DH_AUTO_CONFIGURE(1)

📦
version 14.5ubuntu1 · 12 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 DH_AUTO_CONFIGURE 💖

okay bestie, welcome to dh_auto_configure, straight out of the debhelper manual (section 1, if we're being fancy). this is the little guy who does your pre-build setup so you don't have to ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

dh_auto_configure — it configures your package before the build happens, automatically. no cap. 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

dh_auto_configure [build system options] [debhelper options] [-- params]

that's it, that's the whole vibe check 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the tea, bestie 🍵 dh_auto_configure is a debhelper program and its whole job is to try to automatically configure a package before it gets built. it does this by peeking at your package, clocking which build system you're using, and then running the right command for it. main character energy, honestly 👑

like, it goes looking for a ./configure script, or Makefile.PL, or Build.PL, or cmake, and then runs the one it finds. it works out a standard set of parameters and hands them over to whatever program it's running. and here's the thing — some build systems, like make, literally don't even need a configure step. for those, dh_auto_configure just exits without doing anything. it said "not my problem, slay" and left 💅

this is designed to work for about 90% of packages. and if it doesn't work for yours? no stress, you're genuinely encouraged to skip dh_auto_configure entirely and just run ./configure or whatever the equivalent is, manually. do it yourself, be your own icon 💪

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

head over to "BUILD SYSTEM OPTIONS" in debhelper(7) if you wanna see the list of the common build system selection and control options. it's all there, iykyk 📖

  • -- params — this one passes params straight to the program that's being run, and it tucks them in after the parameters that dh_auto_configure usually passes. like, it's not replacing anything, it's just adding on at the end. periodt. for example:
dh_auto_configure -- --with-foo --enable-bar

see how the --with-foo and --enable-bar go after the --? that's the whole trick 🪄

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

this program is a part of debhelper. found family fr fr 🫂

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org> — the legend themselves, we stan 😌💖

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this was version 14.5ubuntu1 from 2026-09-21 — go configure something gorgeous, you've got this 🦋✨💅

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