pbuilder User's Manual

pbuilder stands for Personal Builder, and it is an automatic Debian Package Building system for personal development workstation environments. pbuilder aims to be an easy-to-setup system for auto-building Debian packages inside a clean-room environment, so that it is possible to verify that a package can be built on most Debian installations. The clean-room environment is achieved through the use of a base chroot image, so that only minimal packages will be installed inside the chroot.

The Debian distribution consists of free software accompanied with source. The source code within Debian's "main" section must build within Debian "main", with only the explicitly specified build-dependencies installed.

The primary aim of pbuilder is different from other auto-building systems in Debian in that its aim is not to try to build as many packages as possible. It does not try to guess what a package needs, and in most cases it tries the worst choice of all if there is a choice to be made.

In this way, pbuilder tries to ensure that packages tested against pbuilder will build properly in most Debian installations, hopefully resulting in a good overall Debian source-buildability.

The goal of making Debian buildable from source is somewhat accomplished, and has seen good progress. In the past age of Debian 3.0, there were many problems when building from source. More recent versions of Debian is much better.

pbuilder create will create a base chroot image tar-ball (base.tgz). All other commands will operate on the resulting base.tgz If the Debian release to be created within chroot is not going to be "sid" (which is the default), the distribution code-name needs to be specified with the --distribution command-line option.

debootstrap ^[1] is used to create the bare minimum Debian installation, and then build-essential packages are installed on top of the minimum installation using apt-get inside the chroot.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page. Some configuration will be required for /etc/pbuilderrc for the mirror site ^[2] to use, and proxy configuration may be required to allow access through HTTP. See the pbuilderrc.5 manual page for details.

pbuilder update will update the base.tgz. It will extract the chroot, invoke apt-get update and apt-get dist-upgrade inside the chroot, and then recreate the base.tgz (the base tar-ball).

It is possible to switch the distribution which the base.tgz is targeted at at this point. Specify --distribution sid --override-config to change the distribution to sid. ^[3]

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

To build a package inside the chroot, invoke pbuilder build whatever.dsc. pbuilder will extract the base.tgz to a temporary working directory, enter the directory with chroot, satisfy the build-dependencies inside chroot, and build the package. The built packages will be moved to a directory specified with the --buildresult command-line option.

The --basetgz option can be used to specify which base.tgz to use.

pbuilder will extract a fresh base chroot image from base.tgz. (base.tgz is created with pbuilder create, and updated with pbuilder update). The chroot is populated with build-dependencies by parsing debian/control and invoking apt-get.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

pdebuild is a little wrapper script that does the most frequent of all tasks. A Debian Developer may try to do debuild, and build a package, inside a Debian source directory. pdebuild will allow similar control, and allow package to be built inside the chroot, to check that the current source tree will build happily inside the chroot.

pdebuild calls dpkg-nside class="command">pbuilder aims to be an easy-to-setup system for auto-building Debian packages inside a clean-room environment, so that it is possible to verify that a package can be built on most Debian installations. The clean-room environment is achieved through the use of a base chroot image, so that only minimal packages will be installed inside the chroot.

The Debian distribution consists of free software accompanied with source. The source code within Debian's "main" section must build within Debian "main", with only the explicitly specified build-dependencies installed.

The primary aim of pbuilder is different from other auto-building systems in Debian in that its aim is not to try to build as many packages as possible. It does not try to guess what a package needs, and in most cases it tries the worst choice of all if there is a choice to be made.

In this way, pbuilder tries to ensure that packages tested against pbuilder will build properly in most Debian installations, hopefully resulting in a good overall Debian source-buildability.

The goal of making Debian buildable from source is somewhat accomplished, and has seen good progress. In the past age of Debian 3.0, there were many problems when building from source. More recent versions of Debian is much better.

pbuilder create will create a base chroot image tar-ball (base.tgz). All other commands will operate on the resulting base.tgz If the Debian release to be created within chroot is not going to be "sid" (which is the default), the distribution code-name needs to be specified with the --distribution command-line option.

debootstrap ^[1] is used to create the bare minimum Debian installation, and then build-essential packages are installed on top of the minimum installation using apt-get inside the chroot.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page. Some configuration will be required for /etc/pbuilderrc for the mirror site ^[2] to use, and proxy configuration may be required to allow access through HTTP. See the pbuilderrc.5 manual page for details.

pbuilder update will update the base.tgz. It will extract the chroot, invoke apt-get update and apt-get dist-upgrade inside the chroot, and then recreate the base.tgz (the base tar-ball).

It is possible to switch the distribution which the base.tgz is targeted at at this point. Specify --distribution sid --override-config to change the distribution to sid. ^[3]

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

To build a package inside the chroot, invoke pbuilder build whatever.dsc. pbuilder will extract the base.tgz to a temporary working directory, enter the directory with chroot, satisfy the build-dependencies inside chroot, and build the package. The built packages will be moved to a directory specified with the --buildresult command-line option.

The --basetgz option can be used to specify which base.tgz to use.

pbuilder will extract a fresh base chroot image from base.tgz. (base.tgz is created with pbuilder create, and updated with pbuilder update). The chroot is populated with build-dependencies by parsing debian/control and invoking apt-get.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

pdebuild is a little wrapper script that does the most frequent of all tasks. A Debian Developer may try to do debuild, and build a package, inside a Debian source directory. pdebuild will allow similar control, and allow package to be built inside the chroot, to check that the current source tree will build happily inside the chroot.

pdebuild calls dpkg-nside class="command">pbuilder aims to be an easy-to-setup system for auto-building Debian packages inside a clean-room environment, so that it is possible to verify that a package can be built on most Debian installations. The clean-room environment is achieved through the use of a base chroot image, so that only minimal packages will be installed inside the chroot.

The Debian distribution consists of free software accompanied with source. The source code within Debian's "main" section must build within Debian "main", with only the explicitly specified build-dependencies installed.

The primary aim of pbuilder is different from other auto-building systems in Debian in that its aim is not to try to build as many packages as possible. It does not try to guess what a package needs, and in most cases it tries the worst choice of all if there is a choice to be made.

In this way, pbuilder tries to ensure that packages tested against pbuilder will build properly in most Debian installations, hopefully resulting in a good overall Debian source-buildability.

The goal of making Debian buildable from source is somewhat accomplished, and has seen good progress. In the past age of Debian 3.0, there were many problems when building from source. More recent versions of Debian is much better.

pbuilder create will create a base chroot image tar-ball (base.tgz). All other commands will operate on the resulting base.tgz If the Debian release to be created within chroot is not going to be "sid" (which is the default), the distribution code-name needs to be specified with the --distribution command-line option.

debootstrap ^[1] is used to create the bare minimum Debian installation, and then build-essential packages are installed on top of the minimum installation using apt-get inside the chroot.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page. Some configuration will be required for /etc/pbuilderrc for the mirror site ^[2] to use, and proxy configuration may be required to allow access through HTTP. See the pbuilderrc.5 manual page for details.

pbuilder update will update the base.tgz. It will extract the chroot, invoke apt-get update and apt-get dist-upgrade inside the chroot, and then recreate the base.tgz (the base tar-ball).

It is possible to switch the distribution which the base.tgz is targeted at at this point. Specify --distribution sid --override-config to change the distribution to sid. ^[3]

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

To build a package inside the chroot, invoke pbuilder build whatever.dsc. pbuilder will extract the base.tgz to a temporary working directory, enter the directory with chroot, satisfy the build-dependencies inside chroot, and build the package. The built packages will be moved to a directory specified with the --buildresult command-line option.

The --basetgz option can be used to specify which base.tgz to use.

pbuilder will extract a fresh base chroot image from base.tgz. (base.tgz is created with pbuilder create, and updated with pbuilder update). The chroot is populated with build-dependencies by parsing debian/control and invoking apt-get.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

pdebuild is a little wrapper script that does the most frequent of all tasks. A Debian Developer may try to do debuild, and build a package, inside a Debian source directory. pdebuild will allow similar control, and allow package to be built inside the chroot, to check that the current source tree will build happily inside the chroot.

pdebuild calls dpkg-nside class="command">pbuilder aims to be an easy-to-setup system for auto-building Debian packages inside a clean-room environment, so that it is possible to verify that a package can be built on most Debian installations. The clean-room environment is achieved through the use of a base chroot image, so that only minimal packages will be installed inside the chroot.

The Debian distribution consists of free software accompanied with source. The source code within Debian's "main" section must build within Debian "main", with only the explicitly specified build-dependencies installed.

The primary aim of pbuilder is different from other auto-building systems in Debian in that its aim is not to try to build as many packages as possible. It does not try to guess what a package needs, and in most cases it tries the worst choice of all if there is a choice to be made.

In this way, pbuilder tries to ensure that packages tested against pbuilder will build properly in most Debian installations, hopefully resulting in a good overall Debian source-buildability.

The goal of making Debian buildable from source is somewhat accomplished, and has seen good progress. In the past age of Debian 3.0, there were many problems when building from source. More recent versions of Debian is much better.

pbuilder create will create a base chroot image tar-ball (base.tgz). All other commands will operate on the resulting base.tgz If the Debian release to be created within chroot is not going to be "sid" (which is the default), the distribution code-name needs to be specified with the --distribution command-line option.

debootstrap ^[1] is used to create the bare minimum Debian installation, and then build-essential packages are installed on top of the minimum installation using apt-get inside the chroot.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page. Some configuration will be required for /etc/pbuilderrc for the mirror site ^[2] to use, and proxy configuration may be required to allow access through HTTP. See the pbuilderrc.5 manual page for details.

pbuilder update will update the base.tgz. It will extract the chroot, invoke apt-get update and apt-get dist-upgrade inside the chroot, and then recreate the base.tgz (the base tar-ball).

It is possible to switch the distribution which the base.tgz is targeted at at this point. Specify --distribution sid --override-config to change the distribution to sid. ^[3]

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

To build a package inside the chroot, invoke pbuilder build whatever.dsc. pbuilder will extract the base.tgz to a temporary working directory, enter the directory with chroot, satisfy the build-dependencies inside chroot, and build the package. The built packages will be moved to a directory specified with the --buildresult command-line option.

The --basetgz option can be used to specify which base.tgz to use.

pbuilder will extract a fresh base chroot image from base.tgz. (base.tgz is created with pbuilder create, and updated with pbuilder update). The chroot is populated with build-dependencies by parsing debian/control and invoking apt-get.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

pdebuild is a little wrapper script that does the most frequent of all tasks. A Debian Developer may try to do debuild, and build a package, inside a Debian source directory. pdebuild will allow similar control, and allow package to be built inside the chroot, to check that the current source tree will build happily inside the chroot.

pdebuild calls dpkg-nside class="command">pbuilder aims to be an easy-to-setup system for auto-building Debian packages inside a clean-room environment, so that it is possible to verify that a package can be built on most Debian installations. The clean-room environment is achieved through the use of a base chroot image, so that only minimal packages will be installed inside the chroot.

The Debian distribution consists of free software accompanied with source. The source code within Debian's "main" section must build within Debian "main", with only the explicitly specified build-dependencies installed.

The primary aim of pbuilder is different from other auto-building systems in Debian in that its aim is not to try to build as many packages as possible. It does not try to guess what a package needs, and in most cases it tries the worst choice of all if there is a choice to be made.

In this way, pbuilder tries to ensure that packages tested against pbuilder will build properly in most Debian installations, hopefully resulting in a good overall Debian source-buildability.

The goal of making Debian buildable from source is somewhat accomplished, and has seen good progress. In the past age of Debian 3.0, there were many problems when building from source. More recent versions of Debian is much better.

pbuilder create will create a base chroot image tar-ball (base.tgz). All other commands will operate on the resulting base.tgz If the Debian release to be created within chroot is not going to be "sid" (which is the default), the distribution code-name needs to be specified with the --distribution command-line option.

debootstrap ^[1] is used to create the bare minimum Debian installation, and then build-essential packages are installed on top of the minimum installation using apt-get inside the chroot.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page. Some configuration will be required for /etc/pbuilderrc for the mirror site ^[2] to use, and proxy configuration may be required to allow access through HTTP. See the pbuilderrc.5 manual page for details.

pbuilder update will update the base.tgz. It will extract the chroot, invoke apt-get update and apt-get dist-upgrade inside the chroot, and then recreate the base.tgz (the base tar-ball).

It is possible to switch the distribution which the base.tgz is targeted at at this point. Specify --distribution sid --override-config to change the distribution to sid. ^[3]

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

To build a package inside the chroot, invoke pbuilder build whatever.dsc. pbuilder will extract the base.tgz to a temporary working directory, enter the directory with chroot, satisfy the build-dependencies inside chroot, and build the package. The built packages will be moved to a directory specified with the --buildresult command-line option.

The --basetgz option can be used to specify which base.tgz to use.

pbuilder will extract a fresh base chroot image from base.tgz. (base.tgz is created with pbuilder create, and updated with pbuilder update). The chroot is populated with build-dependencies by parsing debian/control and invoking apt-get.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

pdebuild is a little wrapper script that does the most frequent of all tasks. A Debian Developer may try to do debuild, and build a package, inside a Debian source directory. pdebuild will allow similar control, and allow package to be built inside the chroot, to check that the current source tree will build happily inside the chroot.

pdebuild calls dpkg-nside class="command">pbuilder aims to be an easy-to-setup system for auto-building Debian packages inside a clean-room environment, so that it is possible to verify that a package can be built on most Debian installations. The clean-room environment is achieved through the use of a base chroot image, so that only minimal packages will be installed inside the chroot.

The Debian distribution consists of free software accompanied with source. The source code within Debian's "main" section must build within Debian "main", with only the explicitly specified build-dependencies installed.

The primary aim of pbuilder is different from other auto-building systems in Debian in that its aim is not to try to build as many packages as possible. It does not try to guess what a package needs, and in most cases it tries the worst choice of all if there is a choice to be made.

In this way, pbuilder tries to ensure that packages tested against pbuilder will build properly in most Debian installations, hopefully resulting in a good overall Debian source-buildability.

The goal of making Debian buildable from source is somewhat accomplished, and has seen good progress. In the past age of Debian 3.0, there were many problems when building from source. More recent versions of Debian is much better.

pbuilder create will create a base chroot image tar-ball (base.tgz). All other commands will operate on the resulting base.tgz If the Debian release to be created within chroot is not going to be "sid" (which is the default), the distribution code-name needs to be specified with the --distribution command-line option.

debootstrap ^[1] is used to create the bare minimum Debian installation, and then build-essential packages are installed on top of the minimum installation using apt-get inside the chroot.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page. Some configuration will be required for /etc/pbuilderrc for the mirror site ^[2] to use, and proxy configuration may be required to allow access through HTTP. See the pbuilderrc.5 manual page for details.

pbuilder update will update the base.tgz. It will extract the chroot, invoke apt-get update and apt-get dist-upgrade inside the chroot, and then recreate the base.tgz (the base tar-ball).

It is possible to switch the distribution which the base.tgz is targeted at at this point. Specify --distribution sid --override-config to change the distribution to sid. ^[3]

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

To build a package inside the chroot, invoke pbuilder build whatever.dsc. pbuilder will extract the base.tgz to a temporary working directory, enter the directory with chroot, satisfy the build-dependencies inside chroot, and build the package. The built packages will be moved to a directory specified with the --buildresult command-line option.

The --basetgz option can be used to specify which base.tgz to use.

pbuilder will extract a fresh base chroot image from base.tgz. (base.tgz is created with pbuilder create, and updated with pbuilder update). The chroot is populated with build-dependencies by parsing debian/control and invoking apt-get.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

pdebuild is a little wrapper script that does the most frequent of all tasks. A Debian Developer may try to do debuild, and build a package, inside a Debian source directory. pdebuild will allow similar control, and allow package to be built inside the chroot, to check that the current source tree will build happily inside the chroot.

pdebuild calls dpkg-nside class="command">pbuilder aims to be an easy-to-setup system for auto-building Debian packages inside a clean-room environment, so that it is possible to verify that a package can be built on most Debian installations. The clean-room environment is achieved through the use of a base chroot image, so that only minimal packages will be installed inside the chroot.

The Debian distribution consists of free software accompanied with source. The source code within Debian's "main" section must build within Debian "main", with only the explicitly specified build-dependencies installed.

The primary aim of pbuilder is different from other auto-building systems in Debian in that its aim is not to try to build as many packages as possible. It does not try to guess what a package needs, and in most cases it tries the worst choice of all if there is a choice to be made.

In this way, pbuilder tries to ensure that packages tested against pbuilder will build properly in most Debian installations, hopefully resulting in a good overall Debian source-buildability.

The goal of making Debian buildable from source is somewhat accomplished, and has seen good progress. In the past age of Debian 3.0, there were many problems when building from source. More recent versions of Debian is much better.

pbuilder create will create a base chroot image tar-ball (base.tgz). All other commands will operate on the resulting base.tgz If the Debian release to be created within chroot is not going to be "sid" (which is the default), the distribution code-name needs to be specified with the --distribution command-line option.

debootstrap ^[1] is used to create the bare minimum Debian installation, and then build-essential packages are installed on top of the minimum installation using apt-get inside the chroot.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page. Some configuration will be required for /etc/pbuilderrc for the mirror site ^[2] to use, and proxy configuration may be required to allow access through HTTP. See the pbuilderrc.5 manual page for details.

pbuilder update will update the base.tgz. It will extract the chroot, invoke apt-get update and apt-get dist-upgrade inside the chroot, and then recreate the base.tgz (the base tar-ball).

It is possible to switch the distribution which the base.tgz is targeted at at this point. Specify --distribution sid --override-config to change the distribution to sid. ^[3]

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

To build a package inside the chroot, invoke pbuilder build whatever.dsc. pbuilder will extract the base.tgz to a temporary working directory, enter the directory with chroot, satisfy the build-dependencies inside chroot, and build the package. The built packages will be moved to a directory specified with the --buildresult command-line option.

The --basetgz option can be used to specify which base.tgz to use.

pbuilder will extract a fresh base chroot image from base.tgz. (base.tgz is created with pbuilder create, and updated with pbuilder update). The chroot is populated with build-dependencies by parsing debian/control and invoking apt-get.

For fuller documentation of command-line options, see the pbuilder.8 manual page

pdebuild is a little wrapper script that does the most frequent of all tasks. A Debian Developer may try to do debuild, and build a package, inside a Debian source directory. pdebuild will allow similar control, and allow package to be built inside the chroot, to check that the current source tree will build happily inside the chroot.

pdebuild calls dpkg-nside class="command">pbuilder aims to be an easy-to-setup system for auto-building Debian packages inside a clean-room environment, so that it is possible to verify that a package can be built on most Debian installations. The clean-room environment is achieved through the use of a base chroot image, so that only minimal packages will be installed inside the chroot.

The Debian distribution consists of free software accompanied with source. The source code within Debian's "main" section must build within Debian "main", with only the explicitly specified build-dependencies installed.

The primary aim of pbuilder is different from other auto-building systems in Debian in that its aim is not to try to build as many packages as possible. It does not try to guess what a package needs, and in most cases it tries the worst choice of all if there is a choice to be made.

In this way, pbuilder tries to ensure that packages tested against pbuilder will build properly in most Debian installations, hopefully resulting in a good overall Debian source-buildability.

The goal of making Debian buildable from source is somewhat accomplished, and has seen good progress. In the past age of Debian 3.0, there were many problems when building from source. More recent versions of Debian is much better.