sbuild

sbuild is a tool for building Debian packages inside clean, isolated environments, using schroot-managed chroots. It is designed to provide reproducible builds and to automate the package-building process for developers and build farms.

Builds run inside a chroot created with debootstrap or a cowbuilder-backed setup. sbuild uses fakeroot to perform builds without full root privileges and can enforce strict isolation to prevent contamination from the host system. This isolation helps ensure that builds are not affected by the build machine’s state.

Key features include automated installation of build-dependencies, non-interactive builds, comprehensive logging and reporting, support for multiple architectures and distributions, and the ability to reuse or share chroots to speed up repeated builds. It aims to integrate well with Debian’s packaging workflow and can be configured to emit standard build artifacts such as .changes files and built binaries for upload.

Operational workflow typically involves creating or configuring a chroot, selecting a distribution and architecture, and invoking sbuild on a source package (dsc or tarball). The build output, including logs and results, is collected in a specified location for review or further processing. sbuild can be used standalone or as part of larger automation pipelines and build farms.

sbuild is one of the standard Debian build tools and is commonly used in Debian and derivatives’ package maintenance. It complements pbuilder and cowbuilder, with an emphasis on reproducible, automated builds and tight integration with schroot-based environments. Configuration is centralized under /etc/sbuild, with per-distribution chroot definitions and various profiles and hooks to tailor builds.