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Xiè Jìléi
Asked: 2010-12-30 04:28:55 +0800 CST

What's source/binary overrides in Debian packaging?

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When I dput -f myhost foobar_x.x.x.changes, it successful uploaded the package, but produced the following warnings: 

foobar has no source override entry
foobar has no binary override entry either

How can I specify the source/binary overrides, and/or just suppress the warnings?

I'm using mini-dinstall as the backend aptitude repository manager.

package-management packaging

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Disclaimer: I have forgotten how to handle dput correctly and know nothing about mini-dinstall.

    The overrides file may contain overides for the section and priority fields of Debian packages. A package has these two embedded, but a repository might decide to give different values. For instance, when I upload to Debian, it is not my decision alone whether a package is required or not.

    Generally, the warning is harmless and can be ignored. The override file is an option for dpkg-scanpackages (which I suppose is used behind the scenes by mini-dinstall as well). The file contains lines of the form

    package-name priority section
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  2. It seems that the override warning messages are coming from the apt-ftparchive command. This is invoked by mini-dinstall to create the Package and Source files.

    I managed to make apt-ftparchive read a source override file by setting an apt.conf setting. Unfortunately this is global for all users of apt-ftparchive on that machine but I only use it as part of mini-dinstall so it works for me.

    1. Create a source override file with appropriate entries. In this example I used /etc/apt/dinstall-src-override but it could be anywhere that is readable by mini-dinstall.

      opencv  optional        graphics
digikam optional        graphics        [email protected]

      The contents of this file are as per standard Debian guidelines. To save searching the following are useful: Debian FTP Master's override file; Debian Policy allowable "Sections"; and Debian Policy allowable package "Priorities".

    2. Configure that apt-ftparchive uses the override file. Create a /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/90mini-dinstall-override file with contents

      APT::FTPArchive::SourceOverride "/etc/apt/dinstall-src-override";

    With this setup I no-longer get the override entry warnings. Of course the overrides used should be sensible because they are used in the archive!

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  3. Just a little tidbit since I'm in the same boat: the file format is documented in deb-override. I haven't found where mini-dinstall (or apt-ftparchive; dpkg-scansources and dpkg-scanpackages weren't involved here) autoloads these from.

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