pkh/README.md

pkh

pkh is a packaging helper for Debian/Ubuntu packages.

Installation

No distribution channel is published yet; build from source:

sudo apt install pkg-config libssl-dev libgpg-error-dev libgpgme-dev
git clone https://git.vhaudiquet.fr/vhaudiquet/pkh.git
cd pkh
cargo install --path .

At runtime pkh shells out to the Debian packaging toolchain (git, dpkg-dev, quilt, mmdebstrap, lintian, pristine-tar, ...): install the ones your workflows use, or build the classic snap from snap/snapcraft.yaml (snapcraft pack), which carries them.

Usage and features

Basic concepts

pkh aims at wrapping the different debian tools and workflows (git, git-ubuntu, pull-debian-sources, pull-lp-sources, pull-ppa-sources, dch, dpkg-buildpackage, sbuild, dpkg-source, quilt, ...) into one tool, that would have the same interface for everything, while being smarter at integrating all workflows.

Thus, pkh uses similar options for all subcommands (with very few command-specific options):

Options:
  -s, --series <series>    Target package distribution series
  -d, --dist <dist>        Target package distribution (debian, ubuntu)
  -v, --version <version>  Target package version
  -a, --arch <arch>        Target architecture (amd64, arm64, riscv64, ...)
  -p, --pocket <pocket>    Target distribution pocket (updates, security, proposed, ...)
      --ppa <ppa>          Do the action in/for a specific PPA

Commands and workflows include:

Commands:
  new    Scaffold a new Debian source package (buildable right away)
  pull   Pull a source package from the archive or git
  chlog  Auto-generate changelog entry, editing it, committing it afterwards
  build  Build the source package (into a .dsc)
  put    Upload the built source package to a PPA
  deb    Build the source package into binary package (.deb)
  lint   Lint the package (lintian wrapper + pkh-native checks)
  prune  Prune residual pkh build artifacts and caches
  help   Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Options:
  -h, --help     Print help
  -V, --version  Print version

Examples

A typical workflow to patch an Ubuntu package hello on the development release could be:

# Obtain the package source
git ubuntu clone hello
cd hello
# Apply the patch to the package
...
dpkg-source --commit
# Increment version number
dch
# Test that the patch builds
git ubuntu export-orig
dpkg-buildpackage -S -I -i -nc -d
sbuild --dist resolute --arch amd64 ../hello_xxx.dsc
# Upload the package to a ppa
dput ppa:user/hello_xxx ../hello_xxx_source.changes
# Commit the changes to git
git add debian/patches/xxx.patch
git commit -m "Applied patch xxx"
git add debian/changelog
git commit -m "changelog"
git checkout -b xxx
git push xxx user-fork

That is a lot of different tools and operations. With pkh, the same workflow:

# Obtain the package source (and orig tarball)
pkh pull hello # needs -d ubuntu if you are not running Ubuntu
# Apply the patch to the package
...
git add debian/patches/xxx.patch
git commit -m "Applied patch xxx"
pkh chlog
# Test that the package builds
pkh build
pkh deb
# Upload the package to a ppa
pkh put --ppa user/hello_xxx
# Push the commits to your fork
git push xxx user-fork

Roadmap: features needed for 1.0

Basically, wrapping the basic debian workflows. Missing features:

• pkh pull
  • Obtain package sources from git
  • Obtain package sources from the archive (fallback)
  • Obtain package source from PPA (--ppa)
  • Obtain a specific version of the package
  • Fetch the correct git branch for series on Ubuntu
  • Try to fetch the correct git branch for series on Debian, or fallback to the archive
• pkh chlog
  • Auto-generate changelog entry
  • Extra flags: backport, non-maintainer upload, no change rebuild, ...
  • Commit changelog entry
• pkh new
  • Scaffold a new Debian source package (interactive, multiple languages)
• pkh build
  • Build the source package
• pkh deb
  • Build the binary package
  • Build for a specific architecture
  • Three build modes:
    • Build locally (discouraged)
    • Build using unshare chroot, with binary emulation (default)
    • Cross-compilation
  • Async build
• pkh status
  • Show build status
• pkh put
  • Upload the source package to a PPA (native SFTP, no dput dependency)
  • Upload the source package to the archive
• pkh commit
  • Commit the changes to git
• pkh lint
  • Lint the package
• pkh prune
  • Prune residual pkh build artifacts and caches
• pkh test
  • Run autopkgtest
  • Provide options: local (discouraged), chroot, VM?, ppa
  • Async test

Nice-to-have features

• 'pkh pull'
  • Cache the Sources.gz files, to improve speed
  • Work in an already downloaded package, to git pull and re-fetch orig tar gz