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<th colspan="3" align="center">Chapter 7. Checking the package for errors</th>
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<div class="chapter">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h1 class="title"><a id="checkit"/>Chapter 7. Checking the package for errors</h1>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="toc">
<p>
<strong>Table of Contents</strong>
</p>
<dl class="toc">
<dt>
<span class="section">
<a href="checkit.en.html#inadvent">7.1. Suspicious changes</a>
</span>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="section">
<a href="checkit.en.html#pinstall">7.2. Verifying a package's installation</a>
</span>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="section">
<a href="checkit.en.html#pmaintscripts">7.3. Verifying a package's maintainer scripts</a>
</span>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="section">
<a href="checkit.en.html#lintians">7.4. Using <code class="systemitem">lintian</code></a>
</span>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="section">
<a href="checkit.en.html#debc">7.5. The <span class="command"><strong>debc</strong></span> command</a>
</span>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="section">
<a href="checkit.en.html#debdiff">7.6. The <span class="command"><strong>debdiff</strong></span> command</a>
</span>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="section">
<a href="checkit.en.html#interdiff">7.7. The <span class="command"><strong>interdiff</strong></span> command</a>
</span>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="section">
<a href="checkit.en.html#mc">7.8. The <span class="command"><strong>mc</strong></span> command</a>
</span>
</dt>
</dl>
</div>
<p>
There are some techniques you should know for checking a package for errors
before uploading it to the public archives.
</p>
<p>
It's also a good idea to carry out testing on a machine other than your own. You must watch
closely for any warnings or errors for all the tests described here.
</p>
<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h2 class="title"><a id="inadvent"/>7.1. Suspicious changes</h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
If you find a new autogenerated patch file such as
<code class="filename">debian-changes-*</code> in the
<code class="filename">debian/patches</code> directory after building your non-native
Debian package in <code class="literal">3.0 (quilt)</code> format, chances are you
changed some files by accident or the build script modified the upstream
source. If it is your mistake, fix it. If it is caused by the build script,
fix the root cause with <span class="command"><strong>dh-autoreconf</strong></span> as in
<a class="xref" href="dreq.en.html#customrules" title="4.4.3. Customization of rules file">Section 4.4.3, “Customization of <code class="filename">rules</code> file”</a> or work around it with
<code class="filename">source/options</code> as in <a class="xref" href="dother.en.html#sourceopt" title="5.25. source/options">Section 5.25, “<code class="filename">source/options</code>”</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h2 class="title"><a id="pinstall"/>7.2. Verifying a package's installation</h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
You must test your package for whether it installs without problem. The <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">debi</span>(1)</span>
command helps you to test installing all the generated binary packages.
</p>
<pre class="screen">
$ sudo debi gentoo_0.9.12-1_i386.changes
</pre>
<p>
To prevent installation problem on different systems, you must make
sure that there are no filenames conflicting with other existing packages,
using the
<code class="filename">Contents-<em class="replaceable"><code>i386</code></em></code> file downloaded
from the Debian archive.
The <span class="command"><strong>apt-file</strong></span> command may be handy for this task. If there
are collisions, please take action to avoid this real problem, whether by
renaming the file, moving a common file to a separate package that
multiple packages can depend on, using the alternatives mechanism (see
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">update-alternatives</span>(1)</span>) in coordination with the
maintainers of other affected packages, or declaring a
<code class="literal">Conflicts</code> relationship in the
<code class="filename">debian/control</code> file.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h2 class="title"><a id="pmaintscripts"/>7.3. Verifying a package's maintainer scripts</h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
All maintainer scripts (that is,
<code class="filename">preinst</code>, <code class="filename">prerm</code>,
<code class="filename">postinst</code>, and <code class="filename">postrm</code> files) are
hard to write correctly unless they are auto-generated by the
<code class="systemitem">debhelper</code> programs. So do not use them if you are
a novice maintainer (see <a class="xref" href="dother.en.html#maintscripts" title="5.19. {pre,post}{inst,rm}">Section 5.19, “<code class="filename">{pre,post}{inst,rm}</code>”</a>).
</p>
<p>
If the package makes use of these non-trivial maintainer scripts, be sure to test not only for install but also for remove,
purge, and upgrade processes. Many maintainer script bugs show up
when packages are removed or purged. Use the <span class="command"><strong>dpkg</strong></span> command
as follows to test them.
</p>
<pre class="screen">
$ sudo dpkg -r gentoo
$ sudo dpkg -P gentoo
$ sudo dpkg -i gentoo_<em class="replaceable"><code>version</code></em>-<em class="replaceable"><code>revision</code></em>_<em class="replaceable"><code>i386</code></em>.deb
</pre>
<p>
This should be done with sequences such as the following.
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist">
<ul class="itemizedlist">
<li class="listitem">
<p>
install the previous version (if needed).
</p>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<p>
upgrade it from the previous version.
</p>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<p>
downgrade it back to the previous version (optional).
</p>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<p>
purge it.
</p>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<p>
install the new package.
</p>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<p>
remove it.
</p>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<p>
install it again.
</p>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<p>
purge it.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p>
If this is your first package, you should create dummy packages with different
versions to test your package in advance to prevent future problems.
</p>
<p>
Bear in mind that if your package has previously been released in Debian,
people will often be upgrading to your package from the version that was in the
last Debian release. Remember to test upgrades from that version too.
</p>
<p>
Although downgrading is not officially supported, supporting it is a
friendly gesture.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h2 class="title"><a id="lintians"/>7.4. Using <code class="systemitem">lintian</code></h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
Run <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">lintian</span>(1)</span> on your <code class="filename">.changes</code>
file. The <span class="command"><strong>lintian</strong></span> command runs many test scripts to check
for many common packaging errors. <a href="#ftn.idp31156764" class="footnote" id="idp31156764"><sup class="footnote">[77]</sup></a>
</p>
<pre class="screen">
$ lintian -i -I --show-overrides gentoo_0.9.12-1_i386.changes
</pre>
<p>
Of course, replace the filename with the name of the
<code class="filename">.changes</code> file generated for your package. The output of
the <span class="command"><strong>lintian</strong></span> command uses the following flags.
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist">
<ul class="itemizedlist">
<li class="listitem">
<p>
<code class="literal">E:</code> for error; a sure policy violation or packaging error.
</p>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<p>
<code class="literal">W:</code> for warning; a possible policy violation or packaging
error.
</p>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<p>
<code class="literal">I:</code> for info; information on certain aspects of packaging.
</p>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<p>
<code class="literal">N:</code> for note; a detailed message to help your debugging.
</p>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<p>
<code class="literal">O:</code> for overridden; a message overridden by the
<code class="filename">lintian-overrides</code> files but displayed by the
<code class="literal">--show-overrides</code> option.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p>
When you see warnings, tune the package to avoid them or verify that the warnings are
spurious. If spurious, set up <code class="filename">lintian-overrides</code> files as
described in <a class="xref" href="dother.en.html#lintian" title="5.14. {package.,source/}lintian-overrides">Section 5.14, “<code class="filename">{<em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>.,source/}lintian-overrides</code>”</a>.
</p>
<p>
Note that you can build the package with <span class="command"><strong>dpkg-buildpackage</strong></span>
and run <span class="command"><strong>lintian</strong></span> on it in one command, if you use <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">debuild</span>(1)</span>
or <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">pdebuild</span>(1)</span>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h2 class="title"><a id="debc"/>7.5. The <span class="command"><strong>debc</strong></span> command</h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
You can list files in the binary Debian package with the <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">debc</span>(1)</span>
command.
</p>
<pre class="screen">
$ debc <em class="replaceable"><code>package</code></em>.changes
</pre>
</div>
<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h2 class="title"><a id="debdiff"/>7.6. The <span class="command"><strong>debdiff</strong></span> command</h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
You can compare file contents in two source Debian packages with the
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">debdiff</span>(1)</span> command.
</p>
<pre class="screen">
$ debdiff <em class="replaceable"><code>old-package</code></em>.dsc <em class="replaceable"><code>new-package</code></em>.dsc
</pre>
<p>
You can also compare file lists in two sets of binary Debian packages with the
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">debdiff</span>(1)</span> command.
</p>
<pre class="screen">
$ debdiff <em class="replaceable"><code>old-package</code></em>.changes <em class="replaceable"><code>new-package</code></em>.changes
</pre>
<p>
These are useful to identify what has been changed in the source packages
and to check for inadvertent changes made when updating binary
packages, such as unintentionally misplacing or removing files.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h2 class="title"><a id="interdiff"/>7.7. The <span class="command"><strong>interdiff</strong></span> command</h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
You can compare two <code class="filename">diff.gz</code> files with the <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">interdiff</span>(1)</span> command. This is useful for verifying that no inadvertent
changes were made to the source by the maintainer when updating packages in the
old <code class="literal">1.0</code> source format.
</p>
<pre class="screen">
$ interdiff -z <em class="replaceable"><code>old-package</code></em>.diff.gz <em class="replaceable"><code>new-package</code></em>.diff.gz
</pre>
<p>
The new <code class="literal">3.0</code> source format stores changes in multiple patch
files as described in <a class="xref" href="dother.en.html#patches" title="5.26. patches/*">Section 5.26, “<code class="filename">patches/*</code>”</a>. You can trace changes of each
<code class="filename">debian/patches/*</code> file using <span class="command"><strong>interdiff</strong></span>, too.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h2 class="title"><a id="mc"/>7.8. The <span class="command"><strong>mc</strong></span> command</h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
Many of these file inspection operations can be made into an intuitive process
by using a file manager like <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">mc</span>(1)</span> which will let you browse not only the
contents of <code class="filename">*.deb</code> package files but also
<code class="filename">*.udeb</code>, <code class="filename">*.debian.tar.gz</code>,
<code class="filename">*.diff.gz</code>, and <code class="filename">*.orig.tar.gz</code> files.
</p>
<p>
Be on the lookout for extra unneeded files or zero length files, both in the
binary and source package. Often cruft doesn't get cleaned up properly; adjust
your <code class="filename">rules</code> file to compensate for this.
</p>
</div>
<div class="footnotes">
<br/>
<hr/>
<div id="ftn.idp31156764" class="footnote">
<p><a href="#idp31156764" class="para"><sup class="para">[77] </sup></a> You do not need to provide
the <span class="command"><strong>lintian</strong></span> option <code class="literal">-i -I --show-overrides</code>
if you customized <code class="filename">/etc/devscripts.conf</code> or
<code class="filename">~/.devscripts</code> as described in <a class="xref" href="build.en.html#debuild" title="6.3. debuild command">Section 6.3, “<span class="command"><strong>debuild</strong></span> command”</a>.
</p>
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