mass-bug assists in filing a mass bug report in the Debian BTS on a set of
packages. For each package in the package-list file (which should list one
package per line together with an optional version number separated
from the package name by an underscore), it fills out the template, adds
BTS pseudo-headers, and either displays or sends the bug report.
Warning: Some care has been taken to avoid unpleasant and common mistakes,
but this is still a power tool that can generate massive amounts of bug
report mails. Use it with care, and read the documentation in the
Developer's Reference about mass filing of bug reports first.
TEMPLATE
The template file is the body of the message that will be sent for each bug
report, excluding the BTS pseudo-headers. In the template, #PACKAGE# is
replaced with the name of the package. If a version was specified for
the package, #VERSION# will be replaced by that version.
The components of the version number may be specified using #EPOCH#,
#UPSTREAM_VERSION# and #REVISION#. #EPOCH# includes the trailing colon and
#REVISION# the leading dash so that #EPOCH#UPSTREAM_VERSION##REVISION# is
always the same as #VERSION#.
Note that text in the template will be automatically word-wrapped to 70
columns, up to the start of a signature (indicated by '-- ' at the
start of a line on its own). This is another reason to avoid including
BTS pseudo-headers in your template.
OPTIONS
mass-bug examines the devscripts configuration files as described
below. Command line options override the configuration file settings,
though.
Specify the severity with which bugs should be filed. Default
is 'normal'.
--display
Fill out the templates for each package and display them all for
verification. This is the default behavior.
--send
Actually send the bug reports.
--subject="bug subject"
Specify the subject of the bug report. The subject will be automatically
prefixed with the name of the package that the bug is filed against.
--tags
Set the BTS pseudo-header for tags.
--user
Set the BTS pseudo-header for a usertags' user.
--usertags
Set the BTS pseudo-header for usertags.
--source
Specify that package names refer to source packages rather than binary
packages.
--sendmail=SENDMAILCMD
Specify the sendmail command. The command will be split on white
space and will not be passed to a shell. Default is '/usr/sbin/sendmail'.
--no-wrap
Do not wrap the template to lines of 70 characters.
--no-conf, --noconf
Do not read any configuration files. This can only be used as the
first option given on the command-line.
--help
Provide a usage message.
--version
Display version information.
ENVIRONMENT
DEBEMAIL and EMAIL can be set in the environment to control the email
address that the bugs are sent from.
CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
The two configuration files /etc/devscripts.conf and
~/.devscripts are sourced by a shell in that order to set
configuration variables. Command line options can be used to override
configuration file settings. Environment variable settings are
ignored for this purpose. The currently recognised variables are:
BTS_SENDMAIL_COMMAND
If this is set, specifies a sendmail command to use instead of
/usr/sbin/sendmail. Same as the --sendmail command line option.
COPYRIGHT
This program is Copyright (C) 2006 by Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>.
It is licensed under the terms of the GPL, either version 2 of the
License, or (at your option) any later version.