Fri 20 Jun 2008 07:05:46 BST Release: 0.13.2 apt-cross 1 APT-CROSS 1 apt-cross apt-cross apt-cross apt support for cross compiling libraries apt-cross -a --arch ARCH -S --suite SUITE -m --mirror MIRROR -f --force -g|--get PACKAGE ... apt-cross -a --arch ARCH -S --suite SUITE -m --mirror MIRROR -f --force -x --exclude PACKAGE -b|--build PACKAGE ... apt-cross -a --arch ARCH -S --suite SUITE -m --mirror MIRROR -x --exclude PACKAGE -k --keep-temp -n --simulate -i|--install PACKAGE ... apt-cross -a --arch ARCH --remove|--purge|-r PACKAGE ... apt-cross -a --arch ARCH -S --suite SUITE -m --mirror MIRROR -s|--show PACKAGE ... apt-cross -a --arch ARCH -S --suite SUITE -m --mirror MIRROR -l|--list apt-cross -a --arch ARCH -S --suite SUITE -m --mirror MIRROR -u|--update apt-cross -a --arch ARCH -S --suite SUITE -m --mirror MIRROR --clean-lists apt-cross -a --arch ARCH -S --suite SUITE -m --mirror MIRROR -c|--check apt-cross -? -h --help --version apt-cross provides apt functionality for getting, building and installing libraries and header files for cross-compiling using dpkg-cross. apt-cross -i will search for and download missing dependencies of the requested package before building and installing the requested package and dependencies using dpkg-cross and dpkg -i (sudo required). apt-cross is intended to make it easier to locate, download, install and update cross-built libraries, directly from the Debian archives. apt-cross is not intended to handle applications or Architecture: all packages like foo-common or libfoo-common. apt-cross can download the cross-compiling version of those packages but does not build or install them - this can be done with dpkg-cross -A and dpkg -i if necessary. Note that not all such packages can be installed in that way. Architecture-independent packages do not need to be converted, so apt-cross omits all such packages from the dependency calculations and ensures that dpkg-cross also drops these packages from the dependencies of the generated package. One exception is that apt-cross will process development packages (-dev) that are Architecture: all. By default, apt-cross uses /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/* to find the latest debian package file for the architecture specified (default is the dpkg-cross default) and in the suite specified (default is unstable). Alternatively, specify a different mirror. Downloaded files can be passed directly to dpkg-cross using the -b or -i commands to apt-cross. If the local file is missing or out of date, a new one will be downloaded automatically. If the apt-cross cache for the specified suite and architecture is older than 24hours, it will be updated automatically. If the cache needs to be updated more frequently or if the cache becomes corrupted, use -u|--update. apt-cross does have limitations and cannot replicate all behaviour associated with apt itself. In particular, apt-cross cannot provide, build, install or download a cross-compiler. Certain parts of the process to build a cross-compiling toolchain do require apt-cross but you must obtain a suitable set of packages from somewhere else or build the toolchain yourself. See the emdebian-tools package for assistance with cross-compilers and cross-building toolchains. --g|--get <packages...> Retrieve the architecture-specific package(s) from the Debian mirrors into the current directory. If the package has already been downloaded, apt-cross will skip the download unless --force is used. --b|--build <packages...> Retrieve the architecture-specific package(s) from the Debian mirrors into the current directory and pass to dpkg-cross to build a cross-built version. 'Architecture: all' dependencies of the requested package are added to the list of dependencies to be excluded from the cross package using dpkg-cross -X. --build will always replace any existing cross package file in the same directory. Use --force only to ensure that apt-cross gets a fresh package prior to conversion. Dependencies of the requested package are not processed recursively so the cross package may be uninstallable without other cross packages, see --install for that functionality. --i|--install <packages...> Retrieve the architecture-specific package(s) from the Debian mirrors into the current directory. Check for dependencies that are suitable for dpkg-cross, download each dependency and build, then install the package and dependencies using dpkg-cross and dpkg -i. If successfully installed, the temporary downloaded archives are removed. Requires working sudo setup and will prompt for the sudo password if necessary (if sudo is not already cached). -r|--remove|--purge <packages...> Remove the cross-built package by calling dpkg. Requires working sudo setup and will prompt for the sudo password if necessary (if sudo is not already cached). -s|--show <packages...> Show the package information for the cross-built packages specified. If the package name does not end in -$arch-cross, the correct suffix will be added. The output format is the same as the equivalent apt-cache show output and includes the dependencies of the cross-built package. Note that only the details of cross-built packages (in the repository or installed) are displayed. -l|--list List all cross-built package names. (Similar to apt-cache pkgnames). -u|--update Force the user-specific apt-cross cache to be updated. Note that all sources for this suite on the specified architecture will be erased before the package cache is updated. If /etc/apt/sources.list or /etc/apt/sources.list.d/* does not contain a source for this suite, the updated cache for this suite will be empty. Use -m|--mirror to specify a source to be added to whatever sources are available for this suite in /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*. --clean-lists Force the user-specific apt-cross package list files to be updated. apt-cross turns off the normal apt default of cleaning up the package lists automatically because apt has a habit of removing the package lists for non-native architectures during the automated clean. This makes it impossible to maintain two sets of package lists from different architectures, requiring a complete update every time the cache switches architecture. Turning the option off, however, can lead to clutter and confusing errors from libcache-apt-perl so this command removes all package list files from the apt-cross directory for the specified or default suite, then runs force_update. -c|--check Check if the user-specific apt-cross cache needs to be updated and update if necessary. -a|--arch ARCH set architecture (default: defined in the ~/.dpkg-cross/cross-compile configuration file or by the dpkg-cross debconf configuration.) -S|--suite SUITE Set the Debian suite (stable, testing, unstable [default]). Only apt sources that already list this suite name in your apt sources lists will be updated. The suite specified must already be in your existing apt sources unless --mirror is also used (in which case the specified mirror must support the requested suite or apt will return errors). -m|--mirror MIRROR set the Debian mirror to use to retrieve packages instead of the default of using your existing apt sources. -x|--exclude As from apt-cross v0.1.2, architecture-independent dependencies are NOT processed. apt-cross also passes options to dpkg-cross to ensure that the cross package omits the same dependencies. If there are additional packages that need to be omitted, this option allows individual packages (e.g. perl-base) to be added to the list. The option is typically used to drop dependencies on packages that are not required within a cross-build environment, e.g. packages containing only executables or architecture independent files. -n|--simulate Requires -i. Halts the install operation at the point where the dependencies have been calculated and apt-cross prints a summary message indicating how many packages need to be installed as new and how many as upgrades. -k|--keep-temp Requires -i. Retains the .deb archives downloaded for conversion by dpkg-cross for use in later builds. Normally, these foreign architecture .deb archives are removed after a successful installation. This option is provided mainly for use in a chroot or other situation where the archives need to be copied into the local cache. apt-cross will check /var/cache/apt/archives/ before trying to download another copy so a chroot process can copy the archives into the chroot apt cache to prevent repeat downloads. Note that apt-cross downloads the archives into the current working directory; if this is a package source directory, consider changing to a temporary directory before starting apt-cross --keep-temp --install foo or arrange for the chroot process to move the files into the local apt cache before starting the build. (empdebuild from emdebian-tools does this for you.) -f|--force apt-cross will normally skip downloads and rebuilds of cross packages already installed at the latest available version. Use --force to override this behaviour. In --get mode, --force simply downloads another version of the ARCH package. In --build mode, --force downloads a fresh ARCH package and rebuilds the cross version, overwriting a cross package in the same directory. -v|--verbose be verbose - repeat once for extra verbosity. Repeat twice to see comprehensive debug information. -q|--quiet be quiet. (default) -?|-h|--help|--version Print usage and version information and exit. It is common for a chroot to not provide a Sources URL for apt. This causes problems for apt-cross and when preparing a chroot to use apt-cross a deb-src line will need to be added to whichever sources.list the chroot can use. apt-cross supports various levels of verbose output and -v can be useful in identifying problems. When preparing bug reports, it is often useful to use the debug level of verbose output using -v -v -v and redirecting the output to a file. apt-cross uses apt for the majority of the downloads, then uses the LWP perl module for the file download. Therefore, all proxy support needs to be configured to support these tools - apt-cross does not interact with any proxy (or any other network service) directly. The precise configuration of any specific proxy is beyond the scope of this manpage but it is important that the correct environment variable is used for the type of apt source being used. If the apt source uses the http:// prefix, the http_proxy variable must be set. (This is case-sensitive.) If the apt source uses the ftp:// prefix, the ftp_proxy environment variable must be set. (This is also case-sensitive). It does not appear to matter which prefix is used for the proxy itself. apt-cross has a very limited future. It is a tool for a particular stage in the process of making Debian cross-building friendly and as such it serves as a means to an end. As more dpkg-cross code migrates into dpkg-dev, apt-cross will become less important. Simultaneously, making apt cross-build friendly will become easier. The ultimate aim is therefore to aim for apt to replace apt-cross in a coordinated migration with dpkg-cross and dpkg. Eventually, when the core dpkg-cross functionality is merged into dpkg, apt-cross will be removed from Debian and the relevant versions of dpkg and apt will Replace: and Conflict: with dpkg-cross and apt-cross respectively. Anyone looking at the apt-cross source code needs to be aware that any improvements will only have a limited lifespan. ~/.apt-cross/ Collection of directories and cache files for each suite (unstable, testing, stable etc.). ~/.apt-cross/sources.* Sources list for each suite. dpkg-cross (1), emdebian-tools (1) and http://www.emdebian.org/. apt-cross was written by Neil Williams <codehelp@debian.org>. This manual page was written by Neil Williams <codehelp@debian.org> This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.