man > debcommit(1)

DEBCOMMIT(1)

🏷️ NAME

debcommit - commit changes to a package

πŸš€ Quick Reference

Use CaseCommandDescription
Commit all changesdebcommit --allCommit all files (default for non‑git VCS)
Commit with a custom messagedebcommit -m "message"Override the default commit message
Commit a releasedebcommit --releaseCommit and tag the release
Preview changesdebcommit --diffPrint diff instead of committing
Confirm before commitdebcommit --confirmDisplay message and ask for confirmation
Edit commit messagedebcommit --editOpen editor to fine‑tune message
Specify changelogdebcommit -c pathUse an alternate changelog file

πŸ“‹ SYNOPSIS

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

πŸ“– 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.

βš™οΈ OPTIONS

πŸ“ -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.

πŸ”„ -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.

πŸ’¬ -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.

πŸ” -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).

βœ… -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.

πŸ“¦ -a, --all

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

βœ‚οΈ -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 "[*+-] ".

πŸ” --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.

πŸ“„ --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.

πŸ”§ 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:

πŸ› οΈ VCS SPECIFIC FEATURES

πŸ“œ 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.

πŸ™ 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.

πŸ”© 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.

πŸ“„ LICENSE

This code is copyright by Joey Hess <joeyh AT 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.

πŸ‘€ AUTHOR

Joey Hess <joeyh AT debian.org>

πŸ”— SEE ALSO

debchange(1), svnpath(1)

Debian Utilities   2026-03-04   DEBCOMMIT(1)

debcommit(1)
🏷️ NAME πŸš€ Quick Reference πŸ“‹ SYNOPSIS πŸ“– DESCRIPTION βš™οΈ OPTIONS
πŸ“ -c, --changelog path 🏷️ -r, --release πŸ”„ -R, --release-use-changelog πŸ’¬ -m text, --message text 🚫 -n, --noact πŸ” -d, --diff βœ… -C, --confirm ✏️ -e, --edit πŸ“¦ -a, --all βœ‚οΈ -s, --strip-message, --no-strip-message πŸ” --sign-commit, --no-sign-commit 🏷️ --sign-tags, --no-sign-tags πŸ“„ --changelog-info
πŸ”§ CONFIGURATION VARIABLES πŸ› οΈ VCS SPECIFIC FEATURES
πŸ“œ tla / baz πŸ™ git πŸ”© hg / darcs 🌿 bzr
πŸ“„ LICENSE πŸ‘€ AUTHOR πŸ”— SEE ALSO

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