dput/doc/FAQ

1. Why can't the option -D be used with ftp uploads?

   Because the ftp upload method uses anonymous upload queues, which
   don't know anything about the user or dinstall. They will just
   accept every Debian package and later upload it to the incoming
   directory of ftp.upload.debian.org.

2. Why don't you change the suffix .cf to .conf for consistency purpose?

   At the time, where I had to decide on a suffix for the
   configuration file, I had the offer to user either "rc", ".cf" or
   ".conf". If you look at the dot files in your homedir or the files
   in /etc, you'll notice that there's no standard and that every of
   these three extension is used. Since I wanted to have a short
   suffix, I had to decide between "rc" or ".cf". I decided to use
   ".cf" as suffix, because it's an obvious abbreviation for
   configuration and also I noticed that postfix uses it as extension.
   Since this extension has now been used for quite some time, I'm not
   planning to change it. Any change would need a lot of work or
   introduce problems for the users.

3. Why can't dput act like dupload and just use every file in the
   directory?

   Well, dput was not written as a dupload-in-Python, but as an
   alternative tool for uploading Debian packages. dput and dupload
   are completely different, especially since dput supports modules.
   I only took one or two ideas from dupload, especially the hooks,
   but won't implement any further options or features.

4. Why should I switch to dput since dupload works for me?

   Because dput will make you rich and attractive.

   Now, seriously, it's a matter of preferences. If you use dupload
   and like its behaviour, then continue to use it. But in every
   case, I would suggest that you try dput, since it will check the
   GnuPG signature and the checksums before uploading and offer to run
   dinstall in dry-run mode after the upload. It also offers the usage
   of other upload methods via modules.

5. Where are modules and what are they exactly used for?

   dput uses modules for the different upload methods that it offers.
   All upload methods are implemented via seperate modules that will
   be loaded at runtime. That way we can easily extend the number of
   upload methods that dput offers. So if you write or already wrote a
   new upload method, then please inform the author of dput, so that
   it maybe can be added to dput in the future.

6. Can I just copy /etc/dput.cf into my homedir as .dput.cf?

   No, this shouldn't be done, because .dput.cf is a configuration
   file for the user. It should only contain configuration variables
   which have a value different from the default and which the user
   needs to define. This will reduce the risk of breaking dput, if
   either some default value in /etc/dput.cf is changed or a new
   configuration variable is added.

7. How can I set up my own local APT repository and use dput for
   installing?

   There are many ways to maintain APT repositories. Using Colin
   Walters' mini-dinstall-Package is perhaps the easiest way (if you run
   sarge or later). If you want to have the repository on a remote
   machine, see question 8. For a local repository you might use our

   MICRO RECIPE FOR PERSONAL MINI-DINSTALL REPOSITORY
   The following dput and mini-dinstall configuration works for the
   mainters of dput. For your convenience we have included a "local"
   dput target in the stock debian dput.cf which can be used with the
   mini-dinstall configuration below.
   For simplicity, we do not use the daemon mode of mini-dinstall. As
   mini-dinstall has rather flexible configuration options, you might
   want to consider reading the documentation yourself, but the file
   file below should work out of the box to implement most simple setup.
   After copying the configuration file below into your home directory
   do mkdir -p public_html/debian ; mini-dinstall --batch
   in your home directory to setup your repository.

   ~/.mini-dinstall.conf:
   # Adapted Colin's mini-dinstall.conf
   [DEFAULT]
   architectures = all, i386
   archivedir = ~/public_html/debian/
   use_dnotify = 0
   verify_sigs = 0
   extra_keyrings = ~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
   mail_on_success = 0
   archive_style = flat
   poll_time = 10
   mail_log_level = NONE
   [stable]
   [testing]
   [unstable]


8. How do I set up dput to fill my remote APT repository?

   Assuming you have remote ssh access, you can use the following
   You can use the same mini-dinstall configuration file (and setup
   command) as for a local repository on the remote machine.
   As ~/.dput.cf you now can use

   [myremote]
   fqdn = remote.machine.net
   login = usernameonremote
   method = scp
   incoming = ~/public_html/debian/mini-dinstall/incoming
   run_dinstall = 0
   post_upload_command = ssh usernameonremote@remote.machine.net /usr/bin/mini-dinstall --batch