DOKK / manpages / debian 10 / cowbuilder / cowbuilder.8.en
cowbuilder(8) cowdancer cowbuilder(8)

cowbuilder - a pbuilder wrapper for cowdancer.

cowbuilder create [options]

cowbuilder update [options]

cowbuilder build [options] .dsc-file

cowbuilder login [options]

cowbuilder execute [options] -- script [script options]

cowbuilder dumpconfig

cowbuilder Executes the specified pbuilder operation with cowdancer

Most commands invoke pbuilder with the specified commands, see pbuilder manual for details.

Create the base.cow image. The directory for base.cow should be empty, or this command will fail.

Update the base.cow image.

Build a package given a .dsc file

Start a session within the base.cow.

Execute a command within the base.cow.

Dump configuration information, used for debugging.

Most options are the same as pbuilder, except for the following which are handled specially

The place where COW operation takes place.

This has a very different meaning to the --basetgz option of pbuilder, since there is no tgz. This option specifies the directory in which the COW master data is stored, the default being /var/cache/pbuilder/base.cow

Additional configuration file to read after all other configuration files have been read.

Do not use cowdancer on cowbuilder update. Please use this option when cowdancer is interfering with upgrade process, or cowdancer itself is being upgraded within chroot.

Workaround for Debian Etch. cow-shell will search for all files in the chroot, but will work.

cowbuilder reads the following configuration files per default.

/usr/share/pbuilder/pbuilderrc
Application default, not to be changed.

/etc/pbuilderrc
System-wide default.

~/.pbuilderrc
User default

Additional configuration at runtime.

The possible configuration options are as follows. Others are ignored.

See --no-cowdancer-update

See --debian-etch-workaround

Create a base.cow image. 

# cowbuilder create --hookdir /usr/share/doc/pbuilder/examples/workaround/ --distribution etch --debootstrap debootstrap --basepath /var/cache/pbuilder/base-test.cow
bash: /root/.pbuilderrc: No such file or directory
W: /home/dancer/.pbuilderrc does not exist
I: Running in no-targz mode
Distribution is etch.
Building the build environment
I: running debootstrap
/usr/sbin/debootstrap
I: Retrieving Release
	.
	.

Update the base.cow image. 

# cowbuilder update
bash: /root/.pbuilderrc: No such file or directory
I: Copying COW directory
I: Invoking pbuilder
W: /home/dancer/.pbuilderrc does not exist
I: Running in no-targz mode
I: copying local configuration
I: mounting /proc filesystem
I: mounting /dev/pts filesystem
I: policy-rc.d already exists
Refreshing the base.tgz
I: upgrading packages
	.
	.

Build the package specified in dsc file, with the base.cow image.

Run cowbuilder build against the current directory. The current directory should be an extracted Debian source package directory.

Edit /etc/pbuilderrc to have PDEBUILD_PBUILDER=cowbuilder to make this the default behavior for pdebuild.

Start a cow-shell session inside base.cow, with /home/dancer being bind-mounted to within chroot.

Note that cowbuilder will not cow-protect what is inside /home/

# cowbuilder login --bindmount ${HOME}
bash: /root/.pbuilderrc: No such file or directory
I: Copying COW directory
I: Invoking pbuilder
W: /home/dancer/.pbuilderrc does not exist
I: Running in no-targz mode
I: copying local configuration
I: mounting /proc filesystem
I: mounting /dev/pts filesystem
I: Mounting /home/dancer
I: policy-rc.d already exists
I: entering the shell
#

Create a base.cow image with the path /var/cache/pbuilder/base-test.cow and distribution sid.

Junichi Uekawa (dancer@debian.org)

/usr/share/doc/pbuilder/pbuilder-doc.html, pbuilder(8), pdebuild(1)

2007 Jun 17 cowdancer