{ "mode": "man", "parameter": "bts", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/bts/1/json", "generated": "2026-09-01T03:17:02Z", "synopsis": "bts [options] command [args] [#comment] [.|, command [args] [#comment]] ...", "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "bts - developers' command line interface to the Debian Bug Tracking System\n", "subsections": [] }, "SYNOPSIS": { "content": "bts [options] command [args] [#comment] [.|, command [args] [#comment]] ...\n", "subsections": [] }, "DESCRIPTION": { "content": "This is a command line interface to the Debian Bug Tracking System (BTS), intended mainly for\nuse by developers. It lets the BTS be manipulated using simple commands that can be run at\nthe prompt or in a script, does various sanity checks on the input, and constructs and sends\na mail to the BTS control address for you. A local cache of web pages and e-mails from the\nBTS may also be created and updated.\n\nIn general, the command line interface is the same as what you would write in a mail to\ncontrol@bugs.debian.org, just prefixed with \"bts\". For example:\n\n% bts severity 69042 normal\n% bts merge 69042 43233\n% bts retitle 69042 blah blah\n\nA few additional commands have been added for your convenience, and this program is less\nstrict about what constitutes a valid bug number. For example, \"severity Bug#85942 normal\" is\nunderstood, as is \"severity #85942 normal\". (Of course, your shell may regard \"#\" as a\ncomment character though, so you may need to quote it!)\n\nAlso, for your convenience, this program allows you to abbreviate commands to the shortest\nunique substring (similar to how cvs lets you abbreviate commands). So it understands things\nlike \"bts cl 85942\".\n\nIt is also possible to include a comment in the mail sent to the BTS. If your shell does not\nstrip out the comment in a command like \"bts severity 30321 normal #inflated severity\", then\nthis program is smart enough to figure out where the comment is, and include it in the email.\nNote that most shells do strip out such comments before they get to the program, unless the\ncomment is quoted. (Something like \"bts severity #85942 normal\" will not be treated as a\ncomment!)\n\nYou can specify multiple commands by separating them with a single dot, rather like\nupdate-rc.d; a single comma may also be used; all the commands will then be sent in a single\nmail. It is important the dot/comma is surrounded by whitespace so it is not mistaken for\npart of a command. For example (quoting where necessary so that bts sees the comment):\n\n% bts severity 95672 normal , merge 95672 95673 \\#they are the same!\n\nThe abbreviation \"it\" may be used to refer to the last mentioned bug number, so you could\nwrite:\n\n% bts severity 95672 wishlist , retitle it \"bts: please add a --foo option\"\n\nPlease use this program responsibly, and do take our users into consideration.\n", "subsections": [] }, "OPTIONS": { "content": "bts examines the devscripts configuration files as described below. Command line options\noverride the configuration file settings, though.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "-o --offline", "content": "Make bts use cached bugs for the show and bugs commands, if a cache is available for the\nrequested data. See the cache command, below for information on setting up a cache.\n\n--online, --no-offline\nOpposite of --offline; overrides any configuration file directive to work offline.\n", "flag": "-o", "long": "--offline" }, { "name": "-n --no-action", "content": "Do not send emails but print them to standard output.\n\n--cache, --no-cache\nShould we attempt to cache new versions of BTS pages when performing show/bugs commands?\nDefault is to cache.\n\n--cache-mode={min|mbox|full}\nWhen running a bts cache command, should we only mirror the basic bug (min), or should we\nalso mirror the mbox version (mbox), or should we mirror the whole thing, including the\nmbox and the boring attachments to the BTS bug pages and the acknowledgement emails\n(full)? Default is min.\n\n--cache-delay=seconds\nTime in seconds to delay between each download, to avoid hammering the BTS web server.\nDefault is 5 seconds.\n", "flag": "-n", "long": "--no-action" }, { "name": "--mbox", "content": "Open a mail reader to read the mbox corresponding to a given bug number for show and bugs\ncommands.\n\n--mailreader=READER\nSpecify the command to read the mbox. Must contain a \"%s\" string (unquoted!), which will\nbe replaced by the name of the mbox file. The command will be split on white space and\nwill not be passed to a shell. Default is 'mutt -f %s'. (Also, %% will be substituted\nby a single % if this is needed.)\n\n--cc-addr=CCEMAILADDRESS\nSend carbon copies to a list of users. CCEMAILADDRESS should be a comma-separated list\nof email addresses. Multiple options add more CCs.\n", "long": "--mbox" }, { "name": "--use-default-cc", "content": "Add the addresses specified in the configuration file option BTSDEFAULTCC to the list\nspecified using --cc-addr. This is the default.\n", "long": "--use-default-cc" }, { "name": "--no-use-default-cc", "content": "Do not add addresses specified in BTSDEFAULTCC to the carbon copy list.\n\n--sendmail=SENDMAILCMD\nSpecify the sendmail command. The command will be split on white space and will not be\npassed to a shell. Default is /usr/sbin/sendmail. The -t option will be automatically\nadded if the command is /usr/sbin/sendmail or /usr/sbin/exim*. For other mailers, if\nthey require a -t option, this must be included in the SENDMAILCMD, for example:\n--sendmail=\"/usr/sbin/mymailer -t\".\n", "long": "--no-use-default-cc" }, { "name": "--mutt", "content": "Use mutt for sending of mails. Default is not to use mutt, except for some commands.\n\nNote that one of $DEBEMAIL or $EMAIL must be set in the environment in order to use mutt\nto send emails.\n", "long": "--mutt" }, { "name": "--no-mutt", "content": "Don't use mutt for sending of mails.\n\n--soap-timeout=SECONDS\nSpecify a timeout for SOAP calls as used by the select and status commands.\n\n--smtp-host=SMTPHOST\nSpecify an SMTP host. If given, bts will send mail by talking directly to this SMTP host\nrather than by invoking a sendmail command.\n\nThe host name may be followed by a colon (\":\") and a port number in order to use a port\nother than the default. It may also begin with \"ssmtp://\" or \"smtps://\" to indicate that\nSMTPS should be used.\n\nIf SMTPS not specified, bts will still try to use STARTTLS if it's advertised by the SMTP\nhost.\n\nNote that one of $DEBEMAIL or $EMAIL must be set in the environment in order to use\ndirect SMTP connections to send emails.\n\nNote that when sending directly via an SMTP host, specifying addresses in --cc-addr or\nBTSDEFAULTCC that the SMTP host will not relay will cause the SMTP host to reject the\nentire mail.\n\nNote also that the use of the reassign command may, when either --mutt or\n--force-interactive mode is enabled, lead to the automatic addition of a Cc to\n$newpackage@packages.debian.org. In these cases, the note above regarding relaying\napplies. The submission interface (port 587) on reportbug.debian.org does not support\nrelaying and, as such, should not be used as an SMTP server for bts under the\ncircumstances described in this paragraph.\n\n--smtp-username=USERNAME, --smtp-password=PASSWORD\nSpecify the credentials to use when connecting to the SMTP server specified by\n--smtp-host. If the server does not require authentication then these options should not\nbe used.\n\nIf a username is specified but not a password, bts will prompt for the password before\nsending the mail.\n\n--smtp-helo=HELO\nSpecify the name to use in the HELO command when connecting to the SMTP server; defaults\nto the contents of the file /etc/mailname, if it exists.\n\nNote that some SMTP servers may reject the use of a HELO which either does not resolve or\ndoes not appear to belong to the host using it.\n", "long": "--no-mutt" }, { "name": "--bts-server", "content": "Use a debbugs server other than https://bugs.debian.org.\n", "long": "--bts-server" }, { "name": "-f --force-refresh", "content": "Download a bug report again, even if it does not appear to have changed since the last\ncache command. Useful if a --cache-mode=full is requested for the first time (otherwise\nunchanged bug reports will not be downloaded again, even if the boring bits have not been\ndownloaded).\n", "flag": "-f", "long": "--force-refresh" }, { "name": "--no-force-refresh", "content": "Suppress any configuration file --force-refresh option.\n", "long": "--no-force-refresh" }, { "name": "--only-new", "content": "Download only new bugs when caching. Do not check for updates in bugs we already have.\n", "long": "--only-new" }, { "name": "--include-resolved", "content": "When caching bug reports, include those that are marked as resolved. This is the default\nbehaviour.\n", "long": "--include-resolved" }, { "name": "--no-include-resolved", "content": "Reverse the behaviour of the previous option. That is, do not cache bugs that are marked\nas resolved.\n", "long": "--no-include-resolved" }, { "name": "--no-ack", "content": "Suppress acknowledgment mails from the BTS. Note that this will only affect the copies\nof messages CCed to bugs, not those sent to the control bot.\n", "long": "--no-ack" }, { "name": "--ack", "content": "Do not suppress acknowledgement mails. This is the default behaviour.\n", "long": "--ack" }, { "name": "-i --interactive", "content": "Before sending an e-mail to the control bot, display the content and allow it to be\nedited, or the sending cancelled.\n", "flag": "-i", "long": "--interactive" }, { "name": "--force-interactive", "content": "Similar to --interactive, with the exception that an editor is spawned before prompting\nfor confirmation of the message to be sent.\n", "long": "--force-interactive" }, { "name": "--no-interactive", "content": "Send control e-mails without confirmation. This is the default behaviour.\n", "long": "--no-interactive" }, { "name": "-q --quiet", "content": "When running bts cache, only display information about newly cached pages, not messages\nsaying already cached. If this option is specified twice, only output error messages (to\nstderr).\n\n--no-conf, --noconf\nDo not read any configuration files. This can only be used as the first option given on\nthe command-line.\n", "flag": "-q", "long": "--quiet" } ] }, "COMMANDS": { "content": "For full details about the commands, see the BTS documentation.\n\n\nshow [options] [bug number | package | maintainer | : ] [opt=val ...]\nshow [options] [src:package | from:submitter] [opt=val ...]\nshow [options] [tag:tag | usertag:tag ] [opt=val ...]\nshow [release-critical | release-critical/... | RC]\nThis is a synonym for bts bugs.\n\nbugs [options] [bugnumber | package | maintainer | : ] [opt=val ...]\nbugs [options] [src:package | from:submitter] [opt=val ...]\nbugs [options] [tag:tag | usertag:tag ] [opt=val ...]\nbugs [release-critical | release-critical/... | RC]\nDisplay the page listing the requested bugs in a web browser using sensible-browser(1).\n\nOptions may be specified after the bugs command in addition to or instead of options at\nthe start of the command line: recognised options at this point are:\n-o/--offline/--online, -m/--mbox, --mailreader and --[no-]cache. These are described\nearlier in this manpage. If either the -o or --offline option is used, or there is\nalready an up-to-date copy in the local cache, the cached version will be used.\n\nThe meanings of the possible arguments are as follows:\n\n(none) If nothing is specified, bts bugs will display your bugs, assuming that either\nDEBEMAIL or EMAIL (examined in that order) is set to the appropriate email\naddress.\n\nbugnumber\nDisplay bug number bugnumber.\n\npackage Display the bugs for the package package.\n\nsrc:package\nDisplay the bugs for the source package package.\n\nmaintainer\nDisplay the bugs for the maintainer email address maintainer.\n\nfrom:submitter\nDisplay the bugs for the submitter email address submitter.\n\ntag:tag Display the bugs which are tagged with tag.\n\nusertag:tag\nDisplay the bugs which are tagged with usertag tag. See the BTS documentation\nfor more information on usertags. This will require the use of a users=email\noption.\n\n: Details of the bug tracking system itself, along with a bug-request page with\nmore options than this script, can be found on https://bugs.debian.org/. This\npage itself will be opened if the command 'bts bugs :' is used.\n\nrelease-critical, RC\nDisplay the front page of the release-critical pages on the BTS. This is a\nsynonym for https://bugs.debian.org/release-critical/index.html. It is also\npossible to say release-critical/debian/main.html and the like. RC is a synonym\nfor release-critical/other/all.html.\n\nAfter the argument specifying what to display, you can optionally specify options to use\nto format the page or change what it displayed. These are passed to the BTS in the URL\ndownloaded. For example, pass dist=stable to see bugs affecting the stable version of a\npackage, version=1.0 to see bugs affecting that version of a package, or reverse=yes to\ndisplay newest messages first in a bug log.\n\nIf caching has been enabled (that is, --no-cache has not been used, and BTSCACHE has not\nbeen set to no), then any page requested by bts show will automatically be cached, and be\navailable offline thereafter. Pages which are automatically cached in this way will be\ndeleted on subsequent \"bts show|bugs|cache\" invocations if they have not been accessed in\n30 days. Warning: on a filesystem mounted with the \"noatime\" option, running \"bts\nshow|bugs\" does not update the cache files' access times; a cached bug will then be\nsubject to auto-cleaning 30 days after its initial download, even if it has been accessed\nin the meantime.\n\nAny other bts commands following this on the command line will be executed after the\nbrowser has been exited.\n\nThe desired browser can be specified and configured by setting the BROWSER environment\nvariable. The conventions follow those defined by Eric Raymond at\nhttp://www.catb.org/~esr/BROWSER/; we here reproduce the relevant part.\n\nThe value of BROWSER may consist of a colon-separated series of browser command parts.\nThese should be tried in order until one succeeds. Each command part may optionally\ncontain the string %s; if it does, the URL to be viewed is substituted there. If a\ncommand part does not contain %s, the browser is to be launched as if the URL had been\nsupplied as its first argument. The string %% must be substituted as a single %.\n\nRationale: We need to be able to specify multiple browser commands so programs obeying\nthis convention can do the right thing in either X or console environments, trying X\nfirst. Specifying multiple commands may also be useful for people who share files like\n.profile across multiple systems. We need %s because some popular browsers have remote-\ninvocation syntax that requires it. Unless %% reduces to %, it won't be possible to have\na literal %s in the string.\n\nFor example, on most Linux systems a good thing to do would be:\n\nBROWSER='mozilla -raise -remote \"openURL(%s,new-window)\":links'\n\nselect [key:value ...]\nUses the SOAP interface to output a list of bugs which match the given selection\nrequirements.\n\nThe following keys are allowed, and may be given multiple times.\n\npackage Binary package name.\n\nsource Source package name.\n\nmaintainer\nE-mail address of the maintainer.\n\nsubmitter\nE-mail address of the submitter.\n\nseverity\nBug severity.\n\nstatus Status of the bug. One of open, done, or forwarded.\n\ntag Tags applied to the bug. If users is specified, may include usertags in addition\nto the standard tags.\n\nowner Bug's owner.\n\ncorrespondent\nAddress of someone who sent mail to the log.\n\naffects Bugs which affect this package.\n\nbugs List of bugs to search within.\n\nusers Users to use when looking up usertags.\n\narchive Whether to search archived bugs or normal bugs; defaults to 0 (i.e. only search\nnormal bugs). As a special case, if archive is both, both archived and unarchived\nbugs are returned.\n\nFor example, to select the set of bugs submitted by jrandomdeveloper@example.com and\ntagged wontfix, one would use\n\nbts select submitter:jrandomdeveloper@example.com tag:wontfix\n\nIf a key is used multiple times then the set of bugs selected includes those matching any\nof the supplied values; for example\n\nbts select package:foo severity:wishlist severity:minor\n\nreturns all bugs of package foo with either wishlist or minor severity.\n\nstatus [bug | file:file | fields:field[,field ...] | verbose] ...\nUses the SOAP interface to output status information for the given bugs (or as read from\nthe listed files -- use - to indicate STDIN).\n\nBy default, all populated fields for a bug are displayed.\n\nIf verbose is given, empty fields will also be displayed.\n\nIf fields is given, only those fields will be displayed. No validity checking is\nperformed on any specified fields.\n\nclone bug newID [newID ...]\nThe clone control command allows you to duplicate a bug report. It is useful in the case\nwhere a single report actually indicates that multiple distinct bugs have occurred. \"New\nIDs\" are negative numbers, separated by spaces, which may be used in subsequent control\ncommands to refer to the newly duplicated bugs. A new report is generated for each new\nID.\n\ndone bug [version]\nMark a bug as Done. This forces interactive mode since done messages should include an\nexplanation why the bug is being closed. You should specify which version of the package\nclosed the bug, if possible.\n\nreopen bug [submitter]\nReopen a bug, with optional submitter.\n\narchive bug\nArchive a bug that has previously been archived but is currently not. The bug must\nfulfill all of the requirements for archiving with the exception of those that are time-\nbased.\n\nunarchive bug\nUnarchive a bug that is currently archived.\n\nretitle bug title\nChange the title of the bug.\n\nsummary bug [messagenum]\nSelect a message number that should be used as the summary of a bug.\n\nIf no message number is given, the summary is cleared.\n\nsubmitter bug [bug ...] submitter-email\nChange the submitter address of a bug or a number of bugs, with ! meaning `use the\naddress on the current email as the new submitter address'.\n\nreassign bug [bug ...] package [version]\nReassign a bug or a number of bugs to a different package. The version field is\noptional; see the explanation at .\n\nfound bug [version]\nIndicate that a bug was found to exist in a particular package version. Without version,\nthe list of fixed versions is cleared and the bug is reopened.\n\nnotfound bug version\nRemove the record that bug was encountered in the given version of the package to which\nit is assigned.\n\nfixed bug version\nIndicate that a bug was fixed in a particular package version, without affecting the\nbug's open/closed status.\n\nnotfixed bug version\nRemove the record that a bug was fixed in the given version of the package to which it is\nassigned.\n\nThis is equivalent to the sequence of commands \"found bug version\", \"notfound bug\nversion\".\n\nblock bug by|with bug [bug ...]\nNote that a bug is blocked from being fixed by a set of other bugs.\n\nunblock bug by|with bug [bug ...]\nNote that a bug is no longer blocked from being fixed by a set of other bugs.\n\nmerge bug bug [bug ...]\nMerge a set of bugs together.\n\nforcemerge bug bug [bug ...]\nForcibly merge a set of bugs together. The first bug listed is the master bug, and its\nsettings (those which must be equal in a normal merge) are assigned to the bugs listed\nnext.\n\nunmerge bug\nUnmerge a bug.\n\ntag bug [+|-|=] tag [tag ...]\ntags bug [+|-|=] tag [tag ...]\nSet or unset a tag on a bug. The tag may either be the exact tag name or it may be\nabbreviated to any unique tag substring. (So using fixed will set the tag fixed, not\nfixed-upstream, for example, but fix would not be acceptable.) Multiple tags may be\nspecified as well. The two commands (tag and tags) are identical. At least one tag must\nbe specified, unless the = flag is used, where the command\n\nbts tags =\n\nwill remove all tags from the specified bug.\n\nAdding/removing the security tag will add \"team\\@security.debian.org\" to the Cc list of\nthe control email.\n\nThe list of valid tags and their significance is available at\n. The current valid tags are:\n\npatch, wontfix, moreinfo, unreproducible, fixed, help, security, upstream, pending, d-i,\nconfirmed, ipv6, lfs, fixed-upstream, l10n, newcomer, a11y, ftbfs\n\nThere is also a tag for each release of Debian since \"potato\". Note that this list may be\nout of date, see the website for the most up to date source.\n\naffects bug [+|-|=] package [package ...]\nIndicates that a bug affects a package other than that against which it is filed, causing\nthe bug to be listed by default in the package list of the other package. This should\ngenerally be used where the bug is severe enough to cause multiple reports from users to\nbe assigned to the wrong package. At least one package must be specified, unless the =\nflag is used, where the command\n\nbts affects =\n\nwill remove all indications that bug affects other packages.\n\nuser email\nSpecify a user email address before using the usertags command.\n\nusertag bug [+|-|=] tag [tag ...]\nusertags bug [+|-|=] tag [tag ...]\nSet or unset a user tag on a bug. The tag must be the exact tag name wanted; there are no\ndefaults or checking of tag names. Multiple tags may be specified as well. The two\ncommands (usertag and usertags) are identical. At least one tag must be specified,\nunless the = flag is used, where the command\n\nbts usertags =\n\nwill remove all user tags from the specified bug.\n\nclaim bug [claim]\nRecord that you have claimed a bug (e.g. for a bug squashing party). claim should be a\nunique token allowing the bugs you have claimed to be identified; an e-mail address is\noften used.\n\nIf no claim is specified, the environment variable DEBEMAIL or EMAIL (checked in that\norder) is used.\n\nunclaim bug [claim]\nRemove the record that you have claimed a bug.\n\nIf no claim is specified, the environment variable DEBEMAIL or EMAIL (checked in that\norder) is used.\n\nseverity bug severity\nChange the severity of a bug. Available severities are: wishlist, minor, normal,\nimportant, serious, grave, critical. The severity may be abbreviated to any unique\nsubstring.\n\nforwarded bug address\nMark the bug as forwarded to the given address (usually an email address or a URL for an\nupstream bug tracker).\n\nnotforwarded bug\nMark a bug as not forwarded.\n\npackage [package ...]\nThe following commands will only apply to bugs against the listed packages; this acts as\na safety mechanism for the BTS. If no packages are listed, this check is turned off\nagain.\n\nlimit [key[:value]] ...\nThe following commands will only apply to bugs which meet the specified criterion; this\nacts as a safety mechanism for the BTS. If no values are listed, the limits for that key\nare turned off again. If no keys are specified, all limits are reset.\n\nsubmitter\nE-mail address of the submitter.\n\ndate Date the bug was submitted.\n\nsubject Subject of the bug.\n\nmsgid Message-id of the initial bug report.\n\npackage Binary package name.\n\nsource Source package name.\n\ntag Tags applied to the bug.\n\nseverity\nBug severity.\n\nowner Bug's owner.\n\naffects Bugs affecting this package.\n\narchive Whether to search archived bugs or normal bugs; defaults to 0 (i.e. only search\nnormal bugs). As a special case, if archive is both, both archived and unarchived\nbugs are returned.\n\nFor example, to limit the set of bugs affected by the subsequent control commands to\nthose submitted by jrandomdeveloper@example.com and tagged wontfix, one would use\n\nbts limit submitter:jrandomdeveloper@example.com tag:wontfix\n\nIf a key is used multiple times then the set of bugs selected includes those matching any\nof the supplied values; for example\n\nbts limit package:foo severity:wishlist severity:minor\n\nonly applies the subsequent control commands to bugs of package foo with either wishlist\nor minor severity.\n\nowner bug owner-email\nChange the \"owner\" address of a bug, with ! meaning `use the address on the current email\nas the new owner address'.\n\nThe owner of a bug accepts responsibility for dealing with it.\n\nnoowner bug\nMark a bug as having no \"owner\".\n\nsubscribe bug [email]\nSubscribe the given email address to the specified bug report. If no email address is\nspecified, the environment variable DEBEMAIL or EMAIL (in that order) is used. If those\nare not set, or ! is given as email address, your default address will be used.\n\nAfter executing this command, you will be sent a subscription confirmation to which you\nhave to reply. When subscribed to a bug report, you receive all relevant emails and\nnotifications. Use the unsubscribe command to unsubscribe.\n\nunsubscribe bug [email]\nUnsubscribe the given email address from the specified bug report. As with subscribe\nabove, if no email address is specified, the environment variables DEBEMAIL or EMAIL (in\nthat order) is used. If those are not set, or ! is given as email address, your default\naddress will be used.\n\nAfter executing this command, you will be sent an unsubscription confirmation to which\nyou have to reply. Use the subscribe command to, well, subscribe.\n\nreportspam bug ...\nThe reportspam command allows you to report a bug report as containing spam. It saves\none from having to go to the bug web page to do so.\n\nspamreport bug ...\nspamreport is a synonym for reportspam.\n\ncache [options] [maintemail | pkg | src:pkg | from:submitter]\ncache [options] [release-critical | release-critical/... | RC]\nGenerate or update a cache of bug reports for the given email address or package. By\ndefault it downloads all bugs belonging to the email address in the DEBEMAIL environment\nvariable (or the EMAIL environment variable if DEBEMAIL is unset). This command may be\nrepeated to cache bugs belonging to several people or packages. If multiple packages or\naddresses are supplied, bugs belonging to any of the arguments will be cached; those\nbelonging to more than one of the arguments will only be downloaded once. The cached bugs\nare stored in $XDGCACHEHOME/devscripts/bts/ or, if XDGCACHEHOME is not set, in\n~/.cache/devscripts/bts/.\n\nYou can use the cached bugs with the -o switch. For example:\n\nbts -o bugs\nbts -o show 12345\n\nAlso, bts will update the files in it in a piecemeal fashion as it downloads information\nfrom the BTS using the show command. You might thus set up the cache, and update the\nwhole thing once a week, while letting the automatic cache updates update the bugs you\nfrequently refer to during the week.\n\nSome options affect the behaviour of the cache command. The first is the setting of\n--cache-mode, which controls how much bts downloads of the referenced links from the bug\npage, including boring bits such as the acknowledgement emails, emails to the control\nbot, and the mbox version of the bug report. It can take three values: min (the\nminimum), mbox (download the minimum plus the mbox version of the bug report) or full\n(the whole works). The second is --force-refresh or -f, which forces the download, even\nif the cached bug report is up-to-date. The --include-resolved option indicates whether\nbug reports marked as resolved should be downloaded during caching.\n\nEach of these is configurable from the configuration file, as described below. They may\nalso be specified after the cache command as well as at the start of the command line.\n\nFinally, -q or --quiet will suppress messages about caches being up-to-date, and giving\nthe option twice will suppress all cache messages (except for error messages).\n\nBeware of caching RC, though: it will take a LONG time! (With 1000+ RC bugs and a delay\nof 5 seconds between bugs, you're looking at a minimum of 1.5 hours, and probably\nsignificantly more than that.)\n\ncleancache package | src:package | maintainer\ncleancache from:submitter | tag:tag | usertag:tag | number | ALL\nClean the cache for the specified package, maintainer, etc., as described above for the\nbugs command, or clean the entire cache if ALL is specified. This is useful if you are\ngoing to have permanent network access or if the database has become corrupted for some\nreason. Note that for safety, this command does not default to the value of DEBEMAIL or\nEMAIL.\n\nlistcachedbugs [number]\nList cached bug ids (intended to support bash completion). The optional number argument\nrestricts the list to those bug ids that start with that number.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "version", "content": "Display version and copyright information.\n" }, { "name": "help", "content": "Display a short summary of commands, suspiciously similar to parts of this man page.\n" } ] }, "ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES": { "content": "DEBEMAIL\nIf this is set, the From: line in the email will be set to use this email address instead\nof your normal email address (as would be determined by mail).\n\nDEBFULLNAME\nIf DEBEMAIL is set, DEBFULLNAME is examined to determine the full name to use; if this is\nnot set, bts attempts to determine a name from your passwd entry.\n\nBROWSER\nIf set, it specifies the browser to use for the show and bugs options. See the\ndescription above.\n", "subsections": [] }, "CONFIGURATION VARIABLES": { "content": "The two configuration files /etc/devscripts.conf and ~/.devscripts are sourced by a shell in\nthat order to set configuration variables. Command line options can be used to override\nconfiguration file settings. Environment variable settings are ignored for this purpose.\nThe currently recognised variables are:\n\nBTSOFFLINE\nIf this is set to yes, then it is the same as the --offline command line parameter being\nused. Only has an effect on the show and bugs commands. The default is no. See the\ndescription of the show command above for more information.\n\nBTSCACHE\nIf this is set to no, then it is the same as the --no-cache command line parameter being\nused. Only has an effect on the show and bug commands. The default is yes. Again, see\nthe show command above for more information.\n\nBTSCACHEMODE={min,mbox,full}\nHow much of the BTS should we mirror when we are asked to cache something? Just the\nminimum, or also the mbox or the whole thing? The default is min, and it has the same\nmeaning as the --cache-mode command line parameter. Only has an effect on the cache.\nSee the cache command for more information.\n\nBTSFORCEREFRESH\nIf this is set to yes, then it is the same as the --force-refresh command line parameter\nbeing used. Only has an effect on the cache command. The default is no. See the cache\ncommand for more information.\n\nBTSMAILREADER\nIf this is set, specifies a mail reader to use instead of mutt. Same as the --mailreader\ncommand line option.\n\nBTSSENDMAILCOMMAND\nIf this is set, specifies a sendmail command to use instead of /usr/sbin/sendmail. Same\nas the --sendmail command line option.\n\nBTSONLYNEW\nDownload only new bugs when caching. Do not check for updates in bugs we already have.\nThe default is no. Same as the --only-new command line option.\n\nBTSSMTPHOST\nIf this is set, specifies an SMTP host to use for sending mail rather than using the\nsendmail command. Same as the --smtp-host command line option.\n\nNote that this option takes priority over BTSSENDMAILCOMMAND if both are set, unless\nthe --sendmail option is used.\n\nBTSSMTPAUTHUSERNAME, BTSSMTPAUTHPASSWORD\nIf these options are set, then it is the same as the --smtp-username and --smtp-password\noptions being used.\n\nBTSSMTPHELO\nSame as the --smtp-helo command line option.\n\nBTSINCLUDERESOLVED\nIf this is set to no, then it is the same as the --no-include-resolved command line\nparameter being used. Only has an effect on the cache command. The default is yes. See\nthe cache command for more information.\n\nBTSSUPPRESSACKS\nIf this is set to yes, then it is the same as the --no-ack command line parameter being\nused. The default is no.\n\nBTSINTERACTIVE\nIf this is set to yes or force, then it is the same as the --interactive or\n--force-interactive command line parameter being used. The default is no.\n\nBTSDEFAULTCC\nSpecify a list of e-mail addresses to which a carbon copy of the generated e-mail to the\ncontrol bot should automatically be sent.\n\nBTSSERVER\nSpecify the name of a debbugs server which should be used instead of\nhttps://bugs.debian.org.\n", "subsections": [] }, "SEE ALSO": { "content": "Please see for more details on how to control\nthe BTS using emails and for more information about the BTS.\n\nquerybts(1), reportbug(1), pts-subscribe(1), devscripts.conf(5)\n", "subsections": [] }, "COPYRIGHT": { "content": "This program is Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by Joey Hess . Many modifications\nhave been made, Copyright (C) 2002-2005 Julian Gilbey and Copyright (C) 2007\nJosh Triplett .\n\nIt is licensed under the terms of the GPL, either version 2 of the License, or (at your\noption) any later version.\n\nDebian Utilities 2026-02-25 BTS(1)", "subsections": [] } }, "summary": "bts - developers' command line interface to the Debian Bug Tracking System", "flags": [ { "flag": "-o", "long": "--offline", "arg": null, "description": "Make bts use cached bugs for the show and bugs commands, if a cache is available for the requested data. See the cache command, below for information on setting up a cache. --online, --no-offline Opposite of --offline; overrides any configuration file directive to work offline." }, { "flag": "-n", "long": "--no-action", "arg": null, "description": "Do not send emails but print them to standard output. --cache, --no-cache Should we attempt to cache new versions of BTS pages when performing show/bugs commands? Default is to cache. --cache-mode={min|mbox|full} When running a bts cache command, should we only mirror the basic bug (min), or should we also mirror the mbox version (mbox), or should we mirror the whole thing, including the mbox and the boring attachments to the BTS bug pages and the acknowledgement emails (full)? Default is min. --cache-delay=seconds Time in seconds to delay between each download, to avoid hammering the BTS web server. Default is 5 seconds." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--mbox", "arg": null, "description": "Open a mail reader to read the mbox corresponding to a given bug number for show and bugs commands. --mailreader=READER Specify the command to read the mbox. Must contain a \"%s\" string (unquoted!), which will be replaced by the name of the mbox file. The command will be split on white space and will not be passed to a shell. Default is 'mutt -f %s'. (Also, %% will be substituted by a single % if this is needed.) --cc-addr=CCEMAILADDRESS Send carbon copies to a list of users. CCEMAILADDRESS should be a comma-separated list of email addresses. Multiple options add more CCs." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--use-default-cc", "arg": null, "description": "Add the addresses specified in the configuration file option BTSDEFAULTCC to the list specified using --cc-addr. This is the default." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--no-use-default-cc", "arg": null, "description": "Do not add addresses specified in BTSDEFAULTCC to the carbon copy list. --sendmail=SENDMAILCMD Specify the sendmail command. The command will be split on white space and will not be passed to a shell. Default is /usr/sbin/sendmail. The -t option will be automatically added if the command is /usr/sbin/sendmail or /usr/sbin/exim*. For other mailers, if they require a -t option, this must be included in the SENDMAILCMD, for example: --sendmail=\"/usr/sbin/mymailer -t\"." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--mutt", "arg": null, "description": "Use mutt for sending of mails. Default is not to use mutt, except for some commands. Note that one of $DEBEMAIL or $EMAIL must be set in the environment in order to use mutt to send emails." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--no-mutt", "arg": null, "description": "Don't use mutt for sending of mails. --soap-timeout=SECONDS Specify a timeout for SOAP calls as used by the select and status commands. --smtp-host=SMTPHOST Specify an SMTP host. If given, bts will send mail by talking directly to this SMTP host rather than by invoking a sendmail command. The host name may be followed by a colon (\":\") and a port number in order to use a port other than the default. It may also begin with \"ssmtp://\" or \"smtps://\" to indicate that SMTPS should be used. If SMTPS not specified, bts will still try to use STARTTLS if it's advertised by the SMTP host. Note that one of $DEBEMAIL or $EMAIL must be set in the environment in order to use direct SMTP connections to send emails. Note that when sending directly via an SMTP host, specifying addresses in --cc-addr or BTSDEFAULTCC that the SMTP host will not relay will cause the SMTP host to reject the entire mail. Note also that the use of the reassign command may, when either --mutt or --force-interactive mode is enabled, lead to the automatic addition of a Cc to $newpackage@packages.debian.org. In these cases, the note above regarding relaying applies. The submission interface (port 587) on reportbug.debian.org does not support relaying and, as such, should not be used as an SMTP server for bts under the circumstances described in this paragraph. --smtp-username=USERNAME, --smtp-password=PASSWORD Specify the credentials to use when connecting to the SMTP server specified by --smtp-host. If the server does not require authentication then these options should not be used. If a username is specified but not a password, bts will prompt for the password before sending the mail. --smtp-helo=HELO Specify the name to use in the HELO command when connecting to the SMTP server; defaults to the contents of the file /etc/mailname, if it exists. Note that some SMTP servers may reject the use of a HELO which either does not resolve or does not appear to belong to the host using it." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--bts-server", "arg": null, "description": "Use a debbugs server other than https://bugs.debian.org." }, { "flag": "-f", "long": "--force-refresh", "arg": null, "description": "Download a bug report again, even if it does not appear to have changed since the last cache command. Useful if a --cache-mode=full is requested for the first time (otherwise unchanged bug reports will not be downloaded again, even if the boring bits have not been downloaded)." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--no-force-refresh", "arg": null, "description": "Suppress any configuration file --force-refresh option." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--only-new", "arg": null, "description": "Download only new bugs when caching. Do not check for updates in bugs we already have." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--include-resolved", "arg": null, "description": "When caching bug reports, include those that are marked as resolved. This is the default behaviour." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--no-include-resolved", "arg": null, "description": "Reverse the behaviour of the previous option. That is, do not cache bugs that are marked as resolved." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--no-ack", "arg": null, "description": "Suppress acknowledgment mails from the BTS. Note that this will only affect the copies of messages CCed to bugs, not those sent to the control bot." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--ack", "arg": null, "description": "Do not suppress acknowledgement mails. This is the default behaviour." }, { "flag": "-i", "long": "--interactive", "arg": null, "description": "Before sending an e-mail to the control bot, display the content and allow it to be edited, or the sending cancelled." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--force-interactive", "arg": null, "description": "Similar to --interactive, with the exception that an editor is spawned before prompting for confirmation of the message to be sent." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--no-interactive", "arg": null, "description": "Send control e-mails without confirmation. This is the default behaviour." }, { "flag": "-q", "long": "--quiet", "arg": null, "description": "When running bts cache, only display information about newly cached pages, not messages saying already cached. If this option is specified twice, only output error messages (to stderr). --no-conf, --noconf Do not read any configuration files. This can only be used as the first option given on the command-line." } ], "examples": [], "see_also": [ { "name": "querybts", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/querybts/1/json" }, { "name": "reportbug", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/reportbug/1/json" }, { "name": "pts-subscribe", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pts-subscribe/1/json" }, { "name": "devscripts.conf", "section": "5", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/devscripts.conf/5/json" } ] }