DH_PACKAGE_NOTES(1)

📦
version 0.20 · 3 versions
, in ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 DH_PACKAGE_NOTES 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the dh_package_notes page — it's a General Commands Manual situation, and honestly? it's giving "small but mighty" 💅

✨ NAME ✨

dh_package_notes — the girl who adds package metadata to your ELF header 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

dh_package_notes

that's it. no flags. no arguments. she simply exists and does her thing, periodt. 👑

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the vibe: dh_package_notes hands you a linker specs file that lets you shove package metadata into the ELF binaries your packages build. that's the whole job. iconic. ✨

if you wanna read the actual package metadata specification for ELF binaries (and honestly, slay, go read it), it lives at <https://systemd.io/ELF_PACKAGE_METADATA/>.

the linker specs file she provides sits at /usr/share/debhelper/dh_package_notes/debian-package-notes.specs, and you activate it by including /usr/share/debhelper/dh_package_notes/package-notes.mk at the top of debian/rules. 🫶

do that, and it exports the right environment variables, which results in a package note ELF section being added to all packaged ELF files. and the details it fills in? let me list them because the way this is set up is so satisfying:

  • the package type gets set to deb
  • the package name gets set to the source package name
  • the version gets set to the source package version
  • the OS gets set to Debian
  • the debuginfod URL gets set to https://debuginfod.debian.net

and if you're on Ubuntu? lowkey different flavor 🧚 — the OS gets set to Ubuntu and the debuginfod URL gets set to https://debuginfod.ubuntu.com.

⚠️ okay listen, this is the important part, no cap: it is not sufficient to just build-depend on this package. you have to actually use the include at the top of debian/rules for any of this to be enabled. build-depending alone does literally nothing. don't be that girl 🙈

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Luca Boccassi <bluca@debian.org> — thank you for your service, bestie 🫡💖

and that's a wrap, babes 🌈 this one's from the General Commands Manual corner of the world, dated 2022-11-27 — go forth, add your notes, and let your ELF binaries be known for who they truly are 💅✨

📦 where this page comes from