INSTALLDEB-ASPELL(1)

💖 INSTALLDEB-ASPELL 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because we're talking about installdeb-aspell — a debhelper-like utility for maintainers of aspell dictionary Debian packages. yes she's niche, yes she's iconic, and yes you're gonna understand her. 🎀

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

installdeb-aspell [debhelper options]

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so installdeb-aspell is a debhelper like program, and her whole job — her main character moment — is installing the appropriate debhelper snippets into an aspell dictionary package, following the Debian Spell Dictionaries and Tools Policy. she's basically the group project member who actually does the work. 💅

want the full lore? go read:

/usr/share/doc/dictionaries-common-dev/dsdt-policy.txt.gz

and now, the actions she performs, in order, no skips, no cap:

• Maintainer Scripts

installdeb-aspell installs the necessary scraps of code into the postinst and postrm scripts. little snippets, big slay. ✨

• Language info file

she also checks a file containing aspell dictionary information, called debian/info-aspell or debian/package.info-aspell. If that file gets successfully parsed (vibe check: passed ✅), it's installed into the /var/lib/dictionaries-common/aspell directory.

• Substvars substitutions

this script will populate a substvars file, so the Depends line in the control file can contain ${aspell:Depends} and automatically handle the dictionaries-common dependencies for you. effortless. 🫶

this one requires "Build-Depends" on at least dictionaries-common-dev 1.23.0, and it is highly recommended. like, please do it. do it for her.

• Debconf files

okay so, as opposed to installdeb-ispell and installdeb-wordlist, neither installdeb-aspell nor installdeb-hunspell do anything related to debconf files. why? because both aspell and hunspell rely on the environment variable "LANG" for default dictionary selection instead of using symlinks set after a debconf question on dictionary installation. they said "we do our own thing" and honestly? respect.

so for that reason, if you need to add debconf stuff with debhelper to your aspell or hunspell dictionary package, do it the usual way and call dh_installdebconf(1) just like for any other package. nothing fancy, no special treatment. 🙈

• Extra installdeb-aspell options in Language info file

for the benefit of aspell dictionaries using aspell-autobuildhash, the installdeb-aspell script will look for 'auto-compat' and 'auto-contents' fields in $lang.info-aspell, containing base name(s) of your compat and, if needed, contents file(s).

if an 'auto-compat' entry is found, two debhelper snippets get added: one to create/reset compatfile(s) in postinst, and the other to remove files in a removal list (initially containing compat files) from postrm.

if an 'auto-contents' entry is found, the contents file at debian/ will be parsed and its contents added to the removal list — otherwise, a hash with the same basename of the compatfile is expected and added to the removal list.

and if you use a contents file and enable it in 'auto-contents', you usually will need only the same base name enabled in 'auto-compat'. matchy matchy, it's giving efficiency. 💅

if you're interested in a simple install of a pristine aspell dictionary with a minimal debian/rules, please look at dh_aspell-simple(1). you will still need an aspell-info file, but the compat/contents stuff will be guessed if not explicitly provided in the aspell-info file. she's smart like that. 🧚

heads up bestie: /usr/lib/aspell/$dict.rws -> /var/lib/aspell/$dict.rws symlinks are no longer created automatically by this script. they're now created by the new aspell-autobuildhash together with the relevant hashes. so make sure to depend on at least dictionaries-common 1.23 (See dictionaries-common.checklist).

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

The usual dephelper(1) options are accepted. that's it, that's the section. she keeps it simple. ⭐

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💀 NOTES 💀

this program is not part of debhelper, although it is intended to be used in aspell dictionary packages using debhelper in its building. she's adjacent, she's not in the group chat, she's in the group chat's extended universe. 🌈

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🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

• debhelper(1)
• dictionaries-common.checklist
• dsdt-policy.txt

this program is part of the dictionaries-common-dev package. it is intended to be used by maintainers of aspell dictionary packages for Debian. see the documentation under /usr/share/doc/dictionaries-common-dev. 📚

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💜 AUTHORS 💜

Rafael Laboissiere, Agustin Martin — legends, icons, the moment. bow down. 👑

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and that's the whole page bestie!! this was version 1.31.4, dated 2026-3-22 — so if you're reading this, you're reading a certified classic. go forth and package your aspell dictionaries with confidence, you absolute queen. 💖✨🎀🦋🌸