DH_SHELL...PLETIONS(1)

💖 DH_SHELL_COMPLETIONS 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the manual page for dh_shell_completions — it's a debhelper shell completions addon and honestly? she's serving. 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

dh_shell_completions — install shell completions for package

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

dh_shell_completions [debhelper options]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So like, dh_shell_completions is a debhelper addon whose whole thing is installing completion scripts for multiple shells, and it respects the conventions of each shell like the polite little icon it is. 💅

Right now it supports bash, fish, and zsh. That's the roster. No cap.

To actually use it, you gotta Build-Depends on it, and then pass --with shell_completions to debhelper. That's the whole ritual, it's giving very low-effort for how much it does fr fr. ✨

There are several modes of action, and they're all listed down in MODES. Precedence check: the first one has the highest precedence, the last one has the lowest. So like, don't come for the top of the list, she goes first. 👑

For all the modes, any mentioned files can have comment lines, and those start with #. 🍓

Also! $package in file names — if you just… omit it — defaults to the first binary package defined in debian/control. So you don't even have to spell it out, she'll figure it out. 💜

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🌈 MODES 🌈

🧚 Generation

If a file named debian/[$package.]shell-completions exists, and its first non-comment line is:

mode=gen

then the remaining lines should be one or more stanzas, each one in this format:

command=command-to-generate --completions _SHELL_ [--write-to _PATH_]
shells=bash,fish,zsh
name=foo

Let me break each of those down for you:

• command — the command that generates a completion script. It's assumed to print to stdout unless it contains the _PATH_ placeholder.
  • _SHELL_ is a placeholder for each shell in shells.
  • _PATH_ is an optional placeholder for the path to write the completion script to, if the command works that way.
• shells — a comma separated list of supported shell names to generate for.
• name — an optional line to specify the name of the generated completions, if you want something other than $package.

And then: command will be run for each _SHELL_ specified in shells, and it installs the resulting completions with the specified name. Periodt. 💅

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🎀 Composite

If a file named debian/[$package.]shell-completions exists, and it's in this format:

$shell completions/foo      # installed as foo
$shell completions/bar baz  # installed as baz

then for each line, the referenced file will be installed as a completion script for $shell, named as the comments suggest. The comments are literally the instructions bestie, read them. 🙈

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💀 Separate

If a file named debian/[$package.]$shell-completions exists for a supported $shell, then one of two actions is taken, depending on its content.

If it's of this format:

completions/foo               # installed as foo
completions/bar baz           # installed as baz

then the referenced file(s) will be installed as completion(s) for $shell, named as the comments above suggest. Again with the comments. 👑

Otherwise, it's taken as a full completion script, and installed for $shell, named $package. And this is in line with dh_bash-completion, so it's consistent, iykyk. 🔥

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• debhelper(1)

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Blair Noctis <ncts@debian.org>

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 💖 this was version 0.1.0build1 from 2026-01-16 — go forth and complete some shells, you absolute main character 🦋✨🎀