DH-EXEC(1)

✨ NAME ✨

okay so bestie, meet dh-exec — the Debhelper executable file helpers 💖 this is dh-exec(1), and she is that girl.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#! /usr/bin/dh-exec
src/libfoo-*.so.* debian/foo-plugins/usr/lib/foo/${DEB_HOST_MULTIARCH}/
etc/example.conf => debian/foo/etc/foo/foo.conf
[linux-any kfreebsd-any] some-arch-specific-file /usr/lib/foo/

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

dh-exec is a simple program, no cap, and its whole job is to be the interpreter for executable debhelper config files. main character energy fr fr.

She's a wrapper around all the other sub-commands (peep below 👇), and she'll pipe the input file through all of them in turn, in an ordering that just makes the most sense in the vast majority of cases. it's giving organized 🎀

The order, as of right now, is: dh-exec-subst gets run first, followed by dh-exec-install — so that variable expansion happens before files need to be copied. slay sequencing 💫

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🦋 FILTERING 🦋

In all dh-exec handled files, lines can be pre- or post-fixed with a list of architectures that the rest of the line should apply to. so like, front or back, your call ✨

Every architecture and wildcard known by dpkg-architecture(1) is recognised — even negated ones. periodt.

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👑 ARCHITECTURE 👑

dh-exec is built up from three layers, bestie, and here they are:

• there's the dh-exec utility — its single entry point, and the only thing one will ever need to call.
• below that, there are the various sub-commands, such as dh-exec-subst, dh-exec-filter, dh-exec-install and dh-exec-illiterate — these are thin wrappers around the various dh-exec scripts, and they make sure they only run the ones that need to be run. gatekeeping, but responsibly 💅
• and the lowest layer is the various scripts that do the actual work. the real ones.

One can control which sub-commands to run, or — if even more granularity is desired — one can limit which scripts shall be run too. see the options below! 🔥

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• --with=command[,command ...] — replaces the list of sub-commands to run the input through with a custom list (entries separated by whitespace or commas) that includes dh-exec-filter and dh-exec-strip at the start and end of the queue respectively. This option will always replace the existing list with whatever you specify. use it to explicitly set which sub-commands to use. the list must not include the dh-exec- prefix. defaults to subst,install.
• --without=command[,command ...] — inversely to the option above 👆, this lists all the sub-commands that should not be used. The dh-exec-filter and dh-exec-strip subcommands cannot be removed using this option — use --no-defaults instead. the list must not include the dh-exec- prefix.
• --with-scripts=script[,script ...] — replaces the list of scripts to run the input through with a custom list (entries separated by whitespace or commas). This option will always replace the existing list with whatever you specify. use it to explicitly specify which scripts to use — limiting even beyond what the --with option is capable of. the list must not include the dh-exec- prefix. by default it is empty, meaning there's no filtering done, and whatever scripts the sub-commands find will be run.
• --no-defaults — most packages require the sub-command list to start with dh-exec-filter and end with dh-exec-strip subcommands. If you really want to, use this option to remove both of those sub-commands. note that --without does not remove these two. 🙈
• --no-act — do not really do anything, but print the pipeline that would have been run instead. window shopping, essentially 🛍️
• --list — list the available sub-commands and scripts, grouped by sub-command. the full roster 💅
• --help, --version — display a short help or the package version, respectively.

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🎀 SUB-COMMANDS 🎀

• dh-exec-subst — substitutes various variables (either from the environment, or from dpkg-architecture(1)).
• dh-exec-filter — filters the input in various ways (architecture restrictions, build profiles, and so on).
• dh-exec-install — an extension to dh_install(1) that supports renaming files during the copy process, using a special syntax.
• dh-exec-strip — removes unrequired lines such as comments or blank lines. decluttering queen 🧹

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🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

• DH_EXEC_LIBDIR — the directory in which the wrapped sub-commands reside. Defaults to /usr/lib/dh-exec/.
• DH_EXEC_SCRIPTDIR — the directory in which the scripts that do the heavy work live. Defaults to /usr/share/dh-exec/.

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🍓 FILES 🍓

• $DH_EXEC_LIBDIR/dh-exec-* — the various sub-commands.
• $DH_EXEC_SCRIPTDIR/dh-exec-* — the various scripts ran by the sub-commands.

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

dh-exec-subst(1), dh-exec-filter(1), dh-exec-install(1), debhelper(7)

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okay that's the whole thing bestie, go be iconic with your config files 🫶✨

this lil page came to you from dh-exec, and the date on it is 2024-02-27 📅 mwah, bye 💖🎀🦋