dupload(1)

📦
version 2.14.0 · 6 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

👑 dupload — the Debian package upload tool, bestie edition

okay so this is the manual for dupload, brought to you by the Debian Project (manual section 1, iykyk). Pull up a chair, grab a strawberry 🍓, and let's get your packages uploaded.

✨ NAME ✨

dupload — the Debian package upload tool. that's it, that's the vibe.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

dupload [options...] [changes-file|directory...]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so dupload is the tool that lets people who maintain Debian packages actually get those packages uploaded to a Debian repository, easily. no cap. 💖

here's the whole flow, step by step, because she is thorough:

dupload checks every non-option argument to find readable files or directories. it parses those files as .changes files — or, if you handed it directories, it goes looking for .changes files inside them.

she will warn you if a file's name doesn't end with .changes. shes not mad, shes just disappointed. after that, further processing happens by changing into the directories of the changes files.

then she tests the available checksums and the size for every file listed in the .changes file, and if she finds a mismatch, that's a fail, periodt. if all of that goes fine, dupload checks whether there's an .upload file with the basename of the .changes file. and if the file you're trying to upload is recorded as already having been uploaded to the specified host? she skips it. 💅

once the list of files to upload is done, dupload tries to connect to the server and upload. every single successfully uploaded file gets recorded in the .upload log file. 📝

and if all files of a package are processed, the .changes file gets mailed to the announcement address specified in the configuration file — check the Announcement section below for all of that.

🦋 Upload methods

the default transfer method is ftp. the alternative methods are http, https, scp/SSH, scpb/SSH, rsync/SSH and copy.

if you're using an upload queue, use ftp because it's fast. if you're using an authenticated host, always use https, or one of scp or rsync via SSH, because ftp transmits the password in clear text. yes, in the open. we do not do that. 😭

  • ftp — if no login (username) is defined in the configuration file, anonymous is used. the password is derived from your login name and your hostname, which is the common thing for anonymous FTP logins. and for anonymous logins only, you can provide the "password" in the configuration file.

for logins other than anonymous, you get asked for the password. and for security reasons there is no way to supply it via the command-line or the environment. none. don't ask.

  • http (since 2.9.9) / https (since 2.9.9) — there is no default login nor password. if you specify a login, a password will be fetched from passwordcmd — or, if that is not defined, via the Secret Service interface — otherwise it will be prompted. 🫶
  • scp (since 1.8) / scpb (since 1.17) — the default login is delegated to SSH and its own configuration.

the scp/SSH method only works properly if no password is required (go look at ssh(1)). when you use scp, it is recommended to set the "method" keyword to scpb, which will transfer all files in a batch. ✨

  • rsync (since 2.4.1) — the default login is delegated to SSH and its own configuration.
  • copy (since 2.9.0) — the copy method works by simply copying the files to another directory in the local filesystem. lowkey the simplest one, and honestly? iconic.

🌸 Announcement

if the host has been configured to send announcement mails, the .changes file will be sent to the specified addresses. 📬

the contents of all the following files are prepended to the announcement mail body, if present:

  • package.announce
  • package_upstream-version.announce
  • package_upstream-version-revision.announce

where upstream-version and revision are to be replaced with actual version numbers. so, for example, if your package is called foobar, has upstream version 3.14, and Debian revision 2:

  1. if you only want the announcement to be made with only ONE upload, you name it foobar_3.14-2.announce.
  2. if you want it to be made with every upload of a particular upstream version, name it foobar_3.14.announce.
  3. if you want it made with every upload of a given package, name it foobar.announce.

by default, the announcement addresses are unset, because dinstall sends mails instead. so like, chill.

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -t, --to _nickname_ — upload to the nickname'd host. nickname is the key for doing lookups in the config file. you can use the default_host configuration option to specify a host without --to.
  • -c, --configfile _filename_ — read the file _filename_ as a configuration file, in addition to the global configuration file.
  • -f, --force — upload regardless of the transfers logged as already completed. she's not checking the receipts this time.
  • -k, --keep — keep going, skipping packages whose checksums does not match.
  • -q, --quiet — be quiet, i.e., suppress normal output and progress bars. 🤫
  • -d, --debug [_level_] — enable more verbose output from the ftp, scp and scpb methods.

for scp and scpb (since 2.10.2) a -v per level is passed to the scp command.

  • --no — dry run, no files are changed, no upload is attempted, only tell what we would do. main character energy only, zero commitment. 💅
  • --nostats — suppress printing download statistics. since version 2.10.2.
  • --mta _pathname_ — use _pathname_ as the sendmail compatible MTA. the MTA specified must support the -f option to set the envelope sender address, and the -F option to set the sender's full name. the default is /usr/sbin/sendmail. since version 2.9.8.
  • --nomail — suppress announcement for this run. you can send it later by just calling dupload again w/o this option. note that this option is by default implied for all hosts with the dinstall_runs option set to 1.
  • --mailonly — acts as if --no has been specified, but sends the announcements, unconditionally.
  • --noarchive — adds an X-No-Archive: yes header so that the announcement will not be archived. you can use the per-host archive option in the configuration file.
  • --skip-hooks _hook[,...]_ — skip running the comma-separated list of hooks. the hook names can be the filename or the absolute pathname for the hook command, excluding any argument. this option can be specified multiple times. since version 2.11.0. 🙈
  • -p, --print — print the "database" as read from the config files and exit. if a host is specified via option --to, only this host's entry is displayed.
  • --help — prints the program usage message and exits.
  • -V, --Version — prints version and exits.

🎀 FILES 🎀

  • /etc/dupload.conf
  • ~/.dupload.conf
  • --configfile _config-file_

the configuration files are loaded if available in the order listed, overriding previous files.

  • package.announce
  • package_upstream-version.announce
  • package_upstream-version-revision.announce

if present, they will all be read to prepend to the announcement mail.

  • .changes
  • .dsc
  • .orig.tar.*
  • .debian.tar.*
  • .diff.*
  • .deb

the .changes file to upload and all of its referenced files. the whole squad. 🫶

  • package_version_arch.upload

the file where dupload writes the upload log.

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

  • DUPLOAD_SKIP_HOOKS — a comma-separated list of hooks to skip running. the --skip-hooks option overrides this setting. since version 2.11.0.

💀 BUGS 💀

dupload is tested on Debian systems only. it should not require too much effort to make it run under others systems, though. so like… no cap, only Debian is the certified vibe. 🙈

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

dupload.conf(5)

okay bestie that's the whole manual, you're officially certified 🧚 and yes, the footer tea: this is version 2.14.0, dated 2026-05-10, and it's the dupload(1) page for real. go upload something iconic, mwah 💖✨

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