INSTALLDEB-HUNSPELL(1)

💖 INSTALLDEB-HUNSPELL 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because this is the manual page for installdeb-hunspell — a debhelper-like utility for maintainers of Debian packages. yes, that's the whole vibe. it's giving "glorified glue script that does the boring parts so you don't have to." 🎀

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

installdeb-hunspell [debhelper options]

that's it. that's the whole invocation. iconic. 💅

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so like, installdeb-hunspell is a debhelper like program (not debhelper itself, we'll get there) that's responsible for installing the appropriate debhelper snippets into your package, following the Debian Spell Dictionaries and Tools Policy. no cap.

want the full lore? go read:

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

okay and here's literally everything it does, in order, because you deserve to know:

• Maintainer Scripts 🛠️

installdeb-hunspell installs the necessary scraps of code into your postinst and postrm scripts. tiny little code confetti, dropped exactly where Debian needs it.

• Language info file 🗂️

it also checks a file containing information, called debian/info-hunspell or debian/package.info-hunspell. and if that file parses successfully? it gets installed into the /var/lib/dictionaries-common/hunspell directory. slay.

• Substvars substitutions 🪄

this script will populate a substvars file, so your Depends line in the control file can contain ${hunspell:Depends} and it'll automatically take care of your dictionaries-common dependencies for you. you don't have to think about it. she thinks about it for you.

this requires "Build-Depends" on at least dictionaries-common-dev 1.23.0, and it is highly recommended. fr fr, do it.

• Debconf files 🙈

here's the contrast moment: 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 at dictionary install time. main character behavior tbh.

so for that reason, if you need to add debconf stuff with debhelper to your aspell or hunspell dictionary package, do it in the usual way and call dh_installdebconf(1) like you would for any other package. no special treatment, bestie. 🫶

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

the usual dephelper(1) options are accepted.

that's the whole section. she's low-maintenance. 💜

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🦋 NOTES 🦋

this program is not part of debhelper, even though it's intended to be used in hunspell dictionary packages that use debhelper in their building. she's adjacent, not affiliated. a friend of the family. 💖

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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's intended to be used by maintainers of hunspell dictionary packages for Debian. and the documentation lives under /usr/share/doc/dictionaries-common-dev — go look, i'll wait. ⭐

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💜 AUTHORS 💜

Rafael Laboissiere, Agustin Martin

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this version is 1.31.4, dated 2026-3-22, and it's the INSTALLDEB-HUNSPELL(1) manual page — so go forth, install those dictionary packages, and remember: ${hunspell:Depends} is your friend. periodt. 💅✨🎀