git-dch(1) Generate the Debian changelog from git commit messages

SYNOPSIS

git-dch [ --verbose ] [ --debian-branch=branch_name ] [ --debian-tag=tag-format ] [ --ignore-branch ] [ --since=commitish ] [ --snapshot ] [ --release ] [ --auto ] [ --[no-]full ] [ --[no-]meta ] [ --meta-closes=bug-close-tags ] [ --snapshot-number=expression ] [ --git-log=git-log-options ] [ --[no-]git-author ] [ --[no-]multimaint-merge ] [path1 path2]

DESCRIPTION

git-dch reads git commit messages and generates the Debian changelog from it. If no arguments are given git-dch starts from the last tagged Debian package version up to the current tip of the current branch. If the distribution of the topmost section in debian/changelog is UNRELEASED the changelog entries will be inserted into this section. Otherwise a new section will be created.

If --auto is given git-dch tries to guess the last Git commit documented in the changelog - this only works in snapshot mode. Otherwise --since can be used to tell git-dch at which point it should start in the Git history.

The additional path arguments can be used to restrict the repository paths git-dch looks at. Setting path to debian/ is a good choice if upstream uses Git and all Debian packaging changes are restricted to the debian/ subdir. In more sophisticated cases (like backports) you can use --git-log to restrict the generated changelog entries further. E.g. by using --git-log="--author=Foo Bar".

OPTIONS

--debian-branch=branch_name
The branch in the Git repository the Debian package is being developed on, default is master.
--ignore-branch
Don't check if the current branch matches debian-branch.
--verbose
-v
verbose execution
--debian-tag=tag-format
tag format used, when tagging debian versions, default is debian/<version>
--since=committish
Start reading commit messages at committish.
--auto, -a
Guess the last commit documented in the changelog from the snapshot banner (or from the last tag if no snapshot banner exists).
--[no-]meta
Parse meta tags like Closes:, Thanks: and Git-Dch:.
--meta-closes=bug-close-tags
What meta tags to look for to generate bug-closing changelog entries. The default is 'Closes|LP' to support Debian and Launchpad.
--[no-]full
Include the full commit message in the changelog output.
--snapshot, -S
Create a snapshot release entry. This adds a snapshot release number and a warning banner to the changelog entry. The release version number is being autoincremented with every new snapshot release to avoid packages downgrades during snapshot testing.
--snapshot-number=expression
Python expression that gets eval()ed to the new snapshot number.
--release, -R
Remove any snapshot release banners and version suffixes, set the current distribution to unstable and open the changelog for final tweaking.
--new-version=version, -N version
Add a new changelog section with version newversion. Together with --snapshot the snapshot number will be appended to newversion.
--git-log=git-log-options
Options passed on verbatim to git-log(1).
--id-length=N
Include N digits of the commit id in the changelog entry. Default is to not include any commit ids at all.
--ignore-regex=regex
Ignore commit lines matching regex when generating the changelog.
--git-author
Use user.name and user.email from git-config(1) for changelog trailer.
--[no]-multimaintmerge
Merge commits by maintainer.

SNAPSHOT MODE

Snapshot mode can be used for quick test and install cycles without having to worry about version numbers or changelog entries.

When using --snapshot or -S git-dch uses a pseudo header in the Debian changelog to remember the last git commit it added a changelog entry for. It also sets a version number ending in ~<snaspshotnumber>.gbp<commitid>. It automatically increments the snapshot number on subsequent invocations of git-dch -S so that later snapshots automatically have a higher version number. To leave snapshot mode invoke git-dch with the --release option. This removes the pseudo heaader and unmangles the version number so the released version has a higher version number than the snapshots.

CONFIGURATION FILES

Four configuration files are parsed to set defaults for the above commandline arguments:

/etc/git-buildpackage/gbp.conf
system wide configuraton
~/.gbp.conf
per user configuration
.gbp.conf
per branch configuration, can be published with the repository
debian/gbp.conf
per branch configuration, can be published with the repository
.git/gbp.conf
per repository configuration

See /etc/git-buildpackage/gbp.conf for an example.

AUTHOR

Guido Guenther <[email protected]>