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DEBCHANGE(1) General Commands Manual DEBCHANGE(1)

NAME
debchange - Tool for maintenance of the debian/changelog file in a source package

SYNOPSIS
debchange [options] [text ...]
dch [options] [text ...]

DESCRIPTION
debchange or its alias dch will add a new comment line to the Debian changelog in the current
source tree. This command must be run from within that tree. If the text of the change is
given on the command line, debchange will run in batch mode and simply add the text, with
line breaks as necessary, at the appropriate place in debian/changelog (or the changelog
specified by options, as described below). If the text given on the command line is a null
string, debchange will run in batch mode without adding any text. If the text given on the
command line is a space string, debchange will run in batch mode and add a blank changelog
entry. If no text is specified then debchange will run the editor as determined by sensible-
editor for you to edit the file. (The environment variables VISUAL and EDITOR are used in
this order to determine which editor to use.) Editors which understand the +n option for
starting the editing on a specified line will use this to move to the correct line of the
file for editing. If the editor is quit without modifying the temporary file, debchange will
exit without touching the existing changelog. Note that the changelog is assumed to be en‐‐
coded with the UTF-8 encoding. If it is not, problems may occur. Please see the iconv(1)
manpage to find out how to convert changelogs from legacy encodings. Finally, a changelog or
NEWS file can be created from scratch using the --create option described below.

debchange also supports automatically producing bug-closing changelog entries, using the
--closes option. This will usually query the BTS, the Debian Bug Tracking System (see
https://bugs.debian.org/) to determine the title of the bug and the package in which it oc‐
curs. This behaviour can be stopped by giving a --noquery option or by setting the configu‐
ration variable DEBCHANGE_QUERY_BTS to no, as described below. In either case, the editor
(as described above) will always be invoked to give an opportunity to modify the entries, and
the changelog will be accepted whether or not modifications are made. An extra changelog en‐
try can be given on the command line in addition to the closes entries.

At most one of --append, --increment, --edit, --release, and --newversion may be specified as
listed below. If no options are specified, debchange will use heuristics to guess whether or
not the package has been successfully released, and behave as if --increment had been speci‐
fied if the package has been released, or otherwise as if --append has been specified.

Two different sets of heuristics can be used, as controlled by the --release-heuristic option
or the DEBCHANGE_RELEASE_HEURISTIC configuration variable. The default changelog heuristic
assumes the package has been released unless its changelog contains UNRELEASED in the distri‐
bution field. If this heuristic is enabled then the distribution will default to UNRELEASED
in new changelog entries, and the --mainttrailer option described below will be automatically
enabled. This can be useful if a package can be released by different maintainers, or if you
do not keep the upload logs. The alternate log heuristic determines if a package has been re‐
leased by looking for an appropriate dupload(1) or dput(1) log file in the parent directory.
A warning will be issued if the log file is found but a successful upload is not recorded.
This may be because the previous upload was performed with a version of dupload prior to 2.1
or because the upload failed.

If either --increment or --newversion is used, the name and email for the new version will be
determined as follows. If the environment variable DEBFULLNAME is set, this will be used for
the maintainer full name; if not, then NAME will be checked. If the environment variable
DEBEMAIL is set, this will be used for the email address. If this variable has the form
"name <email>", then the maintainer name will also be taken from here if neither DEBFULLNAME
nor NAME is set. If this variable is not set, the same test is performed on the environment
variable EMAIL. Next, if the full name has still not been determined, then use getpwuid(3)
to determine the name from the password file. If this fails, use the previous changelog en‐
try. For the email address, if it has not been set from DEBEMAIL or EMAIL, then look in
/etc/mailname, then attempt to build it from the username and FQDN, otherwise use the email
address in the previous changelog entry. In other words, it's a good idea to set DEBEMAIL
and DEBFULLNAME when using this script.

Support is included for changelogs that record changes by multiple co-maintainers of a pack‐
age. If an entry is appended to the current version's entries, and the maintainer is differ‐
ent from the maintainer who is listed as having done the previous entries, then lines will be
added to the changelog to tell which maintainers made which changes. Currently only one of
the several such styles of recording this information is supported, in which the name of the
maintainer who made a set of changes appears on a line before the changes, inside square
brackets. This can be switched on and off using the --[no]multimaint option or the DE‐‐
BCHANGE_MULTIMAINT configuration file option; the default is to enable it. Note that if an
entry has already been marked in this way, then this option will be silently ignored.

If the directory name of the source tree has the form package-version, then debchange will
also attempt to rename it if the (upstream) version number changes. This can be prevented by
using the --preserve command line or configuration file option as described below.

If --force-bad-version or --allow-lower-version is used, debchange will not stop if the new
version is less than the current one. This is especially useful while doing backports.

Directory name checking
In common with several other scripts in the devscripts package, debchange will climb the di‐
rectory tree until it finds a debian/changelog file. As a safeguard against stray files
causing potential problems, it will examine the name of the parent directory once it finds
the debian/changelog file, and check that the directory name corresponds to the package name.
Precisely how it does this is controlled by two configuration file variables DE‐‐
VSCRIPTS_CHECK_DIRNAME_LEVEL and DEVSCRIPTS_CHECK_DIRNAME_REGEX, and their corresponding com‐
mand-line options --check-dirname-level and --check-dirname-regex.

DEVSCRIPTS_CHECK_DIRNAME_LEVEL can take the following values:

0 Never check the directory name.

1 Only check the directory name if we have had to change directory in our search for de‐
bian/changelog. This is the default behaviour.

2 Always check the directory name.

The directory name is checked by testing whether the current directory name (as determined by
pwd(1)) matches the regex given by the configuration file option DE‐‐
VSCRIPTS_CHECK_DIRNAME_REGEX or by the command line option --check-dirname-regex regex. Here
regex is a Perl regex (see perlre(3perl)), which will be anchored at the beginning and the
end. If regex contains a '/', then it must match the full directory path. If not, then it
must match the full directory name. If regex contains the string ´PACKAGE', this will be re‐
placed by the source package name, as determined from the changelog. The default value for
the regex is: ´PACKAGE(-.+)?', thus matching directory names such as PACKAGE and PACKAGE-ver‐
sion.

The default changelog to be edited is debian/changelog; however, this can be changed using
the --changelog or --news options or the CHANGELOG environment variable, as described below.

OPTIONS
--append, -a
Add a new changelog entry at the end of the current version's entries.

--increment, -i
Increment either the final component of the Debian release number or, if this is a na‐
tive Debian package, the version number. On Ubuntu or Tanglu, this will also change
the suffix from buildX to ubuntu1/tanglu1. Use -R, --rebuild for a no change rebuild
increment. This creates a new section at the beginning of the changelog with appro‐
priate headers and footers. Also, if this is a new version of a native Debian pack‐
age, the directory name is changed to reflect this. If DEBCHANGE_RELEASE_HEURISTIC is
changelog (default) and the current release is UNRELEASED, this will only change the
version of the current changelog stanza. Otherwise, this will create a new changelog
stanza with the new version.

--newversion version, -v version
This specifies the version number (including the Debian release part) explicitly and
behaves as the --increment option in other respects. It will also change the direc‐
tory name if the upstream version number has changed. If DEBCHANGE_RELEASE_HEURISTIC
is changelog (default) and the current release is UNRELEASED, this will only change
the version of the current changelog stanza. Otherwise, this will create a new
changelog stanza with the new version.

--edit, -e
Edit the changelog in an editor.

--release, -r
Finalize the changelog for a release. Update the changelog timestamp. If the distri‐
bution is set to UNRELEASED, change it to the distribution from the previous changelog
entry (or another distribution as specified by --distribution). If there are no pre‐
vious changelog entries and an explicit distribution has not been specified, unstable
will be used (or the name of the current development release when run under Ubuntu).

--force-save-on-release
When --release is used, an editor is opened to allow inspection of the changelog. The
user is required to save the file to accept the modified changelog, otherwise the
original will be kept (default).

--no-force-save-on-release
Do not do so. Note that a dummy changelog entry may be supplied in order to achieve
the same effect - e.g. debchange --release "". The entry will not be added to the
changelog but its presence will suppress the editor.

--create
This will create a new debian/changelog file (or NEWS if the --news option is used).
You must be in the top-level directory to use this; no directory name checking will be
performed. The package name and version can either be specified using the --package
and --newversion options, determined from the directory name using the --fromdirname
option or entered manually into the generated changelog file. The maintainer name is
determined from the environment if this is possible, and the distribution is specified
either using the --distribution option or in the generated changelog file.

--empty
When used in combination with --create, suppress the automatic addition of an "initial
release" changelog entry (so that the next invocation of debchange adds the first en‐
try). Note that this will cause a dpkg-parsechangelog warning on the next invocation
due to the lack of changes.

--package package
This specifies the package name to be used in the new changelog; this may only be used
in conjunction with the --create, --increment and --newversion options.

--nmu, -n
Increment the Debian release number for a non-maintainer upload by either appending a
".1" to a non-NMU version number (unless the package is Debian native, in which case
"+nmu1" is appended) or by incrementing an NMU version number, and add an NMU
changelog comment. This happens automatically if the packager is neither in the Main‐‐
tainer nor the Uploaders field in debian/control, unless DEBCHANGE_AUTO_NMU is set to
no or the --no-auto-nmu option is used.

--bin-nmu
Increment the Debian release number for a binary non-maintainer upload by either ap‐
pending a "+b1" to a non-binNMU version number or by incrementing a binNMU version
number, and add a binNMU changelog comment.

--qa, -q
Increment the Debian release number for a Debian QA Team upload, and add a QA upload
changelog comment.

--rebuild, -R
Increment the Debian release number for a no-change rebuild by appending a "build1" or
by incrementing a rebuild version number.

--security, -s
Increment the Debian release number for a Debian Security Team non-maintainer upload,
and add a Security Team upload changelog comment.

--lts Increment the Debian release number for a LTS Security Team non-maintainer upload, and
add a LTS Security Team upload changelog comment.

--team Increment the Debian release number for a team upload, and add a Team upload changelog
comment.

--upstream, -U
Don't append distro-name1 to the version on a derived distribution. Increment the De‐
bian version.

--bpo Increment the Debian release number for an upload to bullseye-backports, and add a
backport upload changelog comment.

--stable
Increment the Debian release number for an upload to the current stable release.

--local, -lsuffix
Add a suffix to the Debian version number for a local build.

--force-bad-version, -b
Force a version number to be less than the current one (e.g., when backporting).

--allow-lower-version pattern
Allow a version number to be less than the current one if the new version matches the
specified pattern.

--force-distribution
Force the provided distribution to be used, even if it doesn't match the list of known
distributions (e.g. for unofficial distributions).

--auto-nmu
Attempt to automatically determine whether a change to the changelog represents a Non
Maintainer Upload. This is the default.

--no-auto-nmu
Disable automatic NMU detection. Equivalent to setting DEBCHANGE_AUTO_NMU to no.

--fromdirname, -d
This will take the upstream version number from the directory name, which should be of
the form package-version. If the upstream version number has increased from the most
recent changelog entry, then a new entry will be made with version number version-1
(or version if the package is Debian native), with the same epoch as the previous
package version. If the upstream version number is the same, this option will behave
in the same way as -i.

--closes nnnnn[,nnnnn ...]
Add changelog entries to close the specified bug numbers. Also invoke the editor af‐
ter adding these entries. Will generate warnings if the BTS cannot be contacted (and
--noquery has not been specified), or if there are problems with the bug report lo‐
cated.

--[no]query
Should we attempt to query the BTS when generating closes entries?

--preserve, -p
Preserve the source tree directory name if the upstream version number (or the version
number of a Debian native package) changes. See also the configuration variables sec‐
tion below.

--no-preserve, --nopreserve
Do not preserve the source tree directory name (default).

--vendor vendor
Override the distributor ID over the default returned by dpkg-vendor. This name is
used for heuristics applied to new package versions and for sanity checking of the
target distribution.

--distribution dist, -D dist
Use the specified distribution in the changelog entry being edited, instead of using
the previous changelog entry's distribution for new entries or the existing value for
existing entries.

--urgency urgency, -u urgency
Use the specified urgency in the changelog entry being edited, instead of using the
default "medium" for new entries or the existing value for existing entries.

--changelog file, -c file
This will edit the changelog file instead of the standard debian/changelog. This op‐
tion overrides any CHANGELOG environment variable setting. Also, no directory
traversing or checking will be performed when this option is used.

--news [newsfile]
This will edit newsfile (by default, debian/NEWS) instead of the regular changelog.
Directory searching will be performed. The changelog will be examined in order to de‐
termine the current package version.

--[no]multimaint
Should we indicate that parts of a changelog entry have been made by different main‐
tainers? Default is yes; see the discussion above and also the DEBCHANGE_MULTIMAINT
configuration file option below.

--[no]multimaint-merge
Should all changes made by the same author be merged into the same changelog section?
Default is no; see the discussion above and also the DEBCHANGE_MULTIMAINT_MERGE con‐
figuration file option below.

--maintmaint, -m
Do not modify the maintainer details previously listed in the changelog. This is use‐
ful particularly for sponsors wanting to automatically add a sponsorship message with‐
out disrupting the other changelog details. Note that there may be some interesting
interactions if multi-maintainer mode is in use; you will probably wish to check the
changelog manually before uploading it in such cases.

--controlmaint, -M
Use maintainer details from the debian/control Maintainer field rather than relevant
environment variables (DEBFULLNAME, DEBEMAIL, etc.). This option might be useful to
restore details of the main maintainer in the changelog trailer after a bogus edit
(e.g. when -m was intended but forgot) or when releasing a package in the name of the
main maintainer (e.g. the team).

--[no]mainttrailer, -t
If mainttrailer is set, it will avoid modifying the existing changelog trailer line
(i.e. the maintainer and date-stamp details), unless used with options that require
the trailer to be modified (e.g. --create, --release, -i, --qa, etc.) This option
differs from --maintmaint in that it will use multi-maintainer mode if appropriate,
with the exception of editing the trailer. See also the DEBCHANGE_MAINTTRAILER config‐
uration file option below.

--check-dirname-level N
See the above section "Directory name checking" for an explanation of this option.

--check-dirname-regex regex
See the above section "Directory name checking" for an explanation of this option.

--no-conf, --noconf
Do not read any configuration files. This can only be used as the first option given
on the command-line.

--release-heuristic log|changelog
Controls how debchange determines if a package has been released, when deciding
whether to create a new changelog entry or append to an existing changelog entry.

--help, -h
Display a help message and exit successfully.

--version
Display version and copyright information and exit successfully.

CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
The two configuration files /etc/devscripts.conf and ~/.devscripts are sourced 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:

DEBCHANGE_PRESERVE
If this is set to yes, then it is the same as the --preserve command line parameter
being used.

DEBCHANGE_QUERY_BTS
If this is set to no, then it is the same as the --noquery command line parameter be‐
ing used.

DEVSCRIPTS_CHECK_DIRNAME_LEVEL, DEVSCRIPTS_CHECK_DIRNAME_REGEX
See the above section "Directory name checking" for an explanation of these variables.
Note that these are package-wide configuration variables, and will therefore affect
all devscripts scripts which check their value, as described in their respective man‐
pages and in devscripts.conf(5).

DEBCHANGE_RELEASE_HEURISTIC
Controls how debchange determines if a package has been released, when deciding
whether to create a new changelog entry or append to an existing changelog entry. Can
be either log or changelog.

DEBCHANGE_MULTIMAINT
If set to no, debchange will not introduce multiple-maintainer distinctions when a
different maintainer appends an entry to an existing changelog. See the discussion
above. Default is yes.

DEBCHANGE_MULTIMAINT_MERGE
If set to yes, when adding changes in multiple-maintainer mode debchange will check
whether previous changes by the current maintainer exist and add the new changes to
the existing block rather than creating a new block. Default is no.

DEBCHANGE_MAINTTRAILER
If this is set to no, then it is the same as the --nomainttrailer command line parame‐
ter being used.

DEBCHANGE_TZ
Use this timezone for changelog entries. Default is the user/system timezone as shown
by `date -R` and affected by the environment variable TZ.

DEBCHANGE_LOWER_VERSION_PATTERN
If this is set, then it is the same as the --allow-lower-version command line parame‐
ter being used.

DEBCHANGE_AUTO_NMU
If this is set to no then debchange will not attempt to automatically determine
whether the current changelog stanza represents an NMU. The default is yes. See the
discussion of the --nmu option above.

DEBCHANGE_FORCE_SAVE_ON_RELEASE
If this is set to no, then it is the same as the --no-force-save-on-release command
line parameter being used.

DEBCHANGE_VENDOR
Use this vendor instead of the default (dpkg-vendor output). See --vendor for de‐
tails.

ENVIRONMENT
DEBEMAIL, EMAIL, DEBFULLNAME, NAME
See the above description of the use of these environment variables.

CHANGELOG
This variable specifies the changelog to edit in place of debian/changelog. No direc‐
tory traversal or checking is performed when this variable is set. This variable is
overridden by the --changelog command-line setting.

VISUAL, EDITOR
These environment variables (in this order) determine the editor used by sensible-edi‐‐
tor.

SEE ALSO
debc(1), debclean(1), dput(1), dupload(1), devscripts.conf(5)

AUTHOR
The original author was Christoph Lameter <clameter AT debian.org>. Many substantial changes
and improvements were made by Julian Gilbey <jdg AT debian.org>.

DEBIAN Debian Utilities DEBCHANGE(1)