DH_GIREPOSITORY(1)

💖 DH_GIREPOSITORY — the girlies' guide 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to dh_girepository 💅 this is a page from the gobject-introspection manual, and she is here to compute dependencies for GObject introspection packages. no cap, she's the moment.

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✨ NAME ✨

dh_girepository — compute dependencies for GObject introspection packages 🦋

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

dh_girepository [debhelper options] [-ldirectory] [-pdirectory] [-Xitem]
[private [...]]

literally just run her like that, mwah 💖

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💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so dh_girepository is a debhelper program, and her whole job is computing dependencies for packages that ship GObject introspection data. she's the backstage queen making sure everything links up 👑

the dependencies she makes get dropped into the ${gir:Depends} substitution variable. that's the vibe. ✨

the minimal version of the generated dependencies gets calculated by looking first at the version of the packages declared in the build-dependencies of the building package. but bestie, if a package is not declared in the build-dependencies, then the minimal version of that package is calculated by looking at the version of the package containing the corresponding .gir file defined in the build-dependencies. like, she goes looking for the receipts 🔍

okay IMPORTANT: dh_girepository will not be executed automatically by dh. you have to literally say "dh $@ --with gir" for dh to include her. she does not show up uninvited, she's classy like that 🎀

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

real talk first: the -p option conflicts with the -p option defined by debhelper(7) (see Debian bug #703941 <https://bugs.debian.org/703941>). yes, it's giving drama 😭. to run dh_girepository on a single package, use "dh_girepository --package=gir1.2-foo-1.0" instead of the usual -p. iykyk 💅

• -ldirectory — specify a directory (or a colon-separated list of directories) where to look for the .gir XML files that were used to generate the .typelib files that are scanned. this option is only necessary if those files aren't shipped in another, architecture-dependent package. so, like, only pull this out when you need it, queen 🌈
• -pdirectory — specify a directory (or a colon-separated list of directories) where to look for the dependencies. super useful when a dependency ships the .typelib in a private directory. private, exclusive, main character energy only 👑
• -Xitem — exclude files that contain item anywhere in their filename from being analyzed. bye bestie, you're not invited to the analysis party 🙈
• private [...] — list of directories where to look for typelibs and the corresponding .gir files. useful when the package installs its typelibs in a private directory, such as /usr/lib/<package>. library dependencies are also looked there, in case your typelib depends on a library that you ship in a private directory. she checks everywhere, fr fr 🦋

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🌟 CONFORMS TO 🌟

GObject introspection mini policy as of 2011-03-30. she follows the rules, and the rules are old but iconic ⭐

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💖 SEE ALSO 💖

• debhelper(7)

this program is a part of gobject-introspection but is made to work with debhelper. she contains multitudes ✨

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Josselin Mouette <joss@debian.org> — thank you for your service, legend 🫶

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aaaand that's the whole page bestie!! this one shipped in version 1.86.0-6build1, dated 2026-01-22, and honestly? she ate. go compute those dependencies, periodt 💅💖✨