DH_PYCENTRAL(1) 		   Debhelper		       DH_PYCENTRAL(1)



NAME
       dh_pycentral - use the python-central framework to handle Python
       modules and extensions

SYNOPSIS
       dh_pycentral [debhelper options] [-n] [-Xitem] [-V version]
       [module dirs ...]

DESCRIPTION
       dh_pycentral is a debhelper program that will scan your package, detect
       public Python modules and move them in /usr/share/pycentral so that
       python-central can byte-compile those for all supported Python
       versions.  Extensions are kept into the original installation location.

       Moving the files to the pycentral location can be disabled by setting
       the environment varibale DH_PYCENTRAL to a string containing the string
       nomove.

       To shorten the time of unavailabilty of files during unpack and
       configure, dh_pycentral does the symlinking in the preinst and does not
       remove the symlinked files on upgrade. This can be disabled by setting
       the environment varibale DH_PYCENTRAL to a string containing the string
       noprepare. If the newer version of a package needs to remove the
       symlinked files on upgrade, either the package needs to take care of
       the removal by calling pycentrel pkgremove in the new preinst, or
       leaving a file /var/lib/pycentral/.pkgremove and using
       pycentral 0.6.7 or later for the old package version.

       You must have filled the XS-Python-Version header to indicate the set
       of python versions that are going to be supported. dh_pycentral expects
       the XB-Python-Version for each binary package it is supposed to work
       on.

       dh_pycentral will also generate substitution variables: the
       ${python:Provides} variable will contain versioned provides of the
       package (if the packages name starts with "python-"). A python-foo
       package could provide "python2.3-foo" and "python2.4-foo" at the same
       time. Python extensions have to provide those whereas its only option
       for pure python modules.

       The ${python:Versions} variable should be used to provide the required
       XB-Python-Version field listing the python versions supported by the
       package.

OPTIONS
       module dirs
	   If your package installs python modules in non-standard
	   directories, you can make dh_pycentral check those directories by
	   passing their names on the command line. By default, it will check
	   /usr/lib/$PACKAGE, /usr/share/$PACKAGE, /usr/lib/games/$PACKAGE,
	   /usr/share/games/$PACKAGE and /usr/lib/python?.?/site-packages.

	   Note: only /usr/lib/python?.?/site-packages and the extra names on
	   the command line are searched for binary (.so) modules.

       -V version
	   If the .py files your package ships are meant to be used by a
	   specific pythonX.Y version, you can use this option to specify the
	   desired version, such as 2.3. Do not use if you ship modules in
	   /usr/lib/site-python.

	   With the new policy, this option is mostly deprecated. Use the XS-
	   Python-Field to indicate that youre using a specific python
	   version.

       -n, --noscripts
	   Do not modify postinst/postrm scripts.

       -Xitem, --exclude=item
	   Exclude files that contain "item" anywhere in their filename from
	   being taken into account to generate the python dependency. You may
	   use this option multiple times to build up a list of things to
	   exclude.

CONFORMS TO
       Python policy, version 0.4.1 (2006-06-20)

SEE ALSO
       debhelper(7)

       This program is a part of python-central but is made to work with
       debhelper.

AUTHORS
       Raphael Hertzog 

       Also includes bits of the old dh_python written by Josselin Mouette
        who used many ideas from Brendan ODea
       .



				  2008-05-28		       DH_PYCENTRAL(1)