space because the source indices don't have to be
downloaded and later continually updated.
--alias=alias
Add an alternative name that the chroot will be known by. This option can be given multiple times
to add more than one alias. Using an alias is useful for chroots of distributions that are known
by more than one name. For example Debian unstable is also known as sid. Additionally, sbuild
chooses the distribution by the latest changelog entry which could list UNRELEASED for packages
that the maintainer is currently working on. For Debian it thus makes sense to add UNRELEASED as
an alias for a Debian unstable chroot. This option is only allowed when choosing --chroot-
mode=schroot. For similar functionality with --chroot-mode=unshare you can work with symlinks.
See the EXAMPLES section for how to use this option in practice.
--extra-repository=spec
Add a repository to the list of apt sources. The repository specification is a line suitable for
an apt sources.list(5) file. For instance, you might use --extra-repository="deb
http://deb.debian.org/debian experimental main" to allow packages in the experimental distribution
to fulfill build-dependencies. Note that the build chroot must already trust the key of this
repository. See the EXAMPLES section for how to combine this option with --chroot-prefix and
--alias.
--command-prefix=prefix
Set the chroot command-prefix option as specified. A common use-case is to specify eatmydata,
thereby preventing all commands executed in the chroot from syncing data to disk. This option is
only allowed when choosing --chroot-mode=schroot. See schroot.conf(5) for more details.
TARBALL FILE
When creating an sbuild tarball file, the compression format used to generate the tarball depends on the
entension used in file. Here is a listing of the extensions that will be detected and what format the
tarball will be generated as.
*.tar Generates an uncompressed tarball.
*.tar.gz|*.tgz
Generates a compressed tarball using gzip.
*.tar.bz2|*.tbz
Generates a compressed tarball using bzip2.
*.tar.lz|*.tlz
Generates a compressed tarball using lzip.
*.tar.xz|*.txz
Generates a compressed tarball using xz.
If no extension is specified, sbuild-createchroot will rename file to file.tar.gz and generate
file.tar.gz as a compressed tarball using gzip.
EXAMPLES
To create a bootstrapped file type sid (unstable) chroot ready for use with sbuild and schroot (the de‐
fault backend), saved in /srv/chroot/unstable-amd64.tar.gz using the deb.debian.org Debian http mirror
redirector service and using a temporary directory as the target:
% sudo sbuild-createchroot \
--make-sbuild-tarball=/srv/chroot/unstable-amd64.tar.gz \
unstable `mktemp -d` \
http://deb.debian.org/debian↵
To create a plain type sid (unstable) schroot chroot in /srv/chroot/unstable using the deb.debian.org De‐
bian http mirror redirector service and with aliases for unstable and UNRELEASED:
% sudo sbuild-createchroot unstable /srv/chroot/unstable-amd64 \
--alias=sid --alias=UNRELEASED \
http://deb.debian.org/debian↵
To create a schroot chroot to build for stretch backports:
% sudo sbuild-createchroot \
--extra-repository="deb http://deb.debian.org/debian stretch-backports main" \
--chroot-prefix=stretch-backports \
stretch /srv/chroot/stretch-backports-amd64 \
http://deb.debian.org/debian↵
To create a schroot chroot to build for experimental using a custom chroot prefix:
% sudo sbuild-createchroot \
--extra-repository="deb http://deb.debian.org/debian experimental main" \
--chroot-prefix=experimental \
unstable /srv/chroot/unstable-experimental-amd64 \
http://deb.debian.org/debian↵
Creating a chroot for the unshare backend does not require superuser privileges (no sudo). The path for
the tarball is the default path expected by sbuild for the unshare backend:
% sbuild-createchroot --chroot-mode=unshare \
--make-sbuild-tarball ~/.cache/sbuild/unstable-amd64.tar.gz \
unstable `mktemp -d` http://deb.debian.org/debian↵
HISTORY
sbuild-createchroot was previously known as buildd.chroot. buildd.chroot performed exactly the same
tasks, but additionally created a number of directories in the chroot for use by sbuild. This is now
done by schroot(1).
AUTHORS
Roger Leigh.
Francesco P. Lovergine.
Andres Mejia.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2004 Francesco P. Lovergine <frankie@debian.org>.
Copyright © 2007-2008 Roger Leigh <rleigh@debian.org>.
Copyright © 2010 Andres Mejia <mcitadel@gmail.com>.
SEE ALSO
debootstrap(8), schroot(1), sbuild(1), sbuild-setup(7).
Version 0.85.10ubuntu0.2 02 May 2025 SBUILD-CREATECHROOT(8)