{ "mode": "man", "parameter": "debi", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/debi/1/json", "generated": "2026-10-10T18:58:50Z", "synopsis": "debi [options] [changes file] [package ...]", "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "debi - install current version of generated Debian package\n", "subsections": [] }, "SYNOPSIS": { "content": "debi [options] [changes file] [package ...]\n", "subsections": [] }, "DESCRIPTION": { "content": "debi figures out the current version of a package and installs it. If a .changes file is\nspecified on the command line, the filename must end with .changes, as this is how the pro‐\ngram distinguishes it from package names. If not, then debi has to be called from within the\nsource code directory tree. In this case, it will look for the .changes file corresponding\nto the current package version (by determining the name and version number from the\nchangelog, and the architecture in the same way as dpkg-buildpackage(1) does). It then runs\ndpkg -i on every .deb archive listed in the .changes file to install them, assuming that all\nof the .deb archives live in the same directory as the .changes file. Note that you probably\ndon't want to run this program on a .changes file relating to a different architecture after\ncross-compiling the package!\n\nIf a list of packages is given on the command line, then only those debs with names in this\nlist of packages will be installed.\n\nSince installing a package requires root privileges, debi will only be useful if it is either\nbeing run as root or dpkg can be run as root.\n", "subsections": [] }, "Directory name checking": { "content": "In common with several other scripts in the devscripts package, debi will climb the directory\ntree until it finds a debian/changelog file. As a safeguard against stray files causing po‐\ntential problems, it will examine the name of the parent directory once it finds the de‐\nbian/changelog file, and check that the directory name corresponds to the package name. Pre‐\ncisely how it does this is controlled by two configuration file variables DE‐\nVSCRIPTSCHECKDIRNAMELEVEL and DEVSCRIPTSCHECKDIRNAMEREGEX, and their corresponding com‐\nmand-line options --check-dirname-level and --check-dirname-regex.\n\nDEVSCRIPTSCHECKDIRNAMELEVEL can take the following values:\n\n0 Never check the directory name.\n\n1 Only check the directory name if we have had to change directory in our search for de‐\nbian/changelog. This is the default behaviour.\n\n2 Always check the directory name.\n\nThe directory name is checked by testing whether the current directory name (as determined by\npwd(1)) matches the regex given by the configuration file option DE‐\nVSCRIPTSCHECKDIRNAMEREGEX or by the command line option --check-dirname-regex regex. Here\nregex is a Perl regex (see perlre(3perl)), which will be anchored at the beginning and the\nend. If regex contains a '/', then it must match the full directory path. If not, then it\nmust match the full directory name. If regex contains the string ´PACKAGE', this will be re‐\nplaced by the source package name, as determined from the changelog. The default value for\nthe regex is: ´PACKAGE(-.+)?', thus matching directory names such as PACKAGE and PACKAGE-ver‐\nsion.\n", "subsections": [] }, "OPTIONS": { "content": "", "subsections": [ { "name": "-a_ -t_", "content": "See dpkg-architecture(1) for a description of these options. They affect the search\nfor the .changes file. They are provided to mimic the behaviour of dpkg-buildpackage\nwhen determining the name of the .changes file.\n\n--debs-dir directory\nLook for the .changes and .deb files in directory instead of the parent of the source\ndirectory. This should either be an absolute path or relative to the top of the\nsource directory.\n" }, { "name": "-m --multi", "content": "Search for a multiarch .changes file, as created by dpkg-cross.\n", "flag": "-m", "long": "--multi" }, { "name": "-u --upgrade", "content": "Only upgrade packages already installed on the system, rather than installing all\npackages listed in the .changes file. Useful for multi-binary packages when you don't\nwant to have all the binaries installed at once.\n\n--check-dirname-level N\nSee the above section Directory name checking for an explanation of this option.\n\n--check-dirname-regex regex\nSee the above section Directory name checking for an explanation of this option.\n", "flag": "-u", "long": "--upgrade" }, { "name": "--with-depends", "content": "Attempt to satisfy the Depends of a package when installing it.\n\n--tool tool\nUse the specified tool for installing the dependencies of the package(s) to be in‐\nstalled. By default, apt-get is used.\n\n--no-conf, --noconf\nDo not read any configuration files. This can only be used as the first option given\non the command-line.\n\n--help, --version\nShow help message and version information respectively.\n", "long": "--with-depends" } ] }, "CONFIGURATION VARIABLES": { "content": "The two configuration files /etc/devscripts.conf and ~/.devscripts are sourced in that order\nto set configuration variables. Command line options can be used to override configuration\nfile settings. Environment variable settings are ignored for this purpose. The currently\nrecognised variables are:\n\nDEBRELEASEDEBSDIR\nThis specifies the directory in which to look for the .changes and .deb files, and is\neither an absolute path or relative to the top of the source tree. This corresponds\nto the --debs-dir command line option. This directive could be used, for example, if\nyou always use pbuilder or svn-buildpackage to build your packages. Note that it also\naffects debrelease(1) in the same way, hence the strange name of the option.\n\nDEVSCRIPTSCHECKDIRNAMELEVEL, DEVSCRIPTSCHECKDIRNAMEREGEX\nSee the above section Directory name checking for an explanation of these variables.\nNote that these are package-wide configuration variables, and will therefore affect\nall devscripts scripts which check their value, as described in their respective man‐\npages and in devscripts.conf(5).\n", "subsections": [] }, "SEE ALSO": { "content": "devscripts.conf(5)\n", "subsections": [] }, "AUTHOR": { "content": "debi was originally written by Christoph Lameter . The now-defunct\nscript debit was originally written by James R. Van Zandt . They have\nbeen moulded into one script together with debc(1) and parts extensively modified by Julian\nGilbey .\n\nDEBIAN Debian Utilities DEBI(1)", "subsections": [] } }, "summary": "debi - install current version of generated Debian package", "flags": [ { "flag": "", "long": null, "arg": null, "description": "See dpkg-architecture(1) for a description of these options. They affect the search for the .changes file. They are provided to mimic the behaviour of dpkg-buildpackage when determining the name of the .changes file. --debs-dir directory Look for the .changes and .deb files in directory instead of the parent of the source directory. This should either be an absolute path or relative to the top of the source directory." }, { "flag": "-m", "long": "--multi", "arg": null, "description": "Search for a multiarch .changes file, as created by dpkg-cross." }, { "flag": "-u", "long": "--upgrade", "arg": null, "description": "Only upgrade packages already installed on the system, rather than installing all packages listed in the .changes file. Useful for multi-binary packages when you don't want to have all the binaries installed at once. --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." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--with-depends", "arg": null, "description": "Attempt to satisfy the Depends of a package when installing it. --tool tool Use the specified tool for installing the dependencies of the package(s) to be in‐ stalled. By default, apt-get is used. --no-conf, --noconf Do not read any configuration files. This can only be used as the first option given on the command-line. --help, --version Show help message and version information respectively." } ], "examples": [], "see_also": [ { "name": "devscripts.conf", "section": "5", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/devscripts.conf/5/json" } ], "tldr": { "source": "not_found", "examples": [] } }