DEBBUGSCONFIG(8)

💅 DEBBUGSCONFIG — the girlies' guide to section 8 of the System Manager's Manual

okay so bestie, welcome to DEBBUGSCONFIG(8), she lives in the System Manager's Manual and she is so underrated, no cap 🎀

---

✨ NAME ✨

debbugsconfig — copy basic debbugs configuration files from templates 🫶

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

debbugsconfig

that's it. that's the whole vibe. no flags, no args, just her 💅

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so here's the tea, bestie: debbugsconfig copies the basic debbugs configuration files from templates — but only if those files don't already exist, because she's respectful like that 🙈. She will also create the BTS user documentation in HTML and text, because she contains multitudes.

When should you run her? On installation, and literally every single time /etc/debbugs/config or /etc/debbugs/text get changed. She's the lowkey glue holding your whole bug tracking situation together fr fr 🔥

---

🎀 FILES 🎀

💖 The template config files she makes in $gConfigDir

(which is /etc/debbugs by default, just so you know 👑)

• config — the general debbugs configuration file. the main character, honestly.
• text — the longer messages that debbugs outputs. the yapper of the family.
• Maintainers — an index of maintainers for each package. this one is typically automatically generated, so don't get too attached to hand-editing her 💀
• Maintainers.override — manual overrides for the maintainer index. your personal touch, your editorial moment ✨
• pseudo-packages.description — descriptions of any entries in the system's maintainer index that do not correspond to "real" packages. like, for example, the Debian Project uses pseudo-packages for bugs against facilities such as the Debian web site, the mailing list archives, and the bug tracking system itself. so yes, you can file a bug against the thing you're filing bugs in. iconique 🌀
• sources — an index of source packages corresponding to each package. this comes in handy when several packages are produced from a single source, because then the bug tracking system will group them together with links in the web front-end. slay, grouping 💅

🌈 The template state files she makes in $gSpoolDir

(/var/lib/debbugs/spool by default, mwah 💜)

• nextnumber — the file that records the tracking number which will be assigned to the next incoming bug report. the little counter that could 🎀
• index.archive.realtime — real-time index of archived bugs. created empty, so don't panic when you look inside bestie 😭
• index.db.realtime — real-time index of non-archived bugs. also created empty. same energy 🫶

🧚 The documents she makes in $gWebDir

(/var/lib/debbugs/www by default, and yes she's giving very much content creator 🌸)

• index.html — main contents page. the homepage energy ✨
• Access.html, bug-log-access.txt — description of how to access bug reports.
• Reporting.html, bug-reporting.txt — advice on reporting bugs.
• server-control.html, bug-maint-mailcontrol.txt — introduction to the bug control and manipulation mail server.
• server-refcard.html, bug-mailserver-refcard.txt — mail servers' reference card.
• server-request.html, bug-log-mailserver.txt — introduction to the bug system request server.

---

👑 AUTHORS 👑

giving credit where credit is due, always 💖

debbugsconfig was originally written by Darren Benham, and later rewritten by Josip Rodin. And Colin Watson wrote this man page — so if the docs are good, that's him, and if they're not, it's still him, but kindly, lovingly, respectfully 🫶

---

reminder bestie: the files only get copied if they don't already exist. so if you're expecting a fresh overwrite, she's not gonna do that. she respects your existing setup. periodt 💅

---

that's the whole page! 💖 this lil' manual lives in section 8 of the System Manager's Manual, and her name DEBBUGSCONFIG(8) is stamped at both the top and the bottom of the page like a cute little watermark — top for the intro, bottom for the outro, symmetrical queen 👑 go run her on installation and every time /etc/debbugs/config or /etc/debbugs/text change, mwah, bye bestie! 🦋🌸🎀