one by looking at the tag matching the upstream version, if no tag can be
found it uses the tip of the current <option>upstream-branch</option>. Any
other treeish object to create the upstream tarball from can be given with
- the <option>--upstream-branch</option> option.</para>
+ the <option>--upstream-branch</option> option.
+ </para><para>
+ If you want to recreate the original tarball using the additional
+ information from the <option>pristine-tar branch</option> you have to
+ specify the <option>--pristine-tar</option> option. This will make sure the
+ upstream tarball matches exactly the one imported. Using this option is the
+ recommended way of recreating the upstream tarball.
+ </para>
<para>Once you're satisfied with the build and want to do a release you commit all
your changes and issue:</para>
<screen>
<option>debian-branch</option> options in the configuration file.
</para>
<para>
+ If you want to be able to exactly recreate the original tarball
+ (orig.tar.gz) from &git; you should also specify the
+ <option>--pristine-tar</option> option. This is recommended.
+ </para>
+ <para>
If you want to import further versions you can change into your shiny new
&git; repository and just continue with the same command:
<screen>
the changes from the <option>upstream-branch</option> later.
</para>
<para>
+ If you want to be able to exactly recreate the original tarball
+ (orig.tar.gz) from &git; you should also specify the
+ <option>--pristine-tar</option> option. This is recommended.
</para>
</sect1>
branch name used in the &git; repository is
<emphasis>upstream</emphasis>) holds the upstream releases. This can
either be a branch you import to or a branch of an upstream repository
- you pull from.</para></listitem></itemizedlist> <para>You're completely
+ you pull from.</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para> The <option>pristine-tar branch</option> (the default
+ branch name used in the &git; repository is
+ <emphasis>pristine-tar</emphasis>) holds the necessary additional
+ information to recreate the original tarball from the
+ <option>upstream-branch</option>. In order to use this feature you need
+ to install the &pristine-tar; package.
+ </itemizedlist>
+ <para>You're completely
free to pick any repository layout and the branch names above are only
&git-buildpackage;'s defaults. They can be changed at any point in time
and you can work with an arbitrary number of branches.
<!ENTITY svn-buildpackage "<productname>svn-buildpackage</productname>">
<!ENTITY gpg "<productname>GPG</productname>">
<!ENTITY dpkg-buildpackage "<productname>Dpkg-buildpackage</productname>">
+ <!ENTITY pristine-tar "<productname>pristine-tar</productname>">
<!ENTITY lintian "<productname>lintian</productname>">
<!ENTITY gnu "<acronym>GNU</acronym>">
<!ENTITY gpl "&gnu; <acronym>GPL</acronym>">