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gbp-import-orig(1) git-buildpackage Manual gbp-import-orig(1)

gbp-import-orig - Import an upstream source from tarball, or git tag and tarball, into a git repository


gbp import-orig
[--version] [--help] [--verbose] [--color=[auto|on|off]] [--color-scheme= COLOR_SCHEME] [--upstream-version= version] [--[no-]merge] [--merge-mode= [auto|merge|replace]] [--upstream-branch= branch_name] [--debian-branch= branch_name] [--upstream-vcs-tag= tag-format] [--[no-]sign-tags] [--keyid= gpg-keyid] [--upstream-tag= tag-format] [--filter= pattern]... [--component= component]... [--[no-]pristine-tar] [--[no-]filter-pristine-tar] [--[no-]symlink-orig] [--postimport=cmd] [--postunpack=cmd] [--[no-]interactive] [--[no-]rollback] [--upstream-signatures=[auto|on|off]] filename | url | --uscan

gbp import-orig imports upstream sources into a Git repository optionally linking to upstream's git history. It can import from three sources:

1.
filename: A file in the local file system. Gzip, bzip2, lzma and xz compressed tar archives, zip archives and already unpacked source trees are supported.
2.
url: The tarball is downloaded from a http or https url. This needs the python3-request package installed.
3.
--uscan: The latest upstream or specified version is fetched via uscan relying on debian/watch.

If the tarballs name is already of the form package-name_version.orig.tar.gz, the version information is determined from the tarball's filename, otherwise it can be given on the command line via --upstream-version. If the source package name or version can't be determined, gbp import-orig will prompt for it unless --no-interactive is given.

The sources are placed on the upstream branch (default: upstream), tagged and merged onto the debian branch (default: master). This is either done using plain git merge or by creating a new tree that consists of the new upstream version plus the debian/ directory. The later is used for source format 3.0 (quilt) packages since direct modifications of the upstream sources are not allowed in that format and so a 1:1 replacement of the upstream sources is almost always desired. It can be tweaked via the --merge-mode.

When using the --upstream-vcs-tag option the tag matching the version of the imported release will be added as additinoal parent of the commit created for the imported tarball. This ties the upstream git commit history to the Debian packaging history and allows for e.g. easy cherry-picking of patches and comparison of upstream git and the upstream tarball.

In case of an error gbp import-orig will rollback (undo) all changes it has done to the repository (see the --rollback option).

Note that for projects using multiple tarballs the name of the additional components needs to be specified via the --component command line option or via gbp.conf (see below for details).

Print version of the program, i.e. version of the git-buildpackage suite
Verbose execution
Print help and exit
Whether to use colored output.
Colors to use in output (when color is enabled). The format for COLOR_SCHEME is '<debug>:<info>:<warning>:<error>'. Numerical values and color names are accepted, empty fields imply the default color. For example, --git-color-scheme='cyan:34::' would show debug messages in cyan, info messages in blue and other messages in default (i.e. warning and error messages in red).
The upstream version number. With --uscan, passed to uscan as --download-version
--[no-]merge
Merge the upstream branch to the Debian branch after import
How to fold the newly imported upstream source to the Debian packaging branch after import.

merge does a Git merge leaving you on your own in case of merge conflict resolution.

replace mode on the other hand makes the head of the Debian packaging branch identical to the newly imported tree but preserves the content of the debian/ directory while keeping the current head as well as the newly imported tree as parents of the generated commit. This is similar to a theirs merge strategy while preserving debian/.

The default is auto which uses replace for 3.0 (quilt) packages and merge otherwise.

The branch in the Git repository the upstream sources are put onto. Default is upstream.
The branch in the Git repository the Debian package is being developed on, default is master. After importing the new sources on the upstream branch, gbp import-orig will try to merge the new version onto this branch.
Add tag-format as additional parent to the commit of the upstream tarball. Useful when upstream uses git and you want to link to its revision history. The tag-format can be a pattern similar to what --upstream-tag supports.
--[no-]sign-tags
GPG sign all created tags.
Use this keyid for gpg signing tags.
Use this tag format when tagging upstream versions, default is upstream/%(version)s.
Use this format string for the commit message when importing upstream versions, default is New upstream version %(version)s.
Filter out files glob-matching pattern. This option can be given multiple times.
When importing the upstream tarball also look for an additional tarball with component name COMPONENT. E.g. in hello-debhelper_1.0.orig-foo.tar.gz the component would be foo. The additional tarball is expected to be in the same directory than the upstream tarball and to use the same compression type. You also need to specify the components when using --uscan.

Using additional original tarballs is a feature of the 3.0 (quilt) source format. See the dpkg-source manpage for details. This is currently considered an experimental feature and might change incompatibly.

--[no-]pristine-tar
Generate pristine-tar delta file.
--[no-]filter-pristine-tar
If using a filter, also filter the files out of the tarball passed to pristine-tar.
--[no-]symlink-orig
Whether to create and keep a symlink from the upstream tarball to a Debian policy conformant upstream tarball name located in ../.

This is a good idea if not using pristine-tar since it avoids creating a new tarball with a different md5sum.

Run cmd after the import. The hook gets the following environment variables passed:
The name of the Debian packaging branch
The name of the just created upstream tag
The just imported upstream version
The Debian version of the package with a Debian revision of '-1'
Run cmd after the import. This can be useful to e.g. convert or remove certain files prior to the import. The hook gets passed the following environment variables:
The temporary directory the tarballs are unapcked into.
The temporary directory where the unpacked sources are.
The directory of the git repository where the tarball will be imported into.
Use uscan to fetch new upstream version. The version can be specified with --upstream-version
--[no-]interactive
Run command interactively, i.e. ask package name and version if needed.
--[no-]rollback
Rollback changes in case of an error.
Whether upstream signatures should be imported as well (when using pristine-tar). off turns this off completely while on always tries to import a signature (which can be useful if you want to fail if e.g. uscan did not fetch a signature). The default auto means to import a signature file if present but do nothing otherwise.

Download and import a new upstream version using the information from debian/watch



      gbp import-orig --uscan

Fetch tarball from an URL



      gbp import-orig https://debian.example.com/sid/upstream-tarball-0.1.tar.gz

Import a local tarball



      gbp import-orig ../upstream-tarball-0.1.tar.gz

Several gbp.conf files are parsed to set defaults for the above command-line arguments. See the gbp.conf(5) manpage for details.

gbp-buildpackage(1), gbp-import-dsc(1), gbp-import-dscs(1), gbp-dch(1), gbp.conf(5), uscan(1), debuild(1), git(1), pristine-tar(1),
The Git-Buildpackage Manual ⟨file:///usr/share/doc/git-buildpackage/manual-html/index.html⟩

Guido Günther <agx@sigxcpu.org>

10 April 2025