dh_movetousr - canonicalize location according to merged-/usr

       Helmut Grohne <helmut@subdivi.de>

13.24.1ubuntu2                                     2025-02-11                                    DH_MOVETOUSR(1)

dh_movetousr is a debhelper program that canonicalizes paths inside packages according to merged-/usr.
       Shipping aliased paths is known to cause problems with dpkg, so this helper moves all affected files to
       /usr regardless of how they were installed.  The compatibility symlinks ensure that converted packages
       continue to work.  In the process, absolute symbolic links may become relative or vice versa due to
       Debian policy section 10.5.

       Please keep in mind that moving files in this way is known to cause problems.  Known problems have been
       documented at <https://people.debian.org/~helmutg/dep17.html>.  For instance, if files have been moved
       between packages, use of this tool may cause file loss during upgrades (P1).  Most problems can be
       detected by <https://salsa.debian.org/helmutg/dumat>, which uses the Debian bug tracking for feedback.
       Therefore, it is recommended to upload to experimental when moving files (e.g. using this helper) or
       restructuring packages that earlier moved files.  A particular problem not being detected is about dpkg-statoverride (P5).  Please review uses of dpkg-statoverride in maintainer scripts and update them as
       needed.  For these reasons, dh_movetousr is not automatically enabled in e.g. a compatibility level.

       While we want to move files to /usr in trixie and beyond, we do not want to move them in bookworm and
       earlier.  This poses challenges to backporting packages, because any such moves have to be reverted
       during the backport.  A backport of debhelper to bookworm shall include a stub for this helper doing
       nothing to achieve this goal.  For packages that do not need to be backported (e.g. packages targeting
       forky and beyond), consider updating locations instead of using this helper.  When the only affected type
       of file is systemd units, consider using dh_installsystemd or detecting the unit location from "pkgconf
       --variable=systemdsystemunitdir systemd" instead of this helper as both will work in backports.

       For further information on the state of the transition refer to <https://wiki.debian.org/UsrMerge>.

       dh_movetousr shall be removed from debhelper during forky+1 is release cycle.

         Build-Depends: dh-sequence-movetousr

       Enable this tool in a package that uses dh.

       dh_movetousr - canonicalize location according to merged-/usr

--fail-noop
           Fail if no files were found in aliased locations and therefore no change has been performed.

       --warn-noop
           Warn if no files were found in aliased locations and therefore no change has been performed.

debhelper(7)

       This program is a part of debhelper.

dh_movetousr [debhelperoptions] [--fail-noop | --warn-noop]