DH_INSTALLDOCS(1)                                                    Debhelper                                                   DH_INSTALLDOCS(1)

NAME

       dh_installdocs - install documentation into package build directories

SYNOPSIS

       dh_installdocs [debhelperoptions] [-A] [-Xitem] [file...]

DESCRIPTION

       dh_installdocs is a debhelper program that is responsible for installing documentation into usr/share/doc/package in package build
       directories.

       In compat 10 and earlier, dh_install(1) may be a better tool for handling the upstream documentation, when upstream's own build system
       installs all the desired documentation correctly.  In this case, dh_installdocs is still useful for installing packaging related
       documentation (e.g. the debian/copyright file).

       From debhelper compatibility level 11 on, dh_install will fall back to looking in debian/tmp for files, if it does not find them in the
       current directory (or wherever you've told it to look using --sourcedir).

       In compat 11 and later, dh_installdocs offers many of the features that dh_install(1) also have.  Furthermore, dh_installdocs also supports
       the nodoc build profile to exclude documentation (regardless of compat level).

FILES

       debian/package.docs
           List documentation files to be installed into package.

       debian/copyright
           The copyright file is installed into all packages, unless a more specific copyright file is available.

       debian/package.copyright
       debian/package.README.Debian
       debian/package.TODO
           Each of these files is automatically installed if present for a package.

       debian/README.Debian
       debian/TODO
           These files are installed into the first binary package listed in debian/control.

           Note that README.debian files are also installed as README.Debian, and TODO files will be installed as TODO.Debian in non-native
           packages.

       debian/package.doc-base
           Installed as doc-base control files. Note that the doc-id will be determined from the Document: entry in the doc-base control file in
           question. In the event that multiple doc-base files in a single source package share the same doc-id, they will be installed to
           usr/share/doc-base/package instead of usr/share/doc-base/doc-id.

       debian/package.doc-base.*
           If your package needs to register more than one document, you need multiple doc-base files, and can name them like this. In the event
           that multiple doc-base files of this style in a single source package share the same doc-id, they will be installed to
           usr/share/doc-base/package-* instead of usr/share/doc-base/doc-id.

OPTIONS

       -A, --all
           Install all files specified by command line parameters in ALL packages acted on.

       -Xitem, --exclude=item
           Exclude files that contain item anywhere in their filename from being installed. Note that this includes doc-base files.

       --sourcedir=dir
           Look in the specified directory for files to be installed.  This option requires compat 11 or later (it is silently ignored in compat
           10 or earlier).

           Note that this is not the same as the --sourcedirectory option used by the dh_auto_* commands. You rarely need to use this option,
           since dh_installman automatically looks for files in debian/tmp in debhelper compatibility level 11 and above.

       --doc-main-package=main-package
           Set the main package for a documentation package.  This is used to install the documentation of the documentation package in
           /usr/share/doc/main-package as recommended by the Debian policy manual 3.9.7 in S12.3.

           In compat 11 (or later), this option is only useful if debhelper's auto-detection of the main package is wrong.  The option can also be
           used to silence a warning from debhelper when the auto-detection fails but the default happens to be correct.

           This option cannot be used when dh_installdocs is instructed to act on multiple packages.  If you need this option, you will generally
           need to combine it with -p to ensure exactly one package is acted on.

           Please keep in mind that some documentation (the copyright file, README.Debian, etc.) will be unaffected by this option.

       --link-doc=package
           Make the documentation directory of all packages acted on be a symlink to the documentation directory of package. This has no effect
           when acting on package itself, or if the documentation directory to be created already exists when dh_installdocs is run. To comply
           with policy, package must be a binary package that comes from the same source package.

           debhelper will try to avoid installing files into linked documentation directories that would cause conflicts with the linked package.
           The -A option will have no effect on packages with linked documentation directories, and copyright, changelog, README.Debian, and TODO
           files will not be installed.

           (An older method to accomplish the same thing, which is still supported, is to make the documentation directory of a package be a
           dangling symlink, before calling dh_installdocs.)

           Please note that this option only applies to the documentation directory for the package itself.  When the package ships documentation
           for another package (e.g. see --doc-main-package), it will not use a symlink for the documentation of the other package.

           CAVEAT 1: If a previous version of the package was built without this option and is now built with it (or vice-versa), it requires a
           "dir to symlink" (or "symlink to dir") migration.  Since debhelper has no knowledge of previous versions, you have to enable this
           migration itself.

           This can be done by providing a "debian/package.maintscript" file and using dh_installdeb(1) to provide the relevant maintainer script
           snippets.

           CAVEAT 2: The use of --link-doc should only be done when the packages have same "architecture" type.  A link from a architecture
           independent package to a architecture dependent package (or vice versa) will not work.  Since compat 10, debhelper will actively reject
           unsupported combinations.

       file ...
           Install these files as documentation into the first package acted on. (Or in all packages if -A is specified).

EXAMPLES

       This is an example of a debian/package.docs file:

         README
         TODO
         debian/notes-for-maintainers.txt
         docs/manual.txt
         docs/manual.pdf
         docs/manual-html/

NOTES

       Note that dh_installdocs will happily copy entire directory hierarchies if you ask it to (similar to cp -a). If it is asked to install a
       directory, it will install the complete contents of the directory.

SEE ALSO

       debhelper(7)

       This program is a part of debhelper.

AUTHOR

       Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>

11.1.6ubuntu2                                                       2018-05-10                                                   DH_INSTALLDOCS(1)