DOKK / manpages / debian 11 / debhelper / dh_clean.1.en
DH_CLEAN(1) Debhelper DH_CLEAN(1)

dh_clean - clean up package build directories

dh_clean [debhelper options] [-k] [-d] [-Xitem] [path ...]

dh_clean is a debhelper program that is responsible for cleaning up. It should be the last step of the clean target and other debhelper commands generally assume that dh_clean will clean up after them.

It removes the package build directories, and removes some other files including debian/files, and any detritus left behind by other debhelper commands. It also removes common files that should not appear in a Debian diff:
#*# *~ DEADJOE *.orig *.rej *.SUMS TAGS .deps/* *.P *-stamp

It does not run "make clean" to clean up after the build process. Use dh_auto_clean(1) to do things like that.

Can list other paths to be removed.

Note that directories listed in this file must end with a trailing slash. Any content in these directories will be removed as well.

Supports substitution variables in compat 13 and later as documented in debhelper(7).

This is deprecated, use dh_prep(1) instead.

The option is removed in compat 12.

Only clean the package build directories, do not clean up any other files at all.
Exclude files that contain item anywhere in their filename from being deleted, even if they would normally be deleted. You may use this option multiple times to build up a list of things to exclude.
Delete these paths too.

Note that directories passed as arguments must end with a trailing slash. Any content in these directories will be removed as well.

debhelper(7)

This program is a part of debhelper.

Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>

2021-03-06 13.3.4